On that knock, use a sthethescope (sp?). I have a little knock as well on idle, will be sitting at a light and it will start and sometimes even disappear with a minute, never hear it when the engine is cold or while driving? I need to check plug #8 to see if it is fouled?
Hydra told me about the, dont laugh at me, doctor hearing aid. As he said, you will hear a lot of new sounds, check around see if its in the cylinder, valve stems, and injectors. I am almost certain mine are injectors because i have a tick as well coming from to top of the intake (top/side)

 

Hm...I have a tick, pretty prominent actually, coming from at least one fuel injector myself.
Does that tick mean the injector is bad?

One thing I noticed is the MpG...has increased by a couple of miles or so. Noticed numbers on my overhead I had not seen before.
Hope it is not something which requires me to tear down all I did already...

 

Make sure the injectors are seated all the way down, and you may have an injector goign bad like myself.

 

The injectors stayed attached to the fuel-rail while I worked on the car. Changed o-rings and used the rail to allign, push in and seat the injectors again. I would hope they are all the way in, but will check again.

the knocking does not show when engine is cold or while driving.
IF it shows it is while the vehicle is stopped.

Now, I am not sure, but I might be hearing air sucking or blowing somewhere towards the front on the driver side. Right near and below the A/C unit. Hard to tell as the fan is blowing air at the same time.
Thought of making a card-board wall between the fan and the rest of the motor so I can hear better.
Could this be a head-gasket issue?
If so, considering the heads going up and down, would you just hear air being sucked in and then blown out at the point where the gasket might have failed? All I think I am hearing is one, consistant sound of air either being sucked in or blown out.

(Maybe now I am overinvestigating)

 

That is the only time I hear my ticking is when I am at a stop when I am at a stop light or something, usually don't hear it when the truck is cold but that could be due to the truck being so loud on a cold start....here is the info given to me on this EXACT issue, I made a post about it about a month ago...

 

You're just scaring yourself Andreas,Oh,your pistons,and valves may be going up and down but not your heads.You're probably hearing air being drawn in through the intake but if it is a vacuum leak or something go for what hydra and stixx mentioned...I think autozone has a steth for like $15,pop the end off and you can listen right through the tube,it'll help you locate the air noise you're hearing..Then put it back together and start tracing down the tick...

 

To further investigate and problem solve I decided to run Seafoam through. First 1/3...nothing. Second 1/3 can, it smoked fairly but not too bad. Sucked another 1/3 into the valve and shut the engine off. Grabbed my daughter after cleaning up and took off to the gas-station and noticed in my rear-view mirror more smoke...so I took it off the main road and drove through some neighborhoods...it was night, so no issues.
Changed plugs today from 2 month old Autolites to Champion Copper. Not ONE plug was overly dirty, dark, used and none were wet, oily.

Car still vibrates...DUDE!
As stated I put a new PCV in the cover on the passenger side. This valve rattles like crazy and you can hear it. When I removed the valve it had black oil on it and I am thinking of running Seafoam through the oil for a bit before the next all synth oil change.

And after that...pfff...
Any chance the timing could be off?
Gonna do a vacuum check for $40 I guess...

I want my car back to normal...wwwuuuuaaaaahahahahaha (6^(

 

Just to continue my quest of the vibrating Durango.

I had a mobile mechanic come by with a doctor's hearing aid thing...the tip though was a long metal rod which you can place at various parts on the engine and you hear EVERYTHING that is going on inside. If you can get your hands on that tool go for it. I heard things open, close, slide, move, flow...really cool.

Thsi mechanic was not too informed about timeing and trouble-shooting. So, I decided to look for another. Found one whose main employment is at an old and established mechanic shop in town. He came by, listened to my engine, complimented on how strong it ran and how clean it was.
Checked oil, plugs, water. All clean.

I took the car to his place, put it on the ramp, walked underneath.
Everything was bone-dry and clean. Looks like it also has brand new CV joints/boots and some other things replaced before i bought it.

We then looked at the harmonic balancer and he showed me what was going on. It looks like the Balancer has slipped causing the vibration of the engine.
Apparently the balancer is made of two pieces, seperated by some sort of sleeve. (Rubber?)
The balancer is ever so slightly wobbling and you can see the sleeve having popped out a little.
That would also explain why I could not read the timing nor get the rotor and balancer on the correct timing mark at the same time.

Air sucking sound I had mentioned before is actually from the Power Steering pump as there seems to be a small leak in a hose (high-pressure return hose or something).

So, a new balancer will be bought ($75) and tools will be rented (puller and installer). Planning on pulling the radiator out and flush it. This will give me enough room (hopefully) to pull the balancer and install the new one. I don't think it shoudl take too long for this job.

Question:
Has anybody ever replaced a Balancer on a Durango? If so, while removing the balancer, will the engine try to turn? And if so, how can you prevent that from happening?

Appreciate any helpful responses.

 

Yep, it's called a stethoscope......LOL

Yes it is a rubber sleeve. When they slip it causes various sounds. In fact just heard one the a little while ago that sounded like metal on aluminum rubbing with vibration, well the pulley was slightly touching the timing cover. But yea, when they go they slightly slip out between the inner and outer pieces.

Depending you are living in a desert you might think about putting a new radiator in while you have it out if funds allow.

 

Stethoscopes are truly amazing...really does let you hear everything. Im pretty sure they sell em at autoparts stores.