dodge mechanics?

[vanzuuk1]

My friends daughter ran their 04 dodge sebring low on oil,now it has engine clatter, rises with rpm and sounds too hi pitch too be a rod knock...probably a crank bearing but figured I would see if anyone here knows these motors??? Any cam tensioners or simple to fix things that could cause this noise?...its a long shot but I figured I would ask.

[novaderrik]

is the oil all sparkly?

[MonzaRacer]

OK if its a 2.7 V6 junk the engine, if its a 2.4 4cyl you may only need to pull head IF it still has decent oil pressure from a mechanical gauge.
big trick is how low for how long, also try an oil change, use 5W20 or 5w30 as its thinner and will help bleed air locked lifters. After oil top off it should have started getting better.
did it ever run with light on?
Actually need more info, like which engine, it it was the 2.7 its dead they never held up WITH oil let alone without, the timing gears and guides would trash out and stop up the oil pick up then trash engine. Clatter /rattle will sound like lifters loose, you may get out with pulling head(s), lower deeper knocks are death sounds.

[vanzuuk1]

Hey thanks I will ask my buddy more questions and get more info..

[Dukes69]

My wife punched a hole in the oil pan of her 03 stratus and then drove for a mile. I always ran synthetic in the car which I believe saved it. I replace the oil pan, filled it up with mobil 1 and it runs . . . knocks but runs. That was 50k miles ago. It still knocks, but damn thing just keeps going.

This probably wont help with, but I felt like sharing. :D

[vanzuuk1]

Its a 2.4, it ran for a while with the light on...oil is not sparkly...any more info is a big help...

[MonzaRacer]

if its like lifters ticking it may have trashed the cam/flollowers or it may have air in lifters.

[vanzuuk1]

how do you deal with air in lifters?

[MrQuick]

Letting a 2.4L run low on oil is not a good thing.

You got a chain driven balance assembly down there that doesn't like dry. If it was good it would have blown the chain off. You can replace the assembly on the cheap.
My advice is to drop the pan, check the chain drive, ifthe chain is broken the balance assembly is shot. Drop the assembly and start inspecting the rod caps. If you have any problems the caps will be darker than the others. The bed plate is the main crank cap so its tough to tell without removal.

If she is lucky she might get away with a bearing replace.

Good news is the top end/heads are well built and should be fine. If not the heads are available cheap as remans.
The tappets are in the rocker and they fill quickly. They do fail and you can test by applying pressure to them to see if they compress. Compress = bad.

vince

[vanzuuk1]

Hey thanks for the help.