I have a 2003 Dodge Durango SXT 8 cylinder 4.7 engine with approx. 80,000 miles.
About 10 days ago my son was driving the car and said the oil light came on, smoke was coming out of the hood and engine was making a weird noise. I lifted the hood & saw a lot of fluid all over battery and vicinity, white stains which I thought might be dried antifreeze, and looked like hoses were swelled and cracked. I waited a few hours to cool down-checked oil which was fine & added antifreeze mixture as I sometimes do to the reservoir-it didnt look totally empty--but had seen some fluid on the floor lately--not much but think its antifreeze. I decided since it was dark,to wait till the a.m. so I could see better. In the morning I opened the radiator cap & it was full--oil was OK and started the car and the oil pressure light came on & the motor made a weird rattling noise I have never heard before--this big motor sounded like a dang lawn mower! I tried to look at the belts (though as amateur!) & everything seemed to be turning -AC working, etc. seems to be no difference in sound when I rev motor or turn on/off AC, etc.
I decided to ask my new teen driver if there was anything else he could tell me--did he run over curb maybe or? as it will save me time and anguish, and to my surprise (gulp!) he said "sorry dad--I didn't see a speed bump and..." of course I figured out the rest ..and thought that might be the unknown problem.
I probably did the same thing when I was a kid & my wife said: "Oh I did that when I was a kid-probably the oil pan!"
Anyway I then decided to look under the car--I couldn't really see much --and stuck camera under car and uploaded pictures, took some video of the car running and will post below--hope it works.
I decided to take the car to my mechanic--who I have been using for 10 years or and I was pleasantly surprised when he called back & said he couldn't find anything major--he didn't see any evidence of my sons speed bump experience, and he did a complete oil & filter change, lube, etc. & said the filter was pretty dirty and he wanted to let it settle till the next morning and start it up--drive it, etc. So I called him back the next day & he said the light was not coming back on, as far as the sound, when he first turned the motor on he heard faintly--I believe he said the valve lifters, but said it went away & we were obviously thrilled when we checked out with the total just $38.00! The car sounded and drove well--no oil light on, I checked fluids closely.
Unfortunately a few days later on the way home from post office--the oil light came on--then all of a sudden it seemed to lose power rapidly--first thought it was running out of gas--but I had half tank--but it was more of a power loss and it finally just stalled. Tried to crank & pretty much nothing. I called a local wrecker who offered to take to his shop for a free estimate and I was hesitant at first, but wasnt thrilled sitting there after already taking to my mechanic. The guy called back & said the motor was dead--no compression on one side I believe is how he put it, & wouldn't recommend spending the money to get new/used motor. I was shocked to say the least. I then had the car towed back to my mechanic who checked it out and called back and said there was no compression in 3 cylinders, thought it was a broken timing chain. He also recommended not pursuing as when he checked the cost for parts it was $1,000 + and no guarantee that was the only issue.
So here I sit today & wondering if anyone can give me any feedback or advice. I realize the cost of motors is $3,000-6,000++ probably not a good investment anyway--money is very tight now and unfortunately cash for clunkers wont even work as the car has to be driveable.
I'm sorry for this long thread but wanted to include as much info as possible.
Are there any more options you might suggest. I'd prefer to sell the car rather than try to find a motor and/or go through all of that. Am wondering:

Are there mechanics who deal in motors and perhaps purchase cars like this to resell?

Would this car be tradeable to a dealer in this condition?

Would an auction be a possibility?

Or would this car just be for parting out?

Any specific ideas on any of the above scenarios or other, along with possible estimates of what I could expect to receive for a car like this would be especially appreciated..along any links to businesses or auctions in the Atlanta area that I might consider also would be appeciated..

Also, just for piece of mind about the original diagnosis. The sound I heard the car make sounded serious to me-is it possible the car might have been repairable with more than the oil change while it was still running? Thanks again for your feedback!




http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...t=DSCI1783.flv

 

Jerry,

Welcome to the forum.

The video came out great. Unfortunately the sound I heard pretty much sums it up. That is what the engine sounds like when it is not running on all cylinders. So the assumption of some cylinders with zero compression is right on.

I am speculating here so I will assume it may have been the oil pump that had starting to go out. Thus giving you the oil light. After your oil change, and the oil light coming on again 2nd time, the pump or something may have finally given out and your engine eventually wanted to seize up or lost all compression to the cylinders due to lack of lubrication.

You may want to check the salvage yards to see how much a used 4.7 runs just to get it drivable and trade it in using the cash for clunkers deal. Then again, what is the present condition of your Durango overall? Is the interior/exterior still in excellent shape to warrant a engine replacement? etc..

 

Well... unless you really want to buy a new motor, there is no sense running it any more like that.

Could be a oil pump given way which led to a broken valve.

Looks filthy so upkeep could have been an issue. Certainly wasn't TLCd. At 80,000 miles you had double that left in it.

$1000 is cheap compared to a replacement motor. If you decide to do that instead, Jasper Engines is where you should go... or the junk yard.

Very little trade value on an auto that doesn't run.

Good luck.

IndyDurango

 

Son was racing it around and hit something hard (doubt it was a speed bump). The heat and throttle as well as the percussion slammed into the main shaft separating a bearing causing the oil pump to lose pressure and motor to miss. This caused the motor to loose oil pressure enough to cause a lack of lubrication. The lack of lubrication caused the excessive heat build up into the rings from the under lubricated cylinder walls and therefore total loss of compression of at least 1 cylinder due from the rings collapsing and opening compression into the crank case.

The mechanic should have known this so I'd gently smack the dumb ****! I can't believe he couldn't see this and maybe he was just hoping things would work out for you. One lesson to that motor I can tell you what happened.


Outcome in a nut shell: Blown motor that should be rebuildable.


Nobody wants to take on a hole in the rock so your going to have to rebuild it at your convenience. Dealer might take it but you'll have to call them.

 

hello all
ive been faced with a similar problem
car was serviced for an oil change they topped off the radiator and broke the in line filler
without knowing this was broke took trip to mt baldy over heated and lost oil presser
after cooling (and being towed home) the engine started but ran rough and lost oil presser after just few moments( then towed to me)
did check and had no compression on no7 cyl
took valve cover off and verified intake valve not seating
did some research and found a lot of link to oil slugging
decided full rebuild would be best
took me two days to pull the motor three day for the rebuild(they confirmed a valve seat had fallen out of the head) at a reputable machine shop and two days to put it back (i thought i was fairly thorough )well $2200 (olny 1800 went to the shop rest is parts ive replaced since)
parts and labor (replaced all pistons,did valve job ,turned crank, new oil pump,water pump,you know the works)and two weeks later i still cant start this @#$!%& thing
ive checked wiring replaced sensors rechecked wires checked relay swaped relay fuses best i can come up with is it hates me
kidding
realy the asd relay and pcm seem to be the area of consern
i get voltage at coils for about two seconds then nothing
if i crank it iget low voltage >10v + at the coils
i have also goten a number of dtc's all at dirfertent times inthe last two weeks
some make sence as i have diconected sensors while try to diag this system
one seemed to refrence a glow plug circut????????
codes i rember p0320 , p0505 , p1391 ive seen sevral these just stuck in my head
any body got an idea please help

 

SO sorry,

You should of made them pay for it. Anyway, sounds like a PCM is out but check the wiring harness.

 

i finally determined it was the pcm
i disconnected the cam and crank
turned it over and got no codes what so ever

thanks for the sympathy