I have a 97 dodge dakota sport 2wd with 97k miles. I have this weird engine noise and not sure what it is. Im looking to sell the truck and wanna fix the noise cause it sounds like crap. When i got it inspected the guy said it sounded like its coming from the serpentine belt somewhere but who knows. What do you guys think????



Thanks,
Zach

 

is it the timing chain? found a video with a similar noise.

 

is it like a ticking? i would suggest looking at the flywheel cover.. on mine it was loose and tinging against the tranny.. it could be the tensioner on the timing chain, or just a loose part.

 

take the belt off and start it, see if that narrows down your search, dont run without the belt for too long though it'll over heat

 

And while you have the belt off, spin each component (alternator, idler, water pump, A/C compressor, etc.) by hand to see if any of them make noise.

 

A trick my dad taught me is to spray the belt with a little water, it will eliminate the resonance noise of the belt for a few seconds, in case that's the sound.

 

Your vid was so erratic you moved it around so fast you don’t have time to see anything

I thought I saw the tensioner bouncing but it was so fast I’m not sure

Can you do a better vid and move around slowly

the other thing I noticed as you revved it up the sound didn’t speed up that I could tell I’m thinking look at your fan

 

98dakaz,
what fan? his electric or clutch fan? i had a lot of issues with my clutch fan, so i deleted it... and am gonna run dual electric fans.

 

clutch fan

 

id say screw it, remove the clutch fan, and run a dual electric, (2 small fans in one unit)