I have a 3.9l Magnum in my 1994 Dakota Sport that has always sounded somewhat like a diesel. It has a characteristic pop from the exhaust here and there at random but only during shifting. The rattling up front really had me worried since it sounds low in the chassis and I was afraid the bottom end was going, not to mention the truck began losing power like crazy over the last year (can't hold highway speed.) Using a piece of wood as a stethoscope I narrowed it down to the timing chain. So armed with that information I went to trusty google to look for cheaper sources for parts only to find service bulletins about the timing set. It turns out there is too much slack in the factory timing set so Dodge came out with a tensioner to fix the problem. I have a part number here somewhere I will have to find it. Has anyone done one of these it looks somewhat involved, I am not finding much in terms of a how-to with pictures or anything.

Hmmm... Slipped timing chain is typical for lack of power. There is a TSB for you Dakota... (Attachment File)Here is the documents for doing the chain... (Attachment file)

Wow thanks Mopar1973Man that is pretty detailed. I am almost positive that the rattle is caused by a loose timing chain as it goes away if you give it a little throttle. Let it idle and it will rattle all day.

I aim to please... :D :thumbsup

Well I decided to take a video of it before it gets fixed.[ame]

[/ame]I have really maintained this truck and would hate for the chain to break damaging anything else. Seriously this little truck runs circles around full-size trucks in the snow.

Also found this write up that includes instructions on how to degree the camshaft for performance if anyone else ever pro-sues this: http://www.dodgedakotas.com/articles/timingchain/

Boy that's a killer write up for doing the setup on the timing! :thumbsup :smart