Well the slight tick which I thought was in the valve train developed into a louder knock. It turned out to be the number 5 rod bearing. The rod journal on the crank looked great so I just replaced the $ 6.18 rod bearing. I now have 800 miles on it so far and it's still running smoothly. On youtube there is 03 dodge intrepid with a knock and it had the same rod bearing to go bad. I had around 140k miles on the engine and it was serviced regularly. Anyone else having problems with the number 5 rod bearings going bad?

My 01 RT had #5 rod cracked at the squirt hole when I bought it(engine was out and on a stand). The resulting slight stretch allowed the #5 piston to make brief contact with the head. Replaced rod, machined crank, engine installed, running great. #5 seems to be a common ailment!