the pickup tube wasnt too bad. just the screen and gasket and bottom of the pan were caked in sludge. i took my time to do it right, and ran into some trouble with the old gasket. also had to wait for the screen to sit in gas for awhile and pulled out the pressure cleaner and all that. but took me from 8am to 4 pm, so about 8 hours. if i were to do it again......3 or 4 tops.

 

Well mmstar your thread was inspirational to me as well! I actually have a 2nd Gen Ram (99' QC 5.9 4X4) but I am experiencing the exact same problem. I think this weekend I will do the same as you just did. I have already tried replacing the switch with no luck.

Anyone know if I have to do anything particular with the 5.9 to drop the pan? What about the oil pump?

 

hope it works out dude. its pretty stressful when something as major as that isnt working correctly. i was seriously considering trading it in, which im glad i didnt have to! good luck. try dropping the pan, which you already know, hopefully you'll see what i saw. as soon as it was dropped i pretty much knew it was the problem

 

Thanks,

I just read a thread in the 2nd Gen area about the same problem. This guy got lukcy and just ran some flush through and then changed the oil and no problems since. I don't have the time or money right now do anything major so I think I will try that first. If no luck I will drop the pan and clean it all out the right way.

 

you can do what you want. i understand the time and money issue, but i really wish after seeing how bad my pan was i would have dropped it sooner. i actually intended on dropping the pan 2 weeks earlier than i did. but the trannsmission was in the way and dodge said i had to drop the trans. after more research a few bolts removed the dust plate to the flywheel and i had all the access i needed. i imagine my engine was getting some (very little) oil to the engine, just not enough. the sludge was just a mess and it was so thick and gunked up that no matter how many oil changes were performed or any detergent to remove it....nothing would have gotten it out except for my own hands and good ol' brake cleaner. the pickup tube was so gunked up (screen to be specific) that with brake cleaner, flushing it with gasoline and letting it sit in gas and brake cleaner for hours, it still wouldnt break up the sludge. i finally was about ready to buy a new pickup tube and screen, but i was like if im gonna buy a new one i can try using the hose. so i did, hose didnt even come close to touching it with a high pressure nozzle. finally got out my pressure cleaner and put it on the stream setting and stuck it up in the screen and everything. that finally cleaned it all out. soaked every thing in gas to clean off the water. put everything back up and it was fine. oh and ig youve never pulled the oil pan, the gasket is more than a b!tch to take off. that was probally the most time consuming part of the whole job, other than waiting for the screen to soak in gas. any questions just ask. cant help completly because yours is a differnt gen and a different motor, but ill try and help to the best i can since ive been there and done that already.

 

Pull the valve covers and check your cams.

I've been wondering how your cam bearings are after being starved for oil. They are very delicate and spin quite fast compared to the crankshaft RPM, plus there is a tensioner to keep the timing chain tight---meaning you wouldn't really notice it right away.

Just some thoughts and .02

 

thanks gone fishin. ill get around to looking at them when i get around to buying valve cover gaskets. remember how i told, and showed you that a liquid was forming around the valve covers when i had my oil pressure problem? well now that my oil pressure is fixed, the leak is gone. i cleaned my whole engine very well and ever since the leak (as thats what it looked like) is gone.

as far as checking the cams and the bearings...what exactly should i be looking for?

 

I'm thinking of getting a 2002 QC 4.7 soon. There is one for a decent price that has 112xxx miles. The current owner has owned it for the last 100k. Claims that he has used synthetic since he's had it and switch to high mile synthetic. mmt's adventures have inspired me to be proactive.

Anyway to verify that he has been using synthetic? should I clean the crap outta it anyways?

What else should I do as soon as I get it? Plugs? Wires? Other fluids?

 

Ummm, I hate to argue, but in this case, you're way off on both the speed in relation to the crankshaft, and how delicate they are.

1. Camshafts spin at a 1:2 ratio to the crankshaft. They are only spinning half as fast as the crank at any given time. Remember, automotive engines are all 4 stroke. Intake on the downstroke of the piston, Compression on the upstroke, Power on the following downstroke, and Exhaust on the last upstroke. That means that either the intake valve or the exhaust valve is only open every other revolution of the crank, hence, the 1:2 ratio on the cams.

2. Bearing speed is described as the speed the two surfaces (in this case, the bearing and the cam journal) are moving against each other. The larger the diameter of the supported journal, the faster the comparative speed of the surfaces to one another. The cam journals are some of the smallest in any engine, and far smaller than either the crank journals, or the rod journals.

3. As far as the fragility or delicacy of the bearings, they're actually quite hardy. The babbitt they are coated with is very soft, but due to the relatively minor loads on them, can last the life of the engine and then some. I've seen many rebuilds of various brands and models of engines, and very few of them ever really needed the cam bearings replaced, even after a few hundred thousand miles. They have no axial load, and they don't take the kind of pounding that rod or crank bearings do.

4. If the tensioner has gone slack, he would have definitely heard it by now. In addition, I believe the tensioners have a one-way system designed into them, not unlike a ratchet. they only go one way. That keeps the chains from going slack when you shut the engine down and oil pressure bleeds off. If they didn't have this feature, as mileage and wear on the chains increased, the chains would slap and possibly go slack enough to jump teeth on the sprockets.

Honestly, mmstar, I would recommend that you NOT remove the valve covers unless you hear some kind of slapping from the chains, or you have a leak in them. If not, you're just wasting money, and asking to make them leak when you're done.

 

Unless he's kept receipts for all the oil changes, and they show synthetic oil in that particular vehicle, then No, you can't verify it.

However, you CAN take an oil sample & have it analyzed. That can at least show if there's any unusual wear (by showing the presence of higher amounts of bearing material than normal).

Sludge has shown to be a problem with the earlier 4.7L engines, and dropping the pan is a sure way to know if you have it or not. Being proactive and dropping the pan prior to having oil pressure problems like mmstar had, even if you do have sludge, you can clean it up, do the flushes, clean out the pickup, and be secure in the knowledge that you WON'T have sludge related problems in the future.

As far as other things to do... I'd say just plan on doing all the basics for a tune up. Has the owner kept up the preventative maintenance schedule? Even if he has, doing a flush & fill, plugs, wires, trans flush & fill, a new serpentine belt and a good overall greasing is always a good idea with a used vehicle.