LuckyDraw
Junior Member
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2023
- Posts
- 4
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Montrose, Colorado
- Ram Year
- 2004, 2002 and 2006
- Engine
- Currently 3.7 and 4.7
So I've been coming to this forum alot recently after my brother and I picked up 2 more Ram's recently. I've owned my '04 1500 5 speed with the 3.7 for several years now and it's been a good truck.
We just recently got an '02 1500 SLT quad cab 4x4 with the 4.7 that had blown head gaskets. Auto trans. 135k miles on it for $1200. I stripped the engine down last week and found:
-Blown head gaskets, a handful of stuck lifters and loose rocker arms on the driver's side cylinder head. Surfaces are somewhat damaged. A handful of slightly bent valves (I saw that one of the valve seats had been dimpled all the way around to prevent it from falling out. Clearly this head had been removed before - and this truck has less than 140k on it). The plastic lining on the timing chain guides had broken apart, a tensioner had failed and the engine oil looked like a chocolate milkshake - naturally due to the coolant that got mixed in there.
Should I fix it or source a later model 4.7?
Should I try to find a 5.7 with the harness, etc?
Then this week, I pulled the other engine apart.
This one is an '06 quad cab 2x4 with the 3.7 and auto trans with something like 150k on it for $1100. It would start right up, but had a loud rod knock. It was run low on oil and snapped a rod. (I just found out yesterday while pulling the engine apart). Surprisingly it didn't damage the engine block or sleeve. The heads are fine, no cam or rocker arm damage. The piston that snapped off had minor dings on the dome from one of the valves, but I saw no damage on the head or valves so far. The crank is scored however. I assumed it had spun bearings, but I didn't expect it to have a snapped rod, lol.
So, I've done a good bit of reading regarding different mods to these 3.7 and 4.7 engines - like the injectors, later model cams and intake manifold, etc. I also read about engine swaps, the need for not only the engine, but the harness and ecm/tcm, etc. as well.
The trouble is that I live in a relatively remote area. So if I want to go to a U-Pull-It yard, I have to drive 5 hours to Denver and spend the day or more searching and pulling everything I need.
So I'm doing all the research I can and weighing out my options and looking for advice, guidance and opinions on what I should do.
Thanks!
Regards,
Brian
We just recently got an '02 1500 SLT quad cab 4x4 with the 4.7 that had blown head gaskets. Auto trans. 135k miles on it for $1200. I stripped the engine down last week and found:
-Blown head gaskets, a handful of stuck lifters and loose rocker arms on the driver's side cylinder head. Surfaces are somewhat damaged. A handful of slightly bent valves (I saw that one of the valve seats had been dimpled all the way around to prevent it from falling out. Clearly this head had been removed before - and this truck has less than 140k on it). The plastic lining on the timing chain guides had broken apart, a tensioner had failed and the engine oil looked like a chocolate milkshake - naturally due to the coolant that got mixed in there.
Should I fix it or source a later model 4.7?
Should I try to find a 5.7 with the harness, etc?
Then this week, I pulled the other engine apart.
This one is an '06 quad cab 2x4 with the 3.7 and auto trans with something like 150k on it for $1100. It would start right up, but had a loud rod knock. It was run low on oil and snapped a rod. (I just found out yesterday while pulling the engine apart). Surprisingly it didn't damage the engine block or sleeve. The heads are fine, no cam or rocker arm damage. The piston that snapped off had minor dings on the dome from one of the valves, but I saw no damage on the head or valves so far. The crank is scored however. I assumed it had spun bearings, but I didn't expect it to have a snapped rod, lol.
So, I've done a good bit of reading regarding different mods to these 3.7 and 4.7 engines - like the injectors, later model cams and intake manifold, etc. I also read about engine swaps, the need for not only the engine, but the harness and ecm/tcm, etc. as well.
The trouble is that I live in a relatively remote area. So if I want to go to a U-Pull-It yard, I have to drive 5 hours to Denver and spend the day or more searching and pulling everything I need.
So I'm doing all the research I can and weighing out my options and looking for advice, guidance and opinions on what I should do.
Thanks!
Regards,
Brian
