Below, some pics from my project 2000 Durango...

Short story. It's been in the family since 2008 @ 92,000-miles. Changed with name brand synthetic oil every 3000-miles. Went looking for the source of a rocker arm or lifter issue tapping sound, found this:

 

Wow, that's REALLY bad for the mileage...... and regular oil changes?? If they had their oil changed at a shop, I would be looking for a different shop, either that, or using a different brand of oil......

 

Nope! My Dad puchesed the oil and did the oil changes his self. He is besides himself seeing these pictures.

 

I can imagine. I would certainly be changing oil brands.

 

What engine? Probably just lifters and not oil (or sludge) related. Yeah, change brands of oil. I run a bottle of Motor Medic flush every few years.

 

Hi Dodgevity, really enjoyed your threads on the lifters, valve springs, valve seals replacements. The engine in question is the 4.7L. It's ONLY 170k miles. Anyway, I'm looking to service it right and keep it trucking. Might be picking your brain as it seems like you've got a lot of first hand experience at this.

 

Tell your dad don't be too upset. If you got the truck with 92K, you're probably seeing the result of the previous owner's bad maintenance. My engine doesn't look too good under the covers too. Not sludge-wise, but very dark and discolored. Is it tapping all the time, or just when the engine is cold? Also, what oil and filter have you been using?

 

Before I drove it home, I changed the oil with Pennzoil Platinum 5W-30 High Mileage and the up-sized Fram Ultra XG8A oil filter. That's only been in there for the last 130-miles. Just prior to that, my brother had the oil changes done at Wal-Mart. The Wally boys were using the Fram PH16 orange can and who knows what for oil? That's been since June 2021 when my dad sold it to my brother. The current oil change sticker in the windshield is from 2022. Wonder if I call Wal-Mart if they can tell me their service history? My brother didn't keep records. Is not Type-A like myself. Hey! Nobody's perfect. As far as I know, my dad used some sort of Pennzoil product. Not sure what filters? I could ask him?

The tapping sound appears to to be coming from under the passenger side valve cover. I want to say it taps all the time not just when cold. I'll have to confirm that for sure? At first I thought for sure it was an exhaust leak. Then I got to watching YouTube videos and then thought for sure it was a loose or ejected rocker arm from a bad lifter. So I started with a compression test. That ranges from 105 to 155psi. Then I pulled the passenger side valve cover expecting to see something obvious and didn't see a thing other than some pretty ugly dirt clod level oil deposits. Even after sitting overnight, engine cold, ALL the rocker arms are tight, no slack, no play.

What to do now? In talking with some mechanic friends of mine, I have a number of options. Basically, get to flushing and cleaning they say. One said my compression variation is from sticky piston rings. One said to use a quart of ATF with short 100-mile OCIs. Another said to use Liqui-Moly Pro Engine Flush. So at this point I think I'll button everything up as is and start flushing. Once I can confirm the engine is cleaned up, better then what it is now, I'll come back and install all new lifters. That's my thought at this point.

What do you think?

 

4.7? I bought one off a co-worker that had a terrible rattle/tapping. It had lost all oil pressure. The sludge was worse than yours. Check and clean your oil pickup in the oil pan. that will starve oil pressure really fast. The sludge looks like it's been in there a while.

 

Whoa, those are two very different scenarios. If left up to Walmart, they'd probably put in their cheapest Supertech conventional junk from the barrel. And how long was your brother leaving it in?

TBH, the engine looks abused.

Anyway, if this was an ejected rocker, your engine wouldn't just be tapping, it would be running like complete sht, with misfire codes popping and all. The thing I'd be wondering is, is your oil sump pick-up id being partially blocked by that sludge. That would basically be causing a starvation issue, which would explain the tapping . Now you might use a flush and it may make things better, or it may make things completely worse by even further blocking the pickup. Pulling off the oil pan and checking/cleaning the sump would probably be the best route. I've heard of folks filling the block with kerosene and letting it sit for a week before draining. (Not trying to start, of course.) You can roll the dice with a flush and be prepared to pull the pan anyway if things go south.