Hi i recently bought a 2003 ram 1500 quadcab 2wd 5sp manual with a 4.7l. i got it cheap it was a trade in with an engine noise. it only has 60k miles.

ive searched other postings but havent found any good answers.

i figured it was a bad chain tensioner just by listening to it on the lot and thought it would be an easy fix. so in the last couple weeks ive done:

• full timing chain set with tensioners
• inspected conecting rods/bearings and retourqed
• oil pan gasket cleaned oil pickup. (no sludge in this engine whatsoever)
• spark plugs
• lash adjusters (all 16 new)
• exhaust manifold gaskets
• oilchange 5-30 mobile 1 with a liter of lucas
• and some other stuff im sure. but those are the main points

it still ticks all the time loud. i cant pin it down at all... but every angle that i go at this engine it looks fine. the only thing that i did find wrong, was the right side secondary chain tensioner was siezed in the extended position. that was replaced first with the chain set.

the truck is mint other than this noise. its embarasing and i wont drive it the way it is. also the truck runs awsome no engine light. drives like a brand new truck. i havent driven it hard ofcourse but i bet i could.

am i missing somthing? i drive cadillac cars and ill fix those all day long (sometimes i have to haha) this 4.7 is new to me. any help would be great. as i would like to keep this truck.

 

I've heard of a TSB for the 4.7L and "piston slapping" where the bearing clearance is too high allowing the piston to ever so lightly "slap" the bottom of the head. Not sure if this applies to 2003, though. I have about 52K miles on my 2003 4.7L and it still purrs like a kitten.

 

you hit all the things I would have suggested. Do you know any of the truck's history? Where there any obvious signs of metal hitting metal when you opened it up?
Not that I am condoning getting rid of the truck but if you do, I might be interested in the tranny and clutch and all...if you aren't too far away.

 

i just checked for TSB's 2003 on piston slap and dont show anything.. i have the capabillity to check for those here. i dont want to remove the heads now just to find that nothing is wrong with them.

I did not find any reason for concern anywhere in the engine at all. nothing hitting on anything... nothing in the oilpan at all not even sludge. litterally used 1 paper towel to clean the pan before i put it back on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmy0xqi2clY

this video is exactly what my truck sounds like. in this case the guy found a bad bearing. mine are fine......... of course i did not drop the crank right out thats a bit of a crazy design down there. i didnt drop it because i saw nothing to concern me down there and all the rod bearings were like new

i dont know any history on the truck at all....

and as far as you wanting the tranny.. im going to try and sell the complete truck before i tear it down its a nice ride but i dont want to start dealing with wreckers and putting a new engine in you have to do the job 3 times as we all know...... id rather do a full rebuild... but im not really set up for that at the moment.

im going to redo the timing today i dont think its going to change anything but im kind of lost at this point

 

Uh, look man ... things might "look" good when you tighten them up but platigauge tells the whole story. I don't have the clearances in front of me, but I would find out what the they are, get some plastigauge and measure what the clearances are with your rods. it might explain that you may not have a "spun" bearing, but a bearing that's beyond spec. I think you have a rod bearing going, catch it now.

 

If you can pop off the pan, you can pop off each rod cap, push up each piston (rotate crank as needed) replace your bearings and measure clearance. I've done it once .. on a V6 .. 231 buick as a matter of fact .. wasn't fun but it worked. I had a knocking noise and that fixed it.

 

what your saying makes sense for sure.... i dont have alot of experience on lower ends (on trucks that is).

i apreciate all the help guys.... i had an offer on the truck today and i took it. did the math came out $18.11 and alot of experience on a dodge 4.7l richer. altho i wont be sad if i never see one of these engines again (with a problem anyways). seemed like it would have been a nice truck.

anyways......no disrespect to you guys but this thread is useless no big solution you know...... i hated these threads while i was working on this truck do you guys know how to delete it? or do we just let it ride?

 

hey guys so i know i said i sold the truck... but it is still in my driveway waiting for the guy to pick it up tomorrow... i spoke with a dodge mechanic and he told me that it is not a well known fact that this engine has a 6/8 cyl shut down system. computer controlled. and that this could be malfunctioning causeing this noise.... sometimes his truck will take up to 2 weeks to correct itself....

anyone heard of this?

 

Never heard of it