Watch "Valve Chatter? 94 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.3L

http://youtu.be/wD92lOjHxXE

This is our van, the Grand Master Slug. 94 Dodge Grand Caravan with a 3.3. Does this sound like some bad valve chatter to y'all or is it just me?

 

It is certainly leaking oil, at the general rate of a quart every thousand miles. You can definitely see it all over the place. But right now it is topped off.

 

Now that I listen to the video I shot, it doesn't sound the same as it does in person. It's kind of a loud ticking. Maybe a lifter?

 

Sounds worse than valve chatter actually.

Are you running 10W30 or 5W30 through it?

 

Running 10w30. I've heard valve chatter before, but this sounds like that but much louder than I've ever heard it before. The only time you don't hear it is when you're going too fast to hear it, which is at least 45 mph. It did it before the whole torque converter incident but it was quieter. (Funny story. Dad thought that the shuddering the van was doing came from the torque converter, thinking it was chewed out so it was jumping splines on the cv's, so he took the tranny down and yanked the converter, found it was still good, and then decided to check what I told him to check first- motor mounts. Two were really loose. I win, not Dad.) But yeah, to get back on track, it was doing that before that whole incident, but it started getting progressively worse when we got it back on the road after that.
Random great Grand Master Slug pic!

 

Update: The news grows worse. I took a while to listen the other night when the noise got worse and it's coming from the lower half. It's definitely a rod. So we are docking the Grand Master Slug in its bay indefinitely. Before we can fix it, we have to do the clutch in the cobalt. It would so happen that both of Dad's vehicles go out at once. The cobalt is so bad that it won't go into first, second, or third, jumps out of fourth, and won't accelerate in fifth. I believe there may be actual transmission damage.
So we have to take care of the cobalt and then the van. Until one of them is back up, I have to take dad to work and do the paper route in my truck, because it's the only vehicle left.

 

Still thinking about joining the Navy?