defiant

Hey guys my wife's 04 dodge Dakota 3.7L V6 truck has just developed a what I
think is a lifter tick when cold. when you first crank it up in the mornings
it has a very noticeable tick from the right (passenger side) hand cylinder
bank its not a rattle or a big thump just a tick that goes away after about
3 to 5 minutes. after that its good all day long no problems at all till you
let it sit for awhile.
then it might make a tick for maybe just a sec or 2 then its gone.
we use either Castrol 10w-40 or Pennzoil 10w-40 in it and usually a fram
tough guard filter oil is changed frequently as she drives about 200 miles a
day.
any ideas as what this problem is and what I need to do to fix it.
I'm thinking a lifter that's loosing prime over night or leaking down.
truck runs fine other wise. no other problems at all. I'm not familiar with
this engine at all I'm assuming since I've seen some engine specs on the net
on this motor its OHC and not OHV (pushrod?).I added some marvel mystery oil
to it Thursday night and it seemed to help some and I'm planning on changing
the oil this weekend I'm just curious as to what the problem might be and
what the fix is I have to keep this truck on the road as it is her work
truck and she needs it very much.
thanks in advance,Charles

geekboy

Get a CLOSE listen as to where that tick is coming from. I once bought a
minvan for half the price of its value when the owner thought it was a
lifter problem. I gave it a close listen and determined the "tick" was an
exahust leak and took the price he was asking.

My sister has a couple of Sebrings and one developed a tick. Her mechanic
put in syntheic oil and the tick went away.

napalmheart

Is 10w-40 spec for this engine?

peterd

Agreed, is that what is called for in the book? I thought it was
specified as 10W-30 (or 5W-30 in cold/winter environments).

defiant

my bad it is 10w30 I was thinking of my other car my bad on that. my 71
firebird uses 10w-40 sry for the confusion
Charles

steve w.

First, change the oil and filter. Get a Wix or NAPA Gold filter (same
item) and try that. Use a full synthetic oil and see if it dissolves any
sludge in the lifter galley.

--
Steve W.
Near Cooperstown, New York


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defiant

ok I just did that and it did seem to help I used a Purolator (sic?) filter
and used high mileage Pennzoil 10w-30 in it. the tick was there at first for
about 5 seconds as bad as it as been then it dropped to just a minor tick,
then after about 2 minutes it was gone and the motor sounds good. oil
pressure is about halfway just like always.but its not as cold here as it
has been to. its only been about 55 or 60 here all day.
I'll just have to wait and see what happens from here.
truck does have 111K on it so I'm expecting something's to start going wrong
on it.
Charles