My son was driving my truck, blew the lower rad hose and did not realize it until the truck overheated and finally shut off...no idea how long he drove but I am guessing not too far...but some damage was done.
Replaced the hose after it cooled down and it started back up but the engine is ticking/knocking pretty bad. Is this due to the heads getting damaged or the lower end sustaining damage?

 

I don't know enough to speculate about possible damage. Do you see any obvious change in the oil on the dipstick? I.E. severe color change, coolant, metal bits? See any fluids leaking out of the gaskets anywhere? Does the noise come from one side or the other?

 

Knocking is usually the bottom end. You can do a compression check. 4.7 don't like to get hot, even a little causes damage.

 

Indeed!

 

If you really like your truck, pull the heads, get them inspected, check the bottom end before any possible damage is done. If it overheated and shut off on its own, you're more likely to have a ticking engine grenade itself, then its mostly unrepairable. Just a guess is a spun lower rod bearings, or possibly dropped a seat on one of the heads. Better to know than guess. Just my .02, but that is what I would personally do.

 

If a 4.7 overheats, due to the iron block and aluminum heads, and different metal expansion rates, you are very more than likely are dealing with warped heads.

You can replace the motor with the same year one, or if the lower end is good, you can do the H/O upgrade, or your can get new heads or fix the ones you have. Problem is, you will have a serious problem and there no easy solution.. Thank Mercedes for that. They designed and built the 4.7 for Dodge. Good engine in theory, but they built it with ****ty parts and now it is literally nothing but problems.

Summed up: Replace engine with a junkyard swap, or rebuild.

 

Mercedes had zero to do with the 4.7. It's Chrysler designed thru and thru. Plenty of them running around with over 300K and mine is nearing that. They are great engines.

 

That's a negative ghost rider. That's a Mercedes designed engine.

 

Considering that I actually have this engine and have actually researched it, you might think I might know what I'm saying. But, if you want to keep being misinformed, have at it.


Nice looking truck you've got there, BTW.

 

if the motor overheats in a 4.7, and shuts off considered it shot, you will spend more money trying to fix it then just getting a replacement engine.