Hello everyone. I am new to the site and wanted to say that I am impressed. I am also new to the world of durango. I love the truck,though it is trying to teach me many new things about repair/maintance. The 2002 4.7 with 160,000 miles has got a sound before warm up like fan blades rubbing under right valve cover. The sound goes with rpms, and almost goes away after warm up. I wanted to tear off the cover but saw the three that has studs have no threads left on them. So my question is, can I pop out these bolts that have the threaded side up and replace them. And any guesses on the fan stuck under my valve cover?

 

My guess is the valves (lifters) are making the noise. These can be adjusted. Those studs with no threads are most likely for the plug wire holders to fit on.

 

Hay thanks Dan for the thoughts on what the problem might be. I will give them a good look. I still was'nt sure if you or anyone knew about the weird "studs" as they are called in THE BOOK (Haynes). They seem to have no purpose except to rot away into nothing. I was wondering if these can just be replaced with real bolts? They do not look like they will survive any kind of removal. Thanks for any thoughts.