Any Mechanics Out Here?

[Captain Jack]

My friend's 2004 Durango is acting up again. When he starts the engine after the SUV has been sitting for a day, the engine makes a "clang-clang" sound. Then it will get quiet and idle normally. However, when he accelerates, the clang noise comes is audable again. You have the sound of the pistons in the V-8, but at the same time, the "clang" sound comes with it. What could it be? Otherwise the truck drives well, no sense of loss of power or roughness.

[Fixxer]

Spun bearing, assuming it isn't the heat shield on the muffler or cat.

[USAF452]

Originally Posted by Fixxer

Spun bearing, assuming it isn't the heat shield on the muffler or cat.

Ditto that. Where is the "clang" coming from? Front, middle, rear of vehicle? If engine, drivers side, passenger side? Happen while driving, idling, starting, braking, accelerating?

[t_byrd]

Depending on the clang, it could be a bad valve too. Bad valves, i.e. valves out of adjustment, can be too loose and slap the piston, which would cause a noticeable clanging sound that may get louder as you accelerate. Plus what the previous have said.

[Fixxer]

Take a piece of rubber hose (like fuel line or heater hose), and listen to one end while probing with the other end, to help locate where the sound is coming from. Take off the oil fill cap and listen inside the valve cover too.

Might help.

[Groo]

could also be a cracked exhaust manifold.

[Bonehead]

is it a 4.7?

it seems all dodge engines are junk.

http://www.carcomplaints.com/Dodge/D...l_sludge.shtml

this scared me off dodge when I was looking at vehicles last winter.

[Lopper]

My son has a 03 jeep with the 4.7 engine it has 130,000 miles. he uses a good grade of oil and has no problem with. Oil is the life blood of a engine. People that use cheap oil, like you get in all of the fast oil change places. You get what you pay for. This is even more so with Aluminum engines like the 4.7
I have a Cummins in a 96 Dodge and change oil every 5000 miles. using the best oil I can get by checking the ASE rating of the oil. I have just less then 380,000 miles on it and it uses 1 qt or less between oil changes. the last 2 Dodge cars I've had got 250,000 plus miles and never worked on them. Back in the late 60s I did a trade for a 57 and a 63 Chevy as a pair. Never could get the 63 to run more then a few thousand miles with out sparkplug problems, sold it to my uncle and he put about 70,000 miles (over 2 years) on it before changing the plugs, some of them had no electrode left on the plug. just shows some cars work better then others for some people.

[OneNineZero]

If I would take a guess I would say it's the front differential axle.

[GT Jon]

Originally Posted by Fixxer

Take a piece of rubber hose (like fuel line or heater hose), and listen to one end while probing with the other end, to help locate where the sound is coming from. Take off the oil fill cap and listen inside the valve cover too.

Might help.

Solid advice here, locate where the noise is coming from and we can do a better job of helping you.

Um, well I'm not a mechanic but I do a lot of work on my own cars and grew up in a shop with an ASE Master Mechanic for a father. Not worth much, but I will help where I can.