If you get a puff of blue at startup, that's valve seals. Given your truck is 18 years old...... seals are probably dry, and cracked. Wouldn't hurt to change 'em.

Only special tool I am aware of being needed, is something to pressurize the cylinders, to hold the valves up while you have the springs and such off. Some folks just stuff cotton rope into the spark plug hole, then turn the motor so the piston holds the rope against the valves, thus preventing them from dropping into the cylinder.

Smokes sometimes at startup, mostly I was getting it when accelerating from a stop. Overall, it helps to prevent oil loss out the tail pipe and protects the catalytic converter from said oil. With this age and mileage, replacing them should be a given if you're in there anyway. I'm pretty stoked about how clean my truck burns now with new seals. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...tem-seals.html

I will say, however... it does make the job much more difficult/tedious when doing the seals. Compressing the spring to remove lifters is one thing. With the engine rotated so the cam is at a low point, it's pretty easy get them out. Heck, you can lever them in and out with no spring tool, if you watch some youtube vids. Compressing the spring enough to remove the keepers however, is more difficult. It requires a great degree of spring compression and you'll probably have to remove the fuel rail in order to get enough room for your wrench to travel. Once you have the keepers off, the spring comes off and then you're at the valve stem. Do the sealss if you plan on keeping the truck a long time. It's double the work if you have to go back in again.

It is very tedious, and can be downright difficult when compressing the springs that are up against the firewall. I've got a Dakota, so it may be easier on a Ram, assuming a larger engine bay. I had to loosen the brake booster and let it hang out of the way sorta, just to get the driver's side valve cover off. I had a really hard time with the passenger side valve keepers furthest back. That is the most difficult part.... getting the keepers back in by dabbing grease on your finger and having the keeper stick to it as you maneuver them into position. They tend to fall off and get lost. Also things under spring tension can slip and go flying, never to be found. Having a few extra keepers and spring retainer caps before starting is a good idea. There are 16 stem seals in all... two per cylinder (intake & exhaust) and the same amount of springs to compress. There are 32 valve keepers in total to remove and reinstall.

The combo tool I mentioned has two legs, one for each purpose (removing springs/keepers vs lifters). You'll need an air compressor and a valve keeper hose for screwing into the spark plug hole.. (or rope If you want to go that route)... You'll the requisite sockets and wrenches + an extending magnet to snag the keepers. You'll need a fuel rail disconnect collar (cheap plastic ones are fine). You'll probably need a helper... or review my thread for the contraptions I got it done with, while working alone (covid...I had no choice). I wrapped a rag around a screwdriver sprayed with brake cleaner and cleaned each lifter hole as I went along. You also need to stuff rags into all the holes so things don't fall into the engine, down spark plug holes, injector holes, etc. Lots of stuffing on a big turkey. LOL

Very important: You must rotate the engine so the piston you're working with is at TDC. I stuck a screwdriver in the spark plug holes and watched it rise to max height as I rotated the engine. The valves hit the cylinder at TDC, so no worry of them falling in if air compression is lost. Forget to do this and you could be in for a world of hurt. Driver's side cylinders sit at a steeper angle than passenger, so when using this method, you'll have to keep pulling the screwdriver out if the piston locks against it.

See my valve cover install thread for the rubber band trick. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...ue-or-rtv.html

Sorry if my writing is a bit disjointed...just trying to relay from memory. If you end up needing part numbers, etc., LMK.

Is that the tool that people in some youtube videos substitute with a bent 10mm open end wrench?

The bent wrench only removes rockers. You can't remove springs and seals with a wrench and you certainly can't install them with one. The combo tool takes the place of two Miller tools.




I used rubber tarp straps attached to a pipe handle to hold the wrench in place while the spring was compressed. I hooked them wherever I could to get the job done...sometimes into the wheels. I also kept notes to remind me of things...ended up not needing them. It all flows as you do it. I did other things as I went along. New serpentine belt & spark plugs. Regreased all my "sealed" pulley bearings on idler and tensioner pulleys. Cleaned out the oil fill tube. That was a mess. AC compressor was pushed to the side with lines still attached. Fan and shroud were removed. Kept a tube of dielectric grease and a toothbrush... greased every single plug I pulled, as I went along. Also greased the coil boots and spark plugs. All that grease helps next time I disconnect things and keeps things water resistant when I wash the engine.

That's a badass project. I just replaced the rusting oil pan, gasket and pickup tube and was happy to see nothing gunked up in the old one. How many of your lifters were bad and it looks like that tool uses a 3/8" drive to compress the new springs? At 206,000 miles, I don't have any problems, that I know of, with my 4.7 but was thinking of doing this and timing chain as a preventative cuz its bound to happen some time.

Yes, the tool is 3/8". Only one lifter failed completely, but they were all "bad." The springiness was gone from the plungers. I could actuate them by hand by lifting the plunger but it would fall back down as I let go. The bad lifter seized completely and spit out the rocker. I was lucky it didn't cause damage cause I already had all the parts ready to do the job, but kept procrastinating...till one finally failed. The rocker eject and quarantine time left me with no excuses.

So if you hear that diesel clatter on startup, change out the lifters. They may work for years, but eventually they will fail. ​​​​​​

Are those lifters pricey? I looked them up on Amazon and they are $22 Canadian each. Seen other complete sets for about $75 for all 16.
What type of valve cover gaskets you use? Heard some of the brands leak quite easily.

I used Sealed Power, which are made by Federal Mogul.
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...271/19690646-P

Paid about $7 each at the time, but got them with an Advance discount....I think around 25% off. According to the boxes I got, they were all made in the USA. I saw those cheap sets on ebay, Amazon etc but I didn't trust them for the long haul. Too much to lose and too much work even if something doesn't get damaged.

The valve cover gasket set is Felpro, which is a great brand.

After finding a loooooong thread going from 2006 to 2019 on the subject of 4.7L lifter rattling/dieseling noise with many many having this issue and changing a multitude of parts where many had no resolution (even newer vehicles that the dealers dealt with) and the noise continued, I have decided to just change the lifters at this time and see if that gets rid of the noise. It did for some. The thread is an interesting read and in the end in this thread and other similar one's many were driving their vehicles years later with the same noise and some were told it wasn't a engine killing issue most likely by mechanics. Hopefully the lifter change eliminates my engine noise, I will use it this summer for a camping trip and want it to make it through the trip of course. I did drive the truck a month before getting it for a couple of 2 hour trips and it ran well despite the noise.

I didn't realize there were so many with the issue, you'd think Dodge would have a TSB and solution out for this common problem with the 4.7L V8 engine in wide use for so many years.

Here's the link to the mega thread on the issue :

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...-slapping.html

Yeah, I read through some of that thread. There are many like it in the other forums too.

The simple fact is that oil will bleed down from the hydraulic lifters (aka losing prime) and cause the cold start chatter, till they prime up again. Now I do say chatter/clatter... NOT slapping or knocking, which might be something more serious. I want to say it's normal for the 4.7L, but the truth is that clatter is the sound of wear occurring, no matter how slowly it occurs. I'm sure you heard it said that most wear occurs during startup? The case couldn't be truer for hydraulic lifters. It will take a long time, but they will fail eventually...the question is, how long do you let it go?

If anyone is chasing down total elimination of that sound, they're chasing a pipe dream. Even my brand new lifters now clatter momentarily with the morning cold start... its ever so slight and it goes away much quicker. My old lifters had over 300K on them, so they lasted a really long time and they probably chattered from new, but I let them go far too long. How long these aftermarkets will last is anybody's guess. If I have the truck for another 100-150K, I might change them out again.

Here is a pic of the Sealed Power lifters. These are actually the same part number, but these were what I found when I opened the boxes. The one on the left is redesigned, supposedly to combat the bleed down, according to Federal Mogul (I called to inquire). I was able to get all but one of the redesigned lifters, so one of my lifters has the chrome cap you see on the right and all the rest are black caps.