First time here so may be a little long but here goes. Bought a 04.5 600 CTD in June. Before and after purchasing I had been browsing thru the forums including this site and found you guys to be a great souce of information. So after all the surfng and homework, I purchased a new 04.5 Dodge 2500 4X4( 4th Dodge but 1st 3rd Gen Diesel). Had a 02 F-250 4x4 7.3 Powerstroke (another story) before this truck and my first impression of the Cummins was how quiet it was. Power was the second thing I noticed but only after test drive. Power was noticably improved over the Ford. After about 4 months, 11k miles of which I towed a 5k boat a thousand miles round trip to the coast the 600 started to get a little noisy. It sound to me like it was a noisy injector or was detination noises? Another way I described it when I took it to the dealer was that it sounded like a metalic deck of cards being shuffled. Service guy said it didn't sound normal. 4 weeks after taking it to them it was fixed. First thing checked was injectors, no problem there. Then STAR got involved and they indicated it may be what they called a Timing Chain Slap? They proceeded to tear down the whole front of the truck and motor. Went back to dealership to pick up something after about 2 weeks and everything from the bumper up was removed, my mule's head was gone! Wasn't much fun to look at but interesting to see the motor's front end taken off. Next reported that it was a camshaft gear noise, gear wasn't machined correctly on one tooth of the gear? They did a search on the part and reported that there was only 1 in the country and it was in Montana. They then told me the dealer in Montana would not sell them the part, said they had waited 3 months to get the one they had! Then four days later the dealer had the part, great news. Dealer installed new gear and the noise went away! They also did a relash for the fuel mileage and white smoke issue per TSB. To date no problems, sould like it should and getting abut 17.4 mpg city. Long post and sorry for it but needed to get this issue and resolution out there. Thanks guys...

 

another angle to the rattle. interesting. your city milage is the same as mine...anywhere from 17 - 18 depending on how you drive it.....seems good for the 600.

Oh yeah - welcome to the site! - JKE

 

I'd just be happy that I had a dealer with a competent diesel mechanic... who didn't mess it up worse, that is.

 

They oughta be slapped with a timing chain. Obviously the person at STAR has no idea what the problem is and is talking directly out of his or her butt. "Uh, sir, we found your problem - the timing chain is missing!"

 

Timing chain? on a Cummins?

Must be one of them there Hemi Diesels.


phox

 

Hmm, I wonder if I could convince my dealer to call Star and ask abought posible timing chain slap?? Probably, they dont have a cummins tech so they would probably go try it.

 

.....so it is all gear driven or what? - JKE

 

One of the reasons the Cummins is as tough and reliable as it is... All gear accessory drive and timing. Not many chains to adjust and NO SLAP!

 

Yes.

Rusty

 

thanks men. ignorance is not knowing....stupidity is not asking... - JKE