How are the 4.7 truck v8's for longevity?

Hey Guys,

Looking at some used vehicles for my son. I've seen a few 4.7 V8 1500's with around 150K miles for sale. Has the 4.7 proven to be a good engine? Think a 150K mile engine would go another 50K?

His budget is around $5K, so I'm looking for vehicles in that price range.

Thanks!
Randy

As with all things, maintenance goes a long way! No matter what engine or brand, at 150k, if you have no records, it's a crap shoot.

Another observation I have noticed over the years of looking at CL, the highest mortality rate for Mopar trucks has been the hemi. That's in trucks being sold for parts or repair. Near zero instances of Magnum LA engines and LA engines, perhaps one or two 3.7 and 4.7 engines, and dozens of hemis.

That is hardly a scientific result, but that's what I see.

Will the 4.7 in your son's potential truck be good? If records can be had and it shows reasonable maintenance, then it should be fine.

Terrible is an understatement.

Thx guys, I realize owner maintenance is key. Most folks don't keep records. I'm mainly looking for something to get him through the next 3 years of college, then he can do whatever he wants with it. I've looked at some of the crossover's like the Nitro with the 3.7 too.

150K is about the max I'd trust on a vehicle to buy as I expect he'll put about another 20-30K on it at max. He goes to military college and doesn't get much time off on weekends, so it would be driven mostly on holiday's and in the summer.

Have the timing chains and tnsioners been done? Those are probably the single biggest desighn failure of the 4.7 most of them go around 130-150,000 and a lot of shops will tell you to replace the engine when they start going, those that will fix em usually want $1000 or more. The plastic guides break off maintnance be danged, has nothing to do with it. We have one in the shop right now that looks brand new inside, 109,000 and the guides broke and let the chains go slack. You can not throw plastic in the oven and continuously slide a chain over it and expect it to last 200,000 miles. The guys who have done that are either lying or they should go out and buy lottery tickets.

Any small bit of overheating will kill the head gaskets, get it over about 250 and the heads will crack, not maybe, they will crack. Water pump or radiatr goes out and you don't catch it imedietly and you will be doing head gaskets, its about a 14 hour labor time plus parts and machining (heads will probably need re-surfaced) and again most shops will tell you to get a new engine.

Another thing to think about a college kid may not drive it on a regular basis, the problem is a cam lobe might stop with the valve all the way open, this can bleed down the lifter after a few days (the longer it sits the higher the chance goes up) when you go to crank it up it is missing and making noise even though it ran fine when parked, the rocker just falls right off as there is nothing holding it on, if your lucky you put the rocker back and go on with life (takes maybe an hour) if your not lucky it gets stuck in a bad position and the cam is forced up and breaks the caps or it can break other parts of the heads or bend valves, any of those scenarios involve pulling the head and sometimes replacing the head...

One more thing, might as well do those timing chains anytime the heads are off adding at least another $500 to a head gasket job.

Ouch!

Not so sure now.

The reputation of any modern Mopar motors ending with a (.7) are not very good.

Of the bunch, the Hemi was probably about the best, but most of those were beat to death.

They can say whatever they want, its still tough to match the durability of the LA or Magnum 5.2 (318) and 5.9 (360). Gene

the 5.2 and 5.9 engine is much more reliable but the trannys aren't near as reliable, pick your poison.

I had a 4.7 in this truck:



It was a 2002, I bought it in 2005 with 40K on it. When I had it repo'ed 4 yrs later, it still had under 100K on it.

Two biggest complaints, 14MPG was it, and no low end torque.

Didn't matter, beat or babied, uphill or downhill, tail wind or into the wind, it never got above 14 MPG. When I owned this truck, a member from Fla claimed his consistently got over 20 MPG.

Its hard to put into words the lack of bottom end, it was most noticeable when you had to slow down, way down, for some reason and wanted to get back up to speed without having to mat it....it wasn't happening.

Maybe all the issues I had were the typical '1st year' problems with a new/redesigned model? I don't know. Once the truck cleared 75K miles, it started spitting parts faster than I could pay it off, so I let it go. I think it turned 90K just before it left.

Plastic in an engine? Bean Counters, killing quality for decades.

I've experienced all the problems hotroddave mentioned. Water impeller slipped and caused it to overheat and crack head or blown gasket. I've bought a 3.7 with the lifter problem and changed them all and now it's a good engine. It only had 75,000 on it. They are gutless and get poor mileage.

I agree that they do no like to overheat, but not all them will crack a head. I have an 02 4.7 ram, and I overheated it to the point that it wouldn't run anymore or restart after I shut it down (plugged rad playing in mud and didn't get it cleaned out good enough). I let it cool down, cleaned the rad and have been problem free ever since, and that was well over 60k miles ago (currently has right around 160k miles). I have replaced the timing chain tensioners once, but only because I put in HO cams so I did everything at the same time. My little 4.7 has been a good little engine, and I certainly wouldn't hesitate to buy one. I have numerous LA's, Magnums, and Hemi's and the 4.7 has been as reliable as any of them.

THIS ^ Hits the nail on the head.

5.9 Mag 2500 on the interstate, 13.8mpg, cruise control on. I was amazed at how it sucked down the gas.

Does he really need a truck? I mean really. A 4000 - 6000 lb vehicle for carrying around one to three people doesn't make sense. When my '64Dog ate a rod bearing, my fault, I parked it and got into a 2007 Hyundai for less than $4000. They're anvils, they don't need much maintenance and I get 26mpg around town and 31 on the highway at mostly 80mph. It's twice as easy to drive. Tires cost half as much. It'll go 200K miles easily, I got it at 97K.

Best of all, I can afford to go places now. It's hard to say how much that gas bill weighs you down until you cut it in half.

R.