Hi Newbie here,

I have a 2000 Intrepid with the dredded 2.7 Liter engine in it. I have just 66,000 original miles, with oil changes every 3,000 to 4,000 miles. About 3 months ago, the engine developed a "ticking" sound at all RPMs. At the time, I thought it might be one of the valve lashers that got stuck with all the sludge issues with this engine. Well a couple of weeks ago, while out on a drive, it suddenly developed a very loud knocking sound. You could almost say it was like a severe detonation issue, or to those who have experienced it, a broken connecting rod. Well, I wasn't that far from home so I kept driving it. The engine never blipped a higher temperature, but the check engine light did flicker (probably because it was obviously running rough). So, there are no oil leaks, no water jacket leaks, nothing. I went ahead and pulled both the valve covers and I have a very clean engine no sludge at all which I suspected could have been the problem. All the valves, springs and cams look good, and everything cranks over just fine. But, what then could have caused that loud knocking sound? No way a connecting rod could have broken I wouldn't have gotten very far, and it most likely would have seized the engine. Do the valve lashers have any hydralics in them, i.e. could one or several of them have collapsed? Its a DOHC so I didn't think they used any type of push rod or valve lash. Any one hear of this happening before to put out that kind of engine knock yet still be drivable? I can replace the valve lashers, but if it might be a deeper engine issue, it's probably not worth the expense or my time to fix it. Let me know any suggestions and thanks for a great forum.

 

That's the way my daughters was.
It never ran hot & would start & idle.
Used the old school thought & dropped the pan.
There was enough shavings to convince me not to go further.
We dropped a 3.5 out of a 300 in it, nice power, amazing difference.
RGB

 

Your bearings could have high knicks in it. Some valve lifters are hydrallic. Although I am not up to the level of measuring those types of lifters, I am sure there is a way to test the measurements to determine if they are good. Or visually inspect them. My Brother had a VW and he showed me a cause of the engine knock he experienced. But, the ticking sound you described is definetly valves. But you also stated that the ticking sound became deeper. Do you have a stethoscope? Is the sound heard essesively on top? Did you remove the head and manually turn the crank? Allright, hope things work out for ya. Let us know what's up...

 

i recently changed my water pump, a few weeks after i changed it started to make a knocking noise it wasnt loud, i knew it was the primary timing chain tensioner, i re-used the timming chaing and guides they were still good. but the primary timing chain tensioner was no good the rubber o-ring and medal ring were kinda broke i glued them together and i reused them. I'm going to change the primary timing chain tensioner with a new one. Can i just unscrew the bolt and retaining plate take the older tensioner out, and put the new tensioner in put the retaing plate and screw the bolts back in? Or am i going to have to take the valve cover and timing chain cover apart and re-align the chains and everything?

 

you can just change the tensioner but be very careful. If it was me changing this part, (which I've done a lot) I prime the tensioner first, I remove the timing cover to ensure the chain doesn't slip then install then remove the old tensioner and install the new one. What a POS chrysler came up with in the 2.7. I miss the quality, ease of service and reliability of the 3.3.

 

I'm pretty sure doing just this would cause the timing chain to drop off the crankshaft. Seen it happen with the timing cover off.

Do like 92dak5.24x4 says, get the timing cover off, and keep tension on the chain when you replace the tensioner, you might be okay. Problem is that the replacement tenisoner will go bad again, the design sucks.

Good Luck!