I have a 2001 dakota 4.7 liter that has either a cracked head or a warped head.
Ive been driving it and it it started to overheat but never to the point where it was on the redline, just close. I replaced the radiator, upper radiator hose, and thermostat. then the other day it overheated very quickly, within 10 minutes of driving it so I had it hauled off to the dealer and they told me that it had a cracked or warped head and the cost to fix it was just a hair under $4000!! this doesnt sound right to me, so I went and trailered the truck back over to my friends shop and he checked it out for me. we ran a compression test and the #2 cylinder had a reading of 13 psi while all the others are reading near 140 psi.
I cant afford to have it fixed at the dealer and the best quote Ive gotten from other shops is $2000. how hard is this to do on your own? Im pretty good with cars and will have a lot of knowledgeable people helping me. is it something we can do or should I just bite the big one and take it to a shop. thanks

Are you sure it isn't a blown headgasket?

dude, you could buy a brand new engine for less than that....
Pull the head, take it to a machine shop and have it magnafluxed and pressure tested to see if its cracked or if its just the head gasket.
If the head is ok, have it machined to make sure its flat prior to putting it back on the motor, and install a new head gasket.
Trust me, this is probably a fairly inexpensive fix, if you spent more than $500 on this to fix it, I would be quite surprised.

Im not sure that it does indeed have a cracked or warped head... thats just what the stealership told me. I have not seen any internal leakage yet when I checked the oil. the only symptoms that I am getting is a considerably noticeable lack of power, what sounds like a miss, and what looks like some blue smoke coming from the exhaust. Im gonna start tearing into it tonight after work and hopefully fix it. should I take off only the head that I have low cylinder compression in or should I remove them both and take them to the machine shop and have them both examined at the same time?

Depending on how a head gasket fails, you will not always see the anti freeze and oil mix. You will likely have a lack of power, miss, and low compression on one or more cylinders. It basically can look similar to a head problem.

As far as pulling both heads vs. just one head goes, I guess it really depends. I would probably do both in this case just because it has been run when it was hot and also because I wouldn't necessarily want to pull the thing back apart again if the other side goes.

thanks for the help so far guys, I really appreciate it....when I took off the valve cover I noticed quite quickly that one of the valves on the No.2 Cylinder was stuck open and that the rocker arm there had fallen out!! now i know why I was getting no compression there. Im not a big dodge person but I am pretty good with cars, but I am having the hardest time getting this timing chain off.... i cant seem to find any markings where I can bring the engine to TDC. I dont know how much I have to pull off to find it. thought it would be somewhere in plain sight but thats not the case.. please advise...thank you

Chris

i had a blown head gasket, had lack of power, idle'd like shit, at idle it would shudder from the irregular power.

thanks for the help so far guys, I really appreciate it....when I took off the valve cover I noticed quite quickly that one of the valves on the No.2 Cylinder was stuck open and that the rocker arm there had fallen out!! now i know why I was getting no compression there. Im not a big dodge person but I am pretty good with cars, but I am having the hardest time getting this timing chain off.... i cant seem to find any markings where I can bring the engine to TDC. I dont know how much I have to pull off to find it. thought it would be somewhere in plain sight but thats not the case.. please advise...thank you

Chris

clean the chains REALLY well, you should see some colored links. there will be 3 chains, 1 is like a normal timing chain for an in block cam engine wich turns the "fake" cam gear on the block, wich in then turns the two chains going to each head. You shouild be able to take the chains loose from the cams and drop them into the front cover area and then pull all 3 chains out together. Dodge makes a special tool to line all the chains up and hold them on the "fake" cam gear for re-installation. It IS posible to put it together without it but it will be a PITA

Dodge makes a special tool to line all the chains up and hold them on the "fake" cam gear for re-installation. It IS posible to put it together without it but it will be a PITA

Zip ties?

Zip ties?



More like 3 screwdrivers, and some vice grips;)

Btw, I wouldn't have the head milled, and would just buy a new head, and gasket....but then again, if you can figure out how to do those chains without a manual, you can probably figure out how to machine a head that shouldn't be machined:flipoff2:

4.7 ltr's are comon for dropping valves. I am a lead tech. at a dodge dealership and see these often. Pull the valve cover off and see if the valve spring is broken. The valve springs break and allows the valve to drop down and cause a huge miss-fire, lack of compression. It is posible that the valve may have contacted the piston as well.

As far as the repair and pulling the cyl head off. IT"S A BITCH!! The timing chains (5 of them) must be reinstalled correctly and pay close attention how they came off and how they go back on. If you get one tooth off it all has to come back apart. We have a special tool holder for the chains that keep them in place. If you mark the chains in coorspondince to the gears prior to taking them off, makes it much easier. On reasembley, the oil driven chain tentioners must be pushed all the way back in.

Man, good luck and if you can do that job right the first time, go apply at a so called "stealership" and they'll probley hire you