Why does everyone hate the 4.7 V8?

I've read a lot of negative things about the 4.7 engine, especially when in a Dakota. Why all the negativity?

I've wondered that myself. I had a 2000 Dakota with one and beat the snot out of it, never missed a beat. Wasn't my favorite for towing, but hauled a (over) load well enough and never missed a beat. Over 120K with nothing but oil changes and air filters. I only did the brakes once on that thing. Transfer case had a small drip, but that was it.

Because people don't take care of their vehicles properly then whine about the thing having the durability of a potato chip.

I had a Durango, VERY clean. The 4.7 gave up the head gasket at 147,000. It was a shame to junk it as like I said it was a super clean truck

The plastic timing chain guides are bad, most of the issues come from that, they get hot and get brittle and start breaking between apart around 100,000 and 150,000 miles, there are a few outliers that go more but most will start to have issues with start up rattle and progressively get worse and it seems to have no bearing on how well or poorly the engine was cared for, plastic like that just don't belong in an engine. The only time I have seen bottom end issues is when there are plastic bits plugging the oil intake. When the chain noise gets real bad most shops will diagnose a bad engine. The head gaskets and head surface seem to be very susceptible to overheating, if you have a water leak FIX IT, any overheating will blow a head gasket and probably need head re-surfacing, most shops diagnose this as a bad engine. Sometimes after sitting a while (usually a week or more but ocasionally just overnight) a lifter will bleed down and allow the rocker to fall off causing weird noises and severe misfires that most shops will diagnose as a "bad engine", typically we can just re-install the rocker in an hour and the engine keeps going. We see a lot of people bring their rigs to us with a "bad engine" and it does not need a new engine. We offer timing chains as a menu item here with all guides, tensioners and chains for $750 and if you want head gaskets at the same time $1500 plus $150 if you need them re-surfaced, most shops refuse to dig into one of these at all and most shops in the valley send their customers to us because you can't find a "good 4.7" in a junk yard.

I've never owned one, but had a GMC mechanic tell me a few years back that the dealer he worked for has fixed plenty of those engines on trade-ins. Now the service manager prefers to take them to the auction as they have been burned by these under their used vehicle warranty program.

And pretty hard to fill the shoes of the 318, which it was sort of doing. Sort of.

It doesn't seem to survive abuse and neglect quite as well as the 5.2 and 318.
It is overshadowed by the 5.7 in larger vehicles.

Shopping used vehicles, personally it seems every time I have found what seemed like a deal on a vehicle with one,
most of them either needed a timing chain related repair, or already had it replaced incorrectly and were throwing codes.
The others that were even less expensive didn't have a timing chain issue had blown head gasket, cracked head, cracked block type of issues.

I lived with one in a 2002 RAM 1500 for almost 5 yrs. Never had any serious issue with it mechanically, but, no matter what I did or how I drove, it would only give me 14MPG. Downhill with a strong tail wind, 14. Around town in stop and go traffic.....14. I could get the MPG lower (easily) but never higher. When I owned this truck, there was a guy on here insisting he had essentially the same truck and he was knocking out 20+ MPG all day long.

And it was kinda gutless at lower RPM. There would be instances where I'd have to slow down for traffic, and just needed a little oomph to get back up to speed, no where near full throttle, and it wouldn't do it.

I had a dealer and an independent shop look at it to see if the computer needed to be reset or if anything was wrong and neither found anything. Both basically said it was just too small of an engine for such a big truck

I bought it when it just turned 40K miles, and I got rid of it when it had about 90K. For giggles, I recently found an old registration with the VIN on it and ran it thru Carfax. Truck is still going with over 250K on it somewhere up around Dallas. I wonder if it's still on the original engine.

I have a 2005 Durango with the 4.7 and it is quieter then the 2014 5.7 Hemi I had with 50k on it. It scoots pretty good with decent gas mileage too. No complaints .

This is a story I read all too often (new engine in a 150,000 mile vehicle).

https://okaloosa.craigslist.org/cto/d/crestview-jeep-4x4-new-engine/6886870856.html

Gee an off the road vehicle that needed a new engine. Who would have guessed.

Probably true but from all I've heard (first-hand) and read about them, I'll never own one. Plenty for sale around here (Daks & 'rangos) with bad 4.7s in 'em.



Tim

Ain't afraid of them at all and have had 3 of them over the years .

Generally, when I buy a vehicle, it has around 100k miles on it. I can't afford to buy something that has a motor with the rep of having a major issues between 100K and 150K miles.
I have 3 friends that lost the 4.7 in Dakotas before they made it to 75K miles. No thank you please. Gene

I had an '06 HO 4.7. I liked it other then the fact that at 25K miles I could not keep oil in it. When I traded it in with 60K on it it smoked so bad on startup it appeared the truck was on fire.

Let's remember that the 4.7 is only 286cid. We kinda loose track just how small an engine it is with the use of the metric numbers. And is just a bit complicated and fragile especially for a truck engine. Lots of premature failures. Of course, some go on forever, but then some early 2.7s went a long way too.

The 4.7 is just a crap shoot. Some deliver a good life span with minimal intrusive repairs while others break parts that require major dollars to fix. You just never know which you will get.

I've never owned one, but did have a rental Dakota with one. Fuel mileage was at least 3-4 mpg worse than my 5.9 Durango. That was enough of an experience with one to know that I wanted a 5.2 or 5.9 Durango when I was looking.

Had an 01 Durango with the 4.7. I bought it with 170k. It ran buttery smooth, do I thought I had gotten lucky. That thought went out the window about a month later when my oil pressure dropped to zero at idle. Come to find out it burned a ton of oil. We drove it from Phoenix to LA and back (300ish miles one way) and went through 4 quarts of oil. We traded it in on a 16 Durango and got $50 for it lol. Only traded it in because I got severely injured and couldn't replace an engine.

I had went down to the local dealership to order a dak R/T with the 360 and was told I could not do it at the time, something like they had to build X amount of economy cars before taking more orders for fun ones. Not sure if true or he wanted to try to sell me a 4.7 truck.

I wasnt happy but agreed to test drive the 4.7, it ran ok, well enough to upset the salesman because I did a smokey launch and waited till he said ENOUGH really LOUD which was about 110mph.

I said runs ok, but not like a 360 and off I went. So for that brief moment the 4.7 did "ok".

I cant stand ohc v8s....that said it is what it is some good some junk just like everything thease days good luck

I bought a used Dakota with 30k on it, I drove it until it had 185k. I never had a problem with the engine other than a leaking power steering sensor that contaminated the O2 sensor with power steering fluid. I used Amsoil in it for my entire ownership, so maybe this reduced the engine wear slightly.

I have a 03 quad cab 4.7 with a 5 sped manual it has 135000 miles now and ive only replaced the thermostat very reliable I love it
,still has the original clutch

Just don't let them over heat. My grand daughter didn't realize that my Durango's plastic filler T had cracked. Kept driving until is "smoking" and "sounding funny". When the 4.7 gets too hot, the valve seats tend to drop releasing spring pressure holding the rockers in place. They go bouncing around under the valve cover wreaking all kinds of havoc.

$500 for two used heads later and she ran like a top...................until my grandSon spun a bearing doing neutral drops.
Yeah I know, I know. No grief please LOL I've learned my lesson. He's going to help me pull the engine now and put in a crank kit (at least). I'll update when we get it done. Yeah the 4.7 (and the 3.7 V6, which is very similar) has its quirks, but, as said, if well cared for, runs really nice. That being said, WIKN, I wish I'd looked for a 5.2 Durango.

4.6 ford fits right in and get better mpg and has more power----just funnin----most 4.7 failures are valve train issues in my book...

Funny you should say that. I ran across an '05 1500 QC 4x4? with a 351/C6 furd in it, on FB Marketplace. Only thing I can figure out is he blew the Hemi (or 4.7 if it was still available in '05 rams) and had the furd sitting there.



Tim

As long as the engine is well cared for (oil and filter changes, spark plugs as needed) it should be A-OK. BUT... let the oil changes be ignored... and the return passages gradually become clogged and restrictive... welcoming progressive oil starvation and proper flow throughout the engine. This "family" of engines shares this potential problem more-so than certain other engines.

That almost sounds like the Mopar tag line.
The reality is these motors are designed for a 150K life span, some don't make it that far, others go farther. How it was taken care of has some effect, but that doesn't change the fact the motor was designed to die at 150K. Back in the old days, that 150K was probably acceptable because most vehicles didn't make it that far, but by today's standards, 150K should be "just broken in" not "just about broke."

I buy used vehicles, several of the modern Mopar motors leave a lot to be desired, this is not the "old Chrysler" for sure. I won't buy anything with the old 2.7, or anything with the 4.7 because most are on their death bed by the time they come into my price range. I really don't foresee a modern car in my future, I'll rebuild the old stuff. Gene

Really back in the day, a vehicle with more than 80,000 miles on it was acknowledged to be worn out. And my favorite long term mechanic told me that Ford flathead 4s and V8s could stand new rings and bearings every 40K miles. He counted on them to make his living.

When my wife and I went out to buy a "new" truck we ended up with an '07 F150 with the two valve 4.6. You really have to twist it tight to get it to move out. So it's got overdrive and a small modern V8 and the first 600 miles it averaged 14.7 mpg. The second trip averaged 14.74mpg. I never get 15mpg either in town or on the freeway. Thirsty.

I was really disappointed to find out I didn't get a higher power 3 valve engine. But then i started reading Ford truck Enthusiasts online and see that while the 3 valve 5.4 has a lot more power, at around 125K miles it needs basically all the valvegear and timing equipment replaced and the only quality parts are FoMoCo and will set you back about $1500 for the parts. Plus they have real spark plug problems you may have heard about.
The message is don't feel so all alone.The modern small V8s eat gas and money. The GM LS engines don't have the valvegear problems but once again the 4.8 has to be revved to the moon to put out any power. The larger engines don't seem to have those problems.
For my 4.6 the key seems to be use only factory parts, and keep the oil fresh and clean.
R.

I had a 2002 Ram 1500 with this engine. It ran fine but was a slug. Gutless. The mileage was not great, maybe 17 freeway on flat ground. I ran it up to 163,000 miles and sold it when I bought a 2006 Ram 1500 4wd 5.7. The 2006 got better mileage and made more power!
The 2002 though...Spark plug changes were easy...Straight down through the intake! They had an interesting oil filter drainage trough too....I wish the 383-440 engines had something similar!

I remember reading on the hemi when it came out in the early 2000s. I learned the term "Specific Engineering." Built to last to a certain mileage and sometimes not made to be rebuilt as in not enough meat for an overbore..

It has been a little while but I seem to remember that the 5.7 got attention for how low its cost to build was with “modular” assemblies coming from non-UAW plants and final assembly in the Mexico factory. Ex-GM manufacturing guru Tom LaSorda was given the 5.7 build assignment by Bob Lutz and he got praise for how it turned out, despite the camshaft bearing fiasco.

I think I remember that the 4.7 V8 costs considerably more.

I would like to look at the BSFC maps of the 4.7 and 5.7.
Since larger bores have an efficiency advantage my guess would be that the best efficiency “island” of the 5.7 has a lower number than the best spot on the 4.7 V8 map.

This is the 2.7 you are thinking of, they get water in the oil that makes massive amounts of sludge that plug the return passages, I have torn apart tons of 4.7s and the worst sluged ones did not have enough to plug an oil return passage.

I was asking because my son was looking at a 2002 Dakota with a 4.7 with 160,000 miles. I suggested he look for something with a 5.2 or 5.9, he wanted a gas engine. He ended up buying this, it's an '01 2500 with a 5.9 magnum, 6 speed manual with 180,000. He needs it as a shop truck so the flatbed will work out great.

I had two jobs done by a shop locally who said STAY AWAY from any Mopar motor with a .7 in it except the 5.7 !

Had a Chrysler exec demo Ram 1500 with the 4.7 got rid of it at 90K miles when the lifters starting rattling at every stop light.After much research from mechanics at Dodge dealerships, I was told the oil passages and internal design of this engine was flawed from day one, but Auburn Hills decided not to drop production but let it fly. Kind of like built in failure engineering. Sell the vehicles, repair em' later...

HotRod20