I have ran into alot of the dodges that have the same exact problem" parts maneger at a NAPA store " see and hear alot. Dodge has a small pickup screen on there oil pump and over time that screen gets plugged. I bought my 2000 5.9 4x4 2 years ago and had a knocking in it and would loose oil presure at highway speed. From see ining and hearing from the shops and the dealer they told me that if i would flush the engine with of course there "engine flush" it would stop. Well i did the old school way and when i changed my oil i added one quart of trans fluid to my oil and drove it for 1000 miles and then changed it again. And did it one more time, the oil was black and thick both times,and havent had a problem since. My oil pressure runs 45-50 at highway speed and 35-40 at an idle. Trans fluid is a dang good cleaner and it will burn out of the engine so watch you oil level,in 1000 miles i maybe lost a half a quart and after cleaning the motor inside and puyying castol oil in it no noise and it dont even burn oil. oh and when i bought it it had 112,000 miles on it and now theres 138,000 on it

 

I know this is an older post. but its the best one that fits my problem. my 99 dak has started to make a knocking noise at idle when it warms up. when it's cold there is no noise. it started just after I brought it back out for the summer acouple weeks ago.

but when I rev it up pass 2000rpm it goes away. it sounds like a rod bearing to me. you cant really hear it when you above the engine, just underneath it. sounds like near the back of the motor in the oil pan.

I dont know how good it is to drive it like this so I brought out the 88 dak till I figure whats going on.

I posted in the dak section, but since there the same motors and I'll probly get a better reply here.

 

How hard is it to pull the pan on a Dak? It's cake on a Ram but we got more room.

 

Whoa! trans fluid in the engine oil?
Has anyone else done this?

 

Can't be any worse than throwing a pint or more of MMO in there.

 

i looks too tight to pull the pan down there. I dunno, I'll look at it more closer to see if I'll have room to pull it. if not, looks like I'll be pulling the motor to see where this knocking is comming from. I'm gonna try a mechanics stethiscope(spelling?) this weekend to see where its exactly comming from.

aslo when I rev it up and when the rpms are comming back down you can hear it rattle for a bit, which makes me think valve train.

but hopefully after this weekend I'll have a better idea where its comming from.




and I used to use tranny fluid in the oil all the time. it works pretty good. never used it on the 99, but in my 82 ram it worked wonders.

 

What did the tranny fluid do?

 

it used to have a sticky lifter, and after I put some tranny fluid in her,it was gone. it also cleans out the engine too.

 

Tranny fluid has a pretty high detergent content ... good for cleaning sludge and varnish out of a gunked up motor.

 

You should not have to fully pull the engine to replace the oil pump. Look into loosening your motor mount and transmission mount bolts so there is roon for the engine and tran to move. You may need to pull parts from the top and front of your engine to make room for it to go up. Unbolt the exhaust manifolds from the tailpipes and look for anything else needing removed loosened that could prevent the engine from being moved upward. It is a possibility thatyou can move it enough to pull the pan.

If you go to this effort, buy a Melling High Volume Pump. The high volume will give some additional life to your engine. For an exstra $25 you can but a new Melling screen if you want. The oil pan gasket should be re-uasable. Be extra careful putting the pump in and make sure it is 100% flush with the block when tightening the bolts. Failure to do this will cause the pump to crack and fail.

In the past (Pre MMO or SPecialty Engine flush days) I used the tranny fluid method and it does work great.