Hello,

New to the forum and my truck. This weekend, to save some needed cash, I traded my 05 Sierra w/ 37k for a 2004 Ram 1500, 4.7L V8, 5-speed w/ 69.5k miles. It seemed to drive fine, or at least as you could expect a basic work truck with 70k miles would. After running it up to warm temps for about 15 minutes, a quick look underside and above the truck revealed no leaks or smoke. The engine compartment, FWIW, was a bit dusty, pitted, and corroded, but all the fluid levels were good, and there were no apparent leaks or oily grime around the intake manifold, heads, or exhaust manifolds.

Recently at work we've been renting either a 2007 or 2008 Ram 1500, 4.7/auto. It runs smooth, and revs and purrs like modern Ford modular V8, and fires relatively quick. My truck, however, sounds or starts nothing like that. For lack of a better description, it just sounds old. It fires fine, it's just a loud and slow fire rather than the instant, push-button-likeblast I was accustomed to with my GMC. Kinda like firing a diesel cold -- but with no clatter. I just checked those two "cold start noise" threads and I don't seem to have quite those symptoms.

However, more worrying me is that it seems to have what some would call "lifter noise" or "lifter tick." Now I know this is a SOHC motor without actual lifters, but it just seems to have a fast-paced tick that disappears a little with heavier acceleration (which I use rarely). It's exactly how you would expect an old, tired, V8-powered domestic from the 70s or early 80s to sound. There are no misses or rough running, just sounds old with a constant slight tick-tick.and Sorry if I can't be more technical --

Of course, AFTER I drove the truck the 2.5 hours home from the dealer, I had the sense to check the oil, and it was dark (i.e., not fresh) and down about 1.5 quarts from max. Filling it didn't change the noise at all. Cold or hot makes no difference either. I know manual trans models of the same exact cars always sound a little different, but this??

Now, should I be worried? My main beef is that there is 500 miles left on the 7/70 powertrain warranty, and after downloading the fine print at dodge.com, I found out that it is ONLY applicable if you are the FIRST OWNER or the SECOND OWNER WITH $150 warranty transfer fee. I don't know what owner I am; could be the 2nd maybe the 4th! And I didn't pay or even was informed of any warranty transfer fee at the sale. Complete B.S. Now I thought the way GM treated its owners with regards to warranty work was bad, this appears to be an indicator of DC being bad too (no surprise).

Considering I have to pay a $100 deductible, who knows how much on rental car, and $150 IF I qualify ... and still possibly have NOTHING done ... what should I do?

Adam

EDIT: BTW ... the truck is driven in Miami FL and uses 5w-30 oil ... it NEVER gets below 70 F here...

 

i dont know if the 4.7 has the same tick as the hemi... that might be wat your hearing... i would definitley give it a tune up as well if you think it aint firing right or whatever.. im sure one of the 4.7 guys will chime in soon and be more helpful than me though

btw..[sm=welcomesign.gif] to the forum!

 

It doesn't misfire/stumble on acceleration, and starting is OK, just feels/sounds like cranking an old diesel. Not that I've even pulled the plugs (not having a garage or carport, just a spot in a lot,doesn't encourage working on your vehicle).

At dodge.com's "owner center" it claimed to have 0 recalls and 0 TSB's for my VIN. BUT OF COURSE, a quick scan of THIS website's link showed PAGE AFTER PAGE of recalls and TSBs ...

Adam

 

I really don't know what to say to you. I have a 02 with over 77K miles, and it fires quick, and accelerates like when i got it.
You bought a used truck, which is not bad. But, there's no way of knowing how the previous owner took care of it.
If you bought a truck from one of the guys on this forum, then i would venture to say that you would be getting a good truck in good condition because the guys on here take good care of their vehicles.
I'm no expert but i think i would follow tdmopar59 suggestion, and get a tune up, oil, oil filter, air filter and anything else you can think of changed.....And see how it works then.....

 

i agree- i'll assume that IF u bring it to the dealer they are gonna screw you somehow. so, do a tune complete tune. Check/replace your battery, alt.. use FULL synthetic oil. also the tick is fairly common. i wouldnt worry too much. it seems bad cause your used to you old truck. idk what eles to sya

 

Soon it's getting an oil/oil filter/air filter change, and I'll pull the plugs. maybe replace them or file/re-gap them. This weekend, it's getting a Gibson Super Truck muffler/short pipe, which may just drown out the noise ...

 

Is there some drastic difference b/w 2004 4.7's and 2007 4.7's?

 

+1 on that, a tune-up should always be done on a used vehicle, no matter what the dealer told you had been done to it.. If you're oil was dirty and low, there's a good chance the truck hasn't been taken care of too well. There's a couple of Dodge service techs that frequent the forums here that might would look up the service history on your truck for you, but they'd have to chime in here. Or you could take it to a Dodge dealership and maybe they'll get the service record for you. Pull 1 or 2 plugs, check for wear and gap distances, but I would probably be willing to bet you're running on the original set....

Also, if you're driving an 08 4.7 at work, that's a new beast in itself. The 4.7's were redone in the 08 model lines, more power and other improvements, so compare that to your 04, well, not exactly the same...

 

Don't most cars in the last few years come with platinum 100k-rated plugs? I know ALL plugs need to be cleaned / gapped every once in a while, but geez...

At work, I just confirmed we rented an 07 qc/2wd/4.7/SLT for a few weeks, if that makes an difference.

 

I read that our trucks don't do well with platinum plugs...I might be wrong, but maybe someone else can chime in.