I have a 2003 Dodge Grand Caravan Sport with the 3.8L engine and 123,000 miles on it. A couple of months ago I noticed a loud ticking noise coming from the engine when my wife was backing down the driveway. It only happens when the engine is under load. I have taken the belt completely off, started it and put in gear with my foot on the brake and it still does it so I know it is not any of the accessories. It doesn't matter what gear it is in or if it is moving or not. It will do it also if it is in park and you put the AC on. It can't be the transmission because it does it in park. I have taken it to 3 different places and got 3 different diagnosis. One says cracked flex plate, one says noise coming from timing chain area, one says cam shafts are bad I need a new engine. I don't want to blindly throw money into this thing and we can't afford another car payment, any advice?

 

Welcome to DF
Have you isolate if it coming from the top or bottom of the engine? Here is one way to ck the flex plate,remove the inspection cover for the torque converter bolts,18mm. Try to tighten the bolts first,if they are tight.Then take all the bolts out and start the engine. With torque converter not bolted to the flex plate you have no load. Timing chain normally don't go bad. There has been a problem with the rocker towers on the rear cylinder head.But you need to isolate it first before maying any replairs.