when you cleaned the throttle body did you take it off the durango

 

Here's a thought, someone please chime in if I'm way off base...
You stated that you have an exhaust leak upstream of the CAT. Is it possible that the leak is causing the pre-CAT O2 to recognize a lean mixture, causing the truck to run rich? Just a thought...
How are your MPGs?

 

i did have one i had it fixed and had a new cat put on as well ..also when i cleaned the throttle body i did remove it to clean

 

did you try replacing the iac valve in the back on the throttle body? it controls the airflow at idle and is known to cause rough/poor idle and stalling, try holding the throttle open a little bit (i mean a real little bit, keep it under 1k rpm) and if that keeps it running id suggest replacing the IAC.

The other possibility for a bad idle is a bad battery, how old is yours? 4 years is about all you can expect from these trucks, if you are past that i would just replace the battery.

 

new battery in the truck i thought of replacing the iac but the truck ticks like a misfire when cold only upon acceleration not when parked .. i cant see an iac causing the miss so to speak . in my own triles of having a bad iac it just ..stalls or revs like crazy not ticking and its only when cold for the most part .. can an iac cause ticking like a miss ? or would it just cut out period

 

it could cause a really rough idle which can appear similar to a miss,

now this tick, how long does it last? because the 4.7 is known to tick when first started up cold (after sitting overnight, or all day while at work) and as long as it goes away after a minute or so its not a problem.

my opinion is to not think too much about the tick for now and get it running right, bc that will make diagnosis the tick easier

 

the tick is only in drive not parked and only untill its fully warm it goes away the idle is crappy cold and and not to bad warmed up

 

I too have this problem, when started from a cold start it revs up high, and then settles down. After in drive the accleration is a bit sluggish and it sounds horrible, like ticking.

I have not changed the plugs yet but it sounds like that didn't fix the problem. All i think of is a leak, i was told by the dealership that my mani was warpped.. could this be the problem?

another thought is vacum leak?

 

a tick thats only there when cold and goes away as the engine warms up could very well be an exhaust leak, as the manifolds and engine warm up they expand closing the small leak and then it goes away.

 

now i suppose is to find that leak.
what about a sluggish acceleration?