2001 Dakota 4.7 98,000. bought this Dakota at right about 90,000 I believe. Drive it mostly in the winter. Geo tracker soft-top is the summer ride. The Dakota has a little chain noise (I think) at startup plus maybe lash adjuster tick and I know it has exhaust manifold leaks. Engine sounds great after warm. No abnormal noises. Thinking of a summer repair/maintenance list. Exhaust gaskets for sure.Not so sure about the lash adjusters. Minor annoyance at startup. Should the timing chain be on the short list for replacement or can it go for awhile. More than likely not going to put more than 6000 miles a year on it since I have the summer vehicle. Running 0w20 in it now from winter. Will change to the 5w30 at next oil change.Oil pressure good even with the 0w20. I never pull anything. Not sure of the history but I will be changing oil at 3000 intervals.

 

Chrysler says 250K. As far as I'm concerned, the answer is NEVER, unless you like spending $$$.

I only say this if the owner keeps the oil level topped off and keeps up with the changes. The cold start tick is cause by hydraulic lifters that eventually bleed down. I run QSUD 0W20 and change every 7500 miles. 0W will fill flow to the upper end (and lifters) faster than 5W and when hot, it's a 20 weight. Dealership standard fill is 20 weight for all 4.7 and has been for years. I also checked oil pressure with manual gauge and it was perfectly normal with 0W.

 

I'll just keep and ear on the chain then. The exhaust leak is probably most of my tic issue.I will get to that 1st. That is after the dozen or more honeydue things and stuff that really needs attention.

 

When you replace the waterpump is my answer.

 

Wondering how you correlate that. The water pump is not chain driven. It's driven by the serpentine belt and is a pretty simple job. I'm on my third now. The last one lasted 80K.

 

On the older magnum engines, I'll agree. After removing the water pump, you're only 4 bolts and the harmonic balancer away from the timing chain. The water pump attaches to and flows through the timing cover. Only adds ten or twenty extra minutes to the task mainly for mating surface cleanup.

However, this is only for the old magnums. 3.9, 5.2, and 5.9. Not the 3.7 or 4.7 Powertech engines.

 

Okay, that makes sense. He may have missed the fact that it's the 4.7L, which has three chains.