When I took mine in for service last week, the service manager said he had heard of the problem but that DC had not issued any notices. Let me know if the masterflow eliminates the resonance.

 

I was at a stop light and when the light changed I slowly accelerated to about 10miles an hour when I heard a sharp metal sound followed by some chugging. My oil light immediate came on and there was some slight smoking. After traveling about 20 feet, I immediately pulled over and shut the engine down. I could see no more that a third of oil dripping from under neath the Durango. I have about 145K miles on the Durango and have not had a single problem with it. I change the oil every 3000K miles. I had the Durango towed and when the Durango was lifted on a rack at the mechanics. There was a 3 inch diameter hole just about the oil pan on the block. The mechanic said, he has never seen anything like it. Anyone have any idesa what may have happened ?

 

This thread is in the incorrect section. Let me move it to the 2nd Gen Durango


As for your question, sounds like you broke a rod bearing cap bolt therefore throwing the rod down through the pan.

 

I broke a rod bearing cap bolt ? How does this happen ? Is this a defect in the engine ?... By the way....thanks !

 

I'm having some issues moving this thread.


To answer your question, A fatigue fracture could happend and broke the head off the bolt allowing the bearing cap to brake off allowing the pistion and rod to fly downward through the pan. This is a VERY rare occurance but without looking at it I can't tell for sure.

 

Back on topic with the original post from 2004 (forum problem?)...

My 04 Hemi Durango also has the "resonance" which causes something under the hood or cabin to vibrate like crazy when accelerating at a low rate, right around 1800-1900 rpm and again around 2800 rpm or so. Mostly happens in cooler (under 70 degrees) outside temps.

There was a very involved TSB out there for it. After 3 trips to dealers, I finally got one of them to perform the TSB and it made no change. I spot checked some of the TSB instructions and it does look like they performed the work. (they had the truck for a week)

I'm still under my extended warranty but not confident I can get them to fix anything.

Anyone know a DIY fix for this? The noise is pretty ridiculous and I'm just starting to think seriously about selling or trading and this could be a deal breaker.

 

Could be something on the exhaust. Check the hangers and ensure that all are good and holding the weight. Also check if you have a heat shield on the CAT for looseness.

 

rytstuf, You threw a rod. Simple. Not uncommon in the grand scheme of things on an engine with 145,000 miles on it. Sucks, but not out of the realm of possibility. Sorry for your luck.

IndyD

 

I've gone through everything I can find - since there's a pretty involved TSB (which blames the hanger positioning, which the one dealer seems to have corrected) was hoping someone else dug through this exact problem. It was specifically a defect in early 04 Hemi Durangos.

Unfortunately the problem doesn't occur in neutral, only under light acceleration, so difficult to try to diagnose.

 

Thanks to all that responded to my "Blown Hemi Engine" ! Does anyone think I can go back to Dodge for any recourse even though I have 145K miles ? Probably not but I have to ask anyway. I really do like my Durango so I had the engine replaced. Should I inform Dodge of a potential defect with 2004 Hemi engines ?