Ok guys here is the bad situation I am in. Just as a refresher I have a 2000 Dodge Durango Sport with the dreaded 4.7 engine. It is my only means of transportation and I am still making payments on it. It began running hot but not overheating. I have been driving it that way for a while and have just had to drive it here in South Texas to work up and down the highway with the windows down and without running the a/c. I have now finally figured out that I have a bad radiator on the d. I was driving to work on last Sunday night and the upper radiator hose blew. I had to wait to get the right one 24 hours in a hotel. I got it and put it on and burped the engine. I drove up the highway about 30 miles and the went straight to overheated. I pulled over let it cool down filled it up with coolant and went back to the town I left and took it to a dodge dealership for a diagnostic check which confirmed the radiator issue. Now I dont have the money to fix anything right now working my *** off in the heat just to get by. Now I have a tick in the engine, it idles rough and I have a check engine light on with a code of P0307.

Here are my questions:

1) What does that code mean?
2) If my head gasket is gone what is the average cost to repair?
3) If I have to replace a cylinder what is that going to run me?
4) Is it hard to replace the radiator?
5) Would could be causing the misfire on cylinder 7?

Any and all help would be appreciated. Until I get this crap fixed I am stuck in a hotel about 400 miles from home. Thanks guys.

 

1. dreaded 4.7 is a load of crap, it is generally a very reliable engine (young, yes but still not a bad engine)

2. it sounds to me like you already know the code but here it is
considering that you overheated the truck i would stat with a compression test, if #7 is low you could have a bad cylinder or headgasket.

to check the radiator is done w/ an infrared thermometer and you should have a nice gradient on the radiator if you ahve hot spots its confirmed bad. Radiator replacement is not too bad, but definitely not something i would suggest for most people, there is a PDF you can download fromt he FAQ thread which will have step by step directions on what to do in much more detail than i could type out on here.

 

So what am I looking at as far as worst case scenerio for cost on radiator replacement, gasket fix and cylinder fix? Do I need to see about knocking over a bank lol? (That is a joke kinda)

Also is there anything else that could cause the misfire such as a fouled plug, bad wires or coil?

 

i would do a tuneup on your engine while your at it... i had a cylinder misfire and all it was was a bad spark plug... totally burned away... but i have the 5.2... the 4.7 is a mystery to me... they dont work the same way the 5.2 and 5.9 do for plugs and wires and such...

 

no wires on the 4.7, as said above you could pull the #7 plug and check to see what it looks like and it might take care of the misfire, the radiator will cost you about $150 (from rockauto) if you install it yourself you are all set if not add installation to that (im actually not sure how much they would charge for that, but i believe standard labor is around $80 an hour)

 

Ok so if it is not the plug what am I looking at as far as price for head gasket and or cylinder? Would it be cheaper to get a new engine or what?

 

Would you be doing it or a shop?

 

I am not sure about the prices for other items but I can tell you that in late 09 Dealer price for radiator REMOVE/REPLACE was about $900 that included the cooling system test and the replacement upper radiator hose and cap assembly. You will probably find that the asembly is easier to remove/replace plus you get piece of mind with a new cap.

Remember that was dealer I was stuck along the road on a road trip. You can probably get it done cheaper at indepepdent or local shop. The one place I would DEFINITELY NOT RECOMMEND it PEPBOYS...several problems with them and sum it up shortly if the diagnosed the cooling system right the first time, I still would have probably needed a radiator but gotten it taken care of sooner and avoided further damage.

Again PEPBOYS......NO!!!!! especially with cooling system issues. Im my opinion they couldnt diagnose a flat tire.

 

P.S Sharp is right, 4.7 isnt a bad engine just new...but then again a lot of owners of every vehicle dont take care of problems until it is too late and blame it on the engine.

 

Ok I will be taking it to a shop to get the work done. When I drive now I can really smell coolant from the exhaust so I am pretty sure it is a head gasket. That is based on what I have read on this board. I am only about an hour away from Dallas so I am sure I can find a shop that is going to charge me a little less. Just chancing driving this car in this 100 degree heat is not going to make it easy for me at all.

I will avoid pep boys. There are not that many here in Texas anyway. You are right had I went straight for the radiator I would not be having any of these problems so I do accept full responsibility.

I am pretty confident I can do the radiator. I have a guy I work with who has done a couple and a engine replacement on his wife's durango so I may have gotten lucky there. Just want to know how much it is gonna hit me on the head gasket replacement and the blown cylinder.

I just bought a new upper radiator hose so that is still good.