I haven’t started the truck in a few days. When I turned the key last night it was a really bad metal on metal grinding noice. The truck has 124000 miles without any major engine problems before this. The battery is charged, the starter was engaging, the fan was turning free.

was this one of the years with the possible piston rod breaking? Please help.

towed it to the dealer last night. The connecting rod went through the block.

 

04D:
Indeed, the early 04 Hemi engines were known for valve spring issues, as well as a leaking intake manifold. The manifold was eventually redesigned. The original one would allow water that came down onto the engine to enter one or more cylinders, hydro-locking the engine. The result is usually what you have, a rod through the block or oil pan. Because the Durango received the MDS cylinder shut down system in 2006, you are left with 04, 05, Durango engines and a few years of Ram truck hemi's that did not have MDS as replacements. There are quite a few rebuilders out there as well.
Do you think you will repower it, or call it quits and move on?


Don

 

I only bought the truck 6 months ago. I’m about an hour northwest of philly and trying to find a builder or shop to get estimates from. The dealer wants over $10,000 to replace it. With $5,500 being the new engine. I really love the truck but, I don’t want to have the same thing happen with another used engine. I also don’t know if it’s cost effective to put in a new hemi crate motor, I would be paying twice what the truck is worth.

Does anybody know where to get a hold of a engine in good condition, that will only crack the bank instead of breaking it wide open?

 

A number of folks in the same boat had their engine replaced with a boneyard engine, or rebuilt the original one. Since the rod went through the block, a rebuild is not possible per se.
The labor was running $2K ish, with the "new" engine being another $2-$3.5K, so you are looking at $4-$5.5K unless you can do the labor yourself. It's not a fun position to be in for sure. You might check car-part.com, and see what you can find there.

Don

 

Thank you for the website. There are a lot of engines on there that havr low miles and are pretty close. I might end up renting a pickup and going to pick one up to save on shipping costs. I think I found a machanic to do it for pretty cheap too. Hopefully everytjing will work out.

One question you said earlier that the intake problem was fixed on the 06 - 08. Will that intake work on my 04?

 

I'm not sure what year the revised intake came out. The Durango got MDS in 2006, so you would want an '04 or '05 engine if it came from a Durango. Beware though that they would likely have the old style intake, and an '04 could have the bad valve springs depending on when it was built. A yard should be able to tell you what year Ram truck Hemis will interchange as well.
I would stay away from an 04 engine unless I knew it had been rebuilt or updated.

Don

 

04 engines have rod issues. They intake manifold isnt an issue, the leaking cowl is... You could get a 05-06 engine.

I picked a 5.7 hemi out of a 2005 for 250$ for the entire long block. Will run me around 700$ to rering, redo the heads...

10,000$ price is criminal... they are laughing at you if you accept that scam.