What kind of lifespan are people getting out of the 4.7L?

I'm getting a little tired of all the driveline problems I've had with this truck. I'm going on 3 rear diff rebuilds, 1 front diff rebuild, a t-case replacement, and now am staring down a transmission rebuild. If I have to spend $1,500 every couple of years to keep the truck on the road I don't mind it. But I'm not sure I want to do much more with it if the engine is going to crap out soon.

Truck is a 2000 4.7L 4x4 5-speed. I am the original owner, have been using synthetic oil since the beginning. Truck has 200,000, mostly highway miles. At this point I only use the truck when I need 4x4 or I am heading into the mountains or for odd jobs. I've heard of Dodge engines going as long as 400,000. The 4.7L seems really solid and the engine is the one thing in the truck that's never given me a problem. Other than that it uses a lot of oil, which I kind of expect from an engine this old, it has always run great.

Thoughts?

 

They will last forever if properly maintained, just like any other engine. 4.7's do not like to be overheated, so as long as it never overheats, you should get many more miles out of it.

 

I'm at almost 269K. Also running full synthetic. Engine is tight and smooth. Truck isn't burning any oil, far as I can tell.

 

2005 4.7, 200,000 miles, use the **** oil from jiffy lube since first oil change, minor upgrades stock bottom end with nitrous, solid motor, just keep up the maintenance

 

I had a Dodge Dakota with 360k me Les in it sold it to a mancanic now I have and 1500 ram 100k mile great engine

 

You mention that your truck used oil. I discovered after going through gallons of oil for a couple of years. I thought it was all blow by. Oil was trickling out of the oil pressure sensor just above the oil filter. Oil was coming out of the sensor not a thread seal problem. I know there is blow by my number seven cylinder. When I switched over to single viscosity SAE 50 And then to SAE 40 NAPA the oil consumption went way down. I now use Lucas oil stabilizer which is 250W for the mineral oil. The full synthetic Lucas oil stabilizer is 125W if you want to use that. when the oil consumption went down I topped it off with 15 W 40 oil and have 2 1/2 quarts of the 250W Lucas mineral oil in my engine. Still runs like new. I have a 2004 Dakota quad cab SLT PLUS 2WD 4.7 L.

 

Now at 335K mi and not adding any oil in between my 7,500 mi oil changes. Truck is driven daily in heavy ATL traffic. Still using the original timing chains. Haven't touched the tranny aside from fluid and filter changes.

I replaced lifters, springs, valve stem seals and valve cover gaskets a few years ago. The latter two cured my oil losses, which were not bad to begin with. Also cured the occasional puff of white smoke I was getting when accelerating from a stop or starting while engine was hot.

Rubber bands kept the gaskets in place without having to add anything tacky when installing.




Here you can see a new valve stem seal on the right. The hole on the left is awaiting a new lifter. Notice the heavy brown color everything has. The previous owner was NOT good with oil changes. Oil rolled out slow like molasses when I first changed it and yet, this engine is still running great today.




Testing the valve stem seals....
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...tem-seals.html

 

Spot on.

Also though, consider cost of repairs vs. replacement. Used vehicle prices are still kinda stupid.