I have a 2003 Dodge Dakota with the 4.7 in it. This question may have been kicked around before but I couldn't find anything really helpful on it. This engine has some very noticeable lifter clatter when you start it up cold. Any brilliant solutions?

I just recently bought this truck. It had some very serious oil sludge issues. It had some lifter noise so I thought I could solve it by changing all the lifters. It may have helped some, but not nearly enough. Yes, it is lifter noise. It clears up in about 2 seconds after starting it up.

I've tried most of the oil supplements to no avail. Did I get a batch of bad replacement lifters?

 

I know this isn't what you were looking for...but...if it ain't broke, don't fix it. As long as it stops after the oil pressure is brought back up, you aren't hurting anything.

 

Hm. I know that is true, but I am trying to sell the truck. People wince visibly when they hear the lifter noise.

P.S. Know anybody that's half-deaf that wants a nice quad cab Dakota?

 

I agree, my truck does the same thing, after it warms up a little it goes away, i have 230000.00 on mine and everything seems good with it still

 

You can still hear a slight ticking when it is running but it isn't bad.

Kind of off topic, but this thing had severe sludge buildup when I bought it. I actually had to drop the pan and scrape it out and burn the gunk out of the sump. It would lose oil pressure if you revved it to high. I really should have taken pics when I pulled the valve covers off. You could start scraping gunk out in walnut sized chunks.

How can I prevent this from happening again or what caused it in the first place?

 

Cheap old school Dino oil is the problem many people still feel buying the cheapest oil is all you need in an engine so you get the sludge.

With the sludge you have a slow dissolving is the answer with Marvel Mystery Oil in the crank case it will slowly dissolve the sludge away. As bad as you have it it could take two years and your oil will look black all the time even a week after the oil change and more frequent oil changes may be needed.

Any new brand name oil that’s a quality oil will keep an engine clean but synthetic is the best oil IMO.

 

Just make sure you start it before they come to look at it lol. Its actually pretty normal. You could try switching oils to see if it will help. Id run some lucas hd oil stuff. My buddy swears by it.

 

I've tried the Lucas stuff and it seemed to help a little

I tried some Motor Flush by Gunk. It made it totally quiet, but the effect was temporary.

@ 98DAKAZ Those are my thoughts too. The fellow that owned it had run Castrol and switched to Semi-synthetic. That was when he started having problems with gunk building up in the sump.