Ok, here goes, (god I hope theres someone that can shed some light on this lol)

I bought this 99 Intrepid 2.7 a few months ago with the understanding that it had a failed head gasket. I tried some steelseal in it only to find that after running about 10 minutes the car died and I found the entire contents of the cooling system in my oil pan :-( While I was mistified and couldnt figure that out, I decided to rip the heads off and do the gaskets. Got everything apart and AFTER yanking the heads off I discovered that the water pump bearing was completely toast (pieces of it were found in the oil pan) which was actually the problem all along (didnt need to do the head gaskets :-( ).

Anyway, I cleaned everything that I took off (heads cams lifters rockers and any part that was in my basement once I quit pulling stuff off the car) with commercial solvent and then let it all dry. I also replaced 4 of the lifters that gave me trouble coming out just for good measure.

Well, when i got done the car had a hard time starting and finally caught (I figured it would take a bit to get it going what with everything being disassembled and reassembled). The car now runs just fine which brings me to my current dilemna.....

A few of the lifters seem to get loud as the car runs. Also, the oil pump light came on after running for a while, so I dropped the pan and cleaned it out (lots of blech in there) and also cleaned the pick up tube and screen good. Thinking it was all set I filled it up with oil again and started her up. It ticked for about 9 seconds and then shut up, and the lifter that seemed to be making noise just completely shut up about a minute into running at idle..... I was very happy. Well, as the car warms up and gets up to temp the motor starts ticking (similar to lifter noise but different than it first sounded). So I figured Id run some more oil through it.

Well, Im waiting for funds and plan to get about 3 or 4 oil changes done within one day (the oil seems to lose viscosity quickly but Im not certain about that).... Anyway, I started it up last night as it had been sitting for a day or so. The car almost couldnt be heard running it was so quiet, but again as the car warms up it starts getting a lifter tick again, and I cant quite get my mind around what could be going on inside that engine to START quiet and run for five or so minutes completely silent, and then start ticking a little more as it goes along.

I dont know if I explained this right, and please feel free to post any questions that you might have which I did not say, but anyone who has any earthly idea on what is going on here PLEASE HELP lol.

The plan still is to run 3 or 4 consecutive oil changes through the car in the hopes that maybe the solvent remnants are breaking down my oil, but Id like to know if Im on the right track here..... Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

I don't think the solvent remnants are breaking down your oil. Even so, the few oil changes in the row wouldn't be what I'd suggest for that. You'd want to run some engine cleaner through it instead...or seafoam.

The problem I'm thinking you're having is that your oil passages are sludged up. The early 2.7L motors (98-01) are NOTORIOUS for this problem, and it's such a large problem that the wrecking yards around here ship 2.7Ls out as fast as they get them in. It's THAT bad! And if your car has a high mileage motor in it, I'm guessing it has that problem. [:'(]

The preventative fix on a good motor is to run synthetics through the motor. I'm not sure what you do to fix a motor that's already messed up [&:]

 

I wouldn't run synthetics in a high mile motor...they tend to open up oil leaks that will never be fixed. However, since you've practically overhauled the whole engine, you might just get away with it. In any case, I'd be very careful and since modern dino oils can protect nearly as well as synthetics (just not for as long), why take the chance.

The other thing I might check for is if you have exhaust manifolds that are just slightly warped; escaping exhaust gases can make sort of a valve tap noise, and it's conceivable that they seal well when cold, and as they expand with heat they leak. Look for an exhaust smell under the hood or if you see any black score marks around the exhaust manifolds that will help you locate it if that's the problem.

 

Was there allot of sludge in the heads? like he said 2.7 sludge up, bad designed engine.
Even with regular oil changes. I would sell the car. If a noisy 2.7 comes into our shop, I remove the oil filler cap and look for the sludge inside and write them up for a new engine. forget rebuilding a 2.7
Does anyone know of a forum similar to this one but for Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep Dealer techs only?

 

If you don't run synthetics through a 2.7, they WILL sludge up Modern dino oil doesn't cut it compared to cooler running and break-down resistant synthetics. If you run dino oil through the 2.7, the oil galleys WILL sludge up...and your motor will run poorly/fail on you.

Synthetic oil gets a bad rap. Personally, I've never had a problem running them in higher mileage motors. But to each his own.

 

2.7 engines are notorious for sludge, it is critical that you use 5w-30 engine oil. You may want to check timing chain tensioner, it is on the right cylinder head and is oil pressure driven. i have seen alot of failures. Did you take out oil sending unit and check oil pressure with a manual guage? Chryler specs are minimum 5psi at idle (normal operating temp) and 40-50 psi at 3000 rpms. Good Luck.