Hey gang. I have an 05 Durango Ltd 5.7l HEMI with 20,000 miles on it. Last Sunday, while pulling our 4200lb trailer home, I noticed some odd behaviour on the highway. Let me try to explain it.

Ever notice when you first start the vehicle that your air intake seems to be closed and the engine makes a much louder than normal "sucking" noise - quite common with any large truck? Well, this is normal behaviour first thing in the morning when you are accelerating with a cold engine.

I was on the highway, rolling about 60mph and am assuming that I was in 4th gear. Went to lightly kick it down to get more speed and there's that loud "vvvvvvvv" sucking sound. Floored it and then let right off the gas, it kicked into O/D and a minute or so later, kicked it again and no problem - just your regular soundin/breathing engine with lots of power.

This thing happend a few more times over the hour and when I floored it while it was making the "vvvvv" sucking sound, there just seemed to be no power. Almost sounds like the engine is trying to suck in air but can't so the O2 sensor or MAF is cutting fuel to the mix? I'm not a mechanic but do know that you need both air and fuel to make power.

I know that am not pushing the vehicle too hard as it's equipped with the factory tow pack good for 7000lbs and while we towed a slightly lighter trailer last year, I never had this happen.

Does anyone know if there is a door somewhere in the intake that will shut for cold weather/cold engine operating temps? Perhaps for some reason, this door is shutting itself when it shouldn't? It does make the same sound as when the vehicle is cold.

I hope that this isn't 3rd or 2nd gear in the tranny slipping? I don't think so, but am somewhat concerned. I'm still under the bumper to bumper warranty, but you know how hard it is to fix intermittent issues...

Could a clogged PCV valve cause this?

Just wondering - it's got to be something relatively minor - checked the tranny oil level and it seemed fine - it also smelled fine? Checked oil - it's OK. The air filter is brand new but noticed that there was a stain where the PCV valve plugs back into it - or is this an EGR line? (small tube running from the block back to the air filter housing.

Any thoughts on the matter would be appreciated. Hope the question/description makes sense.

Thanks,

Marc

I

 

A trailer like that is a good load for your Durango. If you have a 7000 lbs. towing capacity I would assume that you have the 3.55 gears. When towing, you have to consider a number of things. The biggest two are that the 7000 lbs. is calculated using just the driver in the vehicle, and the other is wind resistance. Even though it might well be within the weight limit of the truck, the wind resistance is what makes your vehicle really work. The square frontal area of a travel trailer takes a lot of power to move through the air. Were you driving into a headwind? Up any hills? Even a long rise in the road? Accelerating with 3.55 at anything over 55 miles an hour is pretty hard work. The stain you are seeing is from the EGR. It can be considered normal to some degree over the life of the filter. If it stains like that over a short period of time (a week), then you are getting blow-by around the pistons. I would suspect that you are pushing your Durango a little hard and the electronic throttle cut out the fuel. Probably because it was running rich and hot. This would explain your lack of power and the blow by. The same happens under warm up, throttle is limited (although you might never notice) while the vehicle gets up to temperature. The electronics in the tranny can also do this when they sense some dangerous parameters.

 

Were you running the A/C when this noise was happening? I've had a number of dodges in the past and all have made that sound you describe when starting and also when accelerating when I had the A/C on. Not every time, but if I run at a constant speed for a while and then accelerate, or when I stop at a stop light and take off. We have an 04 Durango limited hemi and a 04 3500 cummins and both make the same noise. At least it sounds like it based on your description

 

I have an 02 R/T with the 5.9l engine...a aftermarket intake and i tend to have the same prob with no load.....at cruise right at 60 and 70 mph the truck feels almost like it jumps out of gear. It will rev high fir a sec. then feel like it jumps back into gear but no clunk sound or lurch like the truck was out of gear in the first place...dealer told me it was the intake, maf sensor says it has to much airfor the speed and rpm's and tries to close of intake and cuts fuel...almost like takin your foot of the gas at 80...I was told when the truck realizes what is goin on, you as a driver already have your foot on the floor and it takes a sec or 2 for the cpu to catch on cuz it still sees more air then it needs for the speeds and roms........no clue if this helps uor not...hope so....and hope to be told if the dealer(dodge dealer) is full of bs or not! Good luck.

 

Are you sure that its not just hot outside, causing the motor to be warm under load? The noise you may be hearing may just be the fan whrrring from working harder. As for the trans, I don't think the sound you hear as much to do with it, as long as its shifting ok. If its "searching" for gears too much, put it in tow haul mode, if you haven'talready.