I just bought a 2001 Durango and although I really like the thing, on cold starts for the first 5 seconds or so I get a noise that sounds like loose bearings. After several cold starts I have determined that the noise is coming from the fuel injectors/rail and at idle the injectors are noisy.

The durango has 127,000 and is in very nice shape overall. Does anyone out there have some info they could let me in on about quieting these injectors down, and why is it the loudest on cold starts? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I bet its a bled down lifter clicking away that could cause the rocker-cam follower to pop right out from under the cam and cause a big problem if it takes out the cyl head. Just got away with cheap repair on an 03 with low mi(114k) that I bought. Put the followers back in place,(there were 3 off) , changed oil and filt a couple of times and dumped a quart of marvel mys oil in there and have put about 1500 miles on it with NO ticking on startup. Will change oil soon again. These 3.7 and 4.7 engines do this, and I believe it's from lack of oil changes. Never ran into injectors making huge racket like that.

I will check that, thanks. I listened to the valve cover with my stethescope and both banks sound quiet. However after listening to the fuel rail the noise was very loud! This is where I thought the injectors might be the culprit. I will still open the valve covers and have a look for myself. Thanks for the hint!

When the followers come off of a 4.7, In my experience, its usually due to the valve seats coming out of the head.