Hey all,

To start, I have little experience in fixing or working on engines. I have a 2001 dakota with the 4.7 v8 and am having troubles.

Last year it started stalling and misfiring. I did notice a clicking sound that seems to be coming from the valley. I used a stethescope and the noise was very quiet on the valve covers but much more profound in the valley area. As far as I know, there really isn't anythign down there. Anyways, a code reader told me that I had 3 bad coils so I replaced them along with a set of new plugs. The truck still didn't run very good so I gave up and put it in the garage.

So yesterday I brought out the truck again and started it up. Good oil pressure but the hesitation and clicking sound were still there. I had my friend put a code reader on it and it now says I have 3 bad coils again! WTF. Any ideas on what is wrong with this thing? I'm starting to think that the clicking sound (which is probably mechanical) and the ignition issue are unrelated, but I may be wrong. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 

Here is a video I made today so you can hear what the knocking sounds like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLAQmD8Nruo

Hope this helps =)

Thanks

 

Check your exhaust header bolts. It's common for them to break off and make that sound.

 

turns out that a rocker arm came loose do to either a bad lifter or cam. i bought all new lifters to be on the safe side, but as i was cleaning off the old gasket on the head i noticed 3 deep cracks. got a new head, reinstalled everything and runs good

 

I thought you said you didn't know much about engine work? Sounds like you know your way around an engine just fine.

My truck makes a similar sound - but it runs like new so I'm not all that concerned. I just assumed the lifters are a little gunked up, but now I'm going to check out the exhaust bolts.

 

Ha! So I thought about this for a couple of minutes & decided to go out to the garage to see if I have any broken bolts on the exhaust mani that could be causing my engine clicking.

Like I said earlier - I just assumed it was the lifters & short of rebuilding the top end there isn't much that can be done for that.

Well - no broken exhaust bolts.

But - the heat shield covering the manifold is held on with two of the exhaust bolts - the rear one on both sides has rusted through so the heat shield was rattling agains the manifold.

I bent it out about a quarter inch & pow - no more ticking sound from my truck!

I guess you can learn new things every day.