4.7 V8 engine durability questions?

[fishy68]

Yes, and both have twelve pounds of torque..........

They should have kept the 318.

Funny you should say that. I have pulled the same trailer weighted down with the same load amount (4,000 lbs) with both my 93 Dakota short bed std. cab with it's 318 and lately my 2002 Dak short bed std. cab 4.7 and the 4.7 pulls the load easier. Same rear axle ratio too. The 02 does have a lower first gear ratio in the trans. though but it also weighs nearly 200 lbs. more.

 

[dodgetkboy78]

My experience is the opposite.

But they did ruin the 318 when they went magnum, the old 2bbl pulled harder.

 

[Badart]

My experience is the opposite.

But they did ruin the 318 when they went magnum, the old 2bbl pulled harder.

????????

 

[37fleetwood]

when the rack on my Mom's Pacifica went bad the dealership gave her an '07 Charger with the 4.7, I'm guessing it's the same engine. I've wondered if it was something with potential in an "A" body.

 

[fishy68]

when the rack on my Mom's Pacifica went bad the dealership gave her an '07 Charger with the 4.7, I'm guessing it's the same engine. I've wondered if it was something with potential in an "A" body.

That would have been a 3.7 v6 or 5.7 hemi. They never used the 4.7 in cars. It's a truck engine only.

 

[fishy68]

My experience is the opposite.

But they did ruin the 318 when they went magnum, the old 2bbl pulled harder.

Wow you must have gotten a bad running 318 mag. Mine pulled much harder than any mid 70's on 318 I ever drove. Now the older 318's (70 and back) seemed to run better and pull harder.

The closest example of an older 318 truck I can compare my 93 Dak to was a buddies 74 short bed 318 auto. It did pull decent and run ok but wouldn't out pull mine and when it came to a race I could leave him in the dust bad. There was only about 250 lbs. weight diff too so it wasn't that either.

 

[HotLines]

In many articles I have read about the 4.7 it is said to be the Hot Rod motor of the 21st century.

BTW, the 4.7 looks extremely close to the 4.5 Mercedes motor which is in my farm car.

 

[Seth Jones]

My 2000 2wd Dakota just truned over 200K miles.Never had a valve cover off and doesn't use a drop of oil.Chain rattles in the morning when you first start it but still runs like a champ.I have yet to see one here in the dealership that was sludged up.I think we have had only 3 apart since 2000 and all those were from being over heated.

 

[Backtobasics]

I do recall a magazine aricle, where then ran a Dakota RT 360 against a 4.7 Dakota, and the 4.7 walked all over the LA based magnum.

 

[37fleetwood]

That would have been a 3.7 v6 or 5.7 hemi. They never used the 4.7 in cars. It's a truck engine only.

well, it was not a hemi or a v-6, I remember looking at it. now I have to figure this out. it was a single over head cam v-8.

 

[ramcharger]

I do recall a magazine aricle, where then ran a Dakota RT 360 against a 4.7 Dakota, and the 4.7 walked all over the LA based magnum.

That's interesting as I was comparing my LA build at a mile high altitude to the 4.7 at pretty much sea level. The 4 door Ram with the 4.7 was in has to be much heavier than the Dak though and that could be all the difference. This was the 310 Hp, 330 ft lb. version too. I guess it's not really fair to compare a factory engine to a hand built engine either. The fuel mileage was absolutely superior to my build too.

 

[Longgone]

I had the 4.7 in a 2003 Dakota I bought new. I kept the truck 5 years and only put 17k miles on it so I ended up selling it. From what I had read the engine was based on a Mercedes design. It was a peppy little engine and I think it was advertised to make 245 horsepower. It would go pretty good but as someone mentioned earlier it was no torque monster.

 

[dodgetkboy78]

Wow you must have gotten a bad running 318 mag. Mine pulled much harder than any mid 70's on 318 I ever drove. Now the older 318's (70 and back) seemed to run better and pull harder.

The closest example of an older 318 truck I can compare my 93 Dak to was a buddies 74 short bed 318 auto. It did pull decent and run ok but wouldn't out pull mine and when it came to a race I could leave him in the dust bad. There was only about 250 lbs. weight diff too so it wasn't that either.

No, had a few, mine runs great, it's the powerband that kills them. They were after the HP and forgot about 1K-3K power....... reason they got shitty mileage too.

Quicker and faster, yes, the old 318 has a 4.5K limit with the 2bbl, and doesn't do much past 3500. Load em to the max, and the magnum will BAWG and the little 2bbl will walk off with light throttle.

Worked both, hard. (hard I mean, 10K+ trailers, plowing, ect)