Need some help with my 4.7

[CokeZero]

Given the fact that I'm prepared and expecting to repower with a new engine, just for ***** 'n giggles I'm gonna seafoam and do an oil change with Mobil 1 today. I'm also gonna change the oil sender. Lets see if it makes a difference. I'll be the guinea pig and let you guys know what the results are. Wish me luck!

Good luck! Looking forward to the results.


I was considering dropping a old 318 in it if it was simple lol. If not I'll have to save up $3k for the one on ebay.

 

[hotkarl]

Saved! Holy crap I can't friggin believe it.
Put the seafoam in and drove to the parts store and got my mobil 1 and a mopar filter.
They didn't have the sender so I had to go to another place. They had it, so by the time I got done running around I racked up around 20 or so miles.
Truck was good and warm, pulled the drain plug and the old oil came out like a friggin garden hose!
It was like hot water. No signs of sludge or chunks or anything.
I made sure the catch can for the oil was real clean so I started to examine the oil and found nothing!
No sludge, no metal shavings. Nothing out of the ordinary just watered down oil. Probed inside the pan thru the drain plug hole with a q-tip. Nope, no sludge. Dropped the old filter and did the same with a q-tip. Nothing. Clean. Busted a few knuckles removing the old sender which appeared to be the original. Again probed the opening with the q-tips again and it was clean. Put everything back together and drove it to work tonight. No issues. The oil pressure stayed in the normal range, the needle stayed in the center the entire drive. Normally as soon as the it got to operating temp the gauge would drop at idle while in gear.

 

[JPT]

Knew it was the sender... I had one go bad on my jeep when it had 60k miles on it. I was all worried for nothing. Good news!

 

[hotkarl]

I was almost going to run it without the new sender for comparison, to see if/what effect the seafoam had. But, it was so much easier to do the sender with oil filter off so I said screw it and just did everything to be done with it.

I was really expecting to see some scug and gak in the oil when I drained it. The baffle and the oil filler neck looked gross so I just assumed that with sender acting the way it was and the history of these motors sludging up that this was the case with mine. Yesterday was a good day.

 

[CokeZero]

Saved! Holy crap I can't friggin believe it.
Put the seafoam in and drove to the parts store and got my mobil 1 and a mopar filter.
They didn't have the sender so I had to go to another place. They had it, so by the time I got done running around I racked up around 20 or so miles.
Truck was good and warm, pulled the drain plug and the old oil came out like a friggin garden hose!
It was like hot water. No signs of sludge or chunks or anything.
I made sure the catch can for the oil was real clean so I started to examine the oil and found nothing!
No sludge, no metal shavings. Nothing out of the ordinary just watered down oil. Probed inside the pan thru the drain plug hole with a q-tip. Nope, no sludge. Dropped the old filter and did the same with a q-tip. Nothing. Clean. Busted a few knuckles removing the old sender which appeared to be the original. Again probed the opening with the q-tips again and it was clean. Put everything back together and drove it to work tonight. No issues. The oil pressure stayed in the normal range, the needle stayed in the center the entire drive. Normally as soon as the it got to operating temp the gauge would drop at idle while in gear.

I hope it has cured it. Everytime I'd do something to mine, it would be just fine for 1-3days then start doing it again. So if yours starts to do it again please let me know.

I had planned to seafoam mine when I get a day off. I've never used it before. How long are you supposed to leave it in the oil before you change the oil?

Also gonna get a mopar filter. I've already replaced the sending unit last week so I'm not sure if I should replace it again.

What weight oil did you use?

 

[hotkarl]

I put the seafoam in before I went out to the part stores. Total running time about 45 minutes by the time I was done. Probably did 20 miles. There's a ton of debate regarding how to use seafoam. I put a half can in. This stuff really watered down the oil. I drained it hot and it shot out of the drain hole like a garden hose. I went with the Mobil 1full synthetic 5w30. I've always used the Mopar filters.

I'm still shocked that I didn't find any real evidence of sludge. I thought for sure there would be all kinds of junk coming out the drain hole and the oil would be disgusting. Complete opposite, the oil was normal condition/color for the mileage. I found no metal shavings or brassy streaks, it was just normal.
I'm going to open up the old filter when I get a chance. That one was a fram from the mechanics shop.

Now after even more extensive reading, I see that the oil filler neck can be a sludged up disgusting mess and the rest of the motor can be immaculate. So you can't always rely on that as an indication of the engine condition.

 

[CokeZero]

I put the seafoam in before I went out to the part stores. Total running time about 45 minutes by the time I was done. Probably did 20 miles. There's a ton of debate regarding how to use seafoam. I put a half can in. This stuff really watered down the oil. I drained it hot and it shot out of the drain hole like a garden hose. I went with the Mobil 1full synthetic 5w30. I've always used the Mopar filters.

I'm still shocked that I didn't find any real evidence of sludge. I thought for sure there would be all kinds of junk coming out the drain hole and the oil would be disgusting. Complete opposite, the oil was normal condition/color for the mileage. I found no metal shavings or brassy streaks, it was just normal.
I'm going to open up the old filter when I get a chance. That one was a fram from the mechanics shop.

Now after even more extensive reading, I see that the oil filler neck can be a sludged up disgusting mess and the rest of the motor can be immaculate. So you can't always rely on that as an indication of the engine condition.

Still going well? oil psi hasn't dropped since?

...and LoL @ your new motor description "semi-hemi" pretty cool!

 

[CokeZero]

Alright well, I give up on it. I did the sea foam, put new OEM plugs in and the most expensive full synthetic oil (redline) with mopar filter and it still does it. Now I think because it needs valve stem seals. And I'm just out of money. I cant afford to keep going with it so I've gotta put it for sale or trade as bad as I don't want to

 

[hotkarl]

Alright well, I give up on it. I did the sea foam, put new OEM plugs in and the most expensive full synthetic oil (redline) with mopar filter and it still does it. Now I think because it needs valve stem seals And I'm just out of money. I cant afford to keep going with it so I've gotta put it for sale or trade as bad as I don't want to

Ugh...that sucks. You might take a beating trying to sell it with motor issues. If it still runs good baby it and start stashing some money aside to repair the engine.
So far mine is still going good. After my shocks and suspension work is done my next thing is replacing the rotting oil pan. When I get around to dealing with that I'll have my guy check out the bearings and address if needed while it's opened up.

Think hard about the pros/cons of selling. Did you get a mechanical gauge on there to see what the actual oil pressure is?

 

[CokeZero]

No, I already sold it. got 2500 and bought a car. I'll just save up for another one and will make sure its not the dreaded 4.7

So far I've had a 3rd gen with the Cummins Turbo Diesel and now the 4.7 And both of them were terrible. Guess I'll try the hemi next and if its troublesome as well I'm going to finally give up on dodge.