I have a 1998 318 Dakota 5-speed 4x4 that I bought used 3 yrs ago.
Since day 1 it has had an engine rattel when I drive at low ( under 1200) rpm or when going up hills. Lately it seems to be getting worse, rattling at even higher rpm.
After much reasearch on the net my head is spinning. Seems this is a common problem but everyone has a "maybe" solution, and the solutions all seem to fix the symptom rather than the problem. Such as installing cooler plugs, cooler thermostat etc.
I took it to a garage and they hooked it up to some meter and drove it around and said the timing doesnt change when the rattle happens. That's all they could tell me, that it probably isn't a slipping timing belt because the timing doesnt change. Other then that he went on to suggest a lot of " maybe if we replace this or that or the other thing"
Even the Chrysler TSB has about 6 "maybe try this" kind of things such as pluig wires etc.
A friend said he read somewhere that a sensor needs to be by-passed.
I can't afford to try 50 different things to fix this problem.
Does anyone have a real solution to it??
I really want to fix this before it hurts my motor, I love my Dakota!

ok well im not shure about this one but my dad has a 86 bronco2 and he had a rattle in the motor and he took it to quite a few mechanics and they couldnt find any thing wrong with any peice of the truck but one mechanic had seen this problom before and it turned out it was a weld that had came loose in the motor it doesnt cause any harm to the motor it just makes a rattling noise. so that could be a cause.

Sounds as though you may be experiencing preignition if it is occuring at low RPMs under load. Have you tried a tankful of a higher octane fuel? I'm not sure if yours has a knck sensor or not but if you do it is probably bad if this is indeed your problem. The knock sensor is supposed to retard the timing if it senses a preignition rattle. Hopefully this is your problem not something that is loose.

Could be your intake plenum gasket, very common on magnum engines. Take the airhat off and look down into the intake plenum (you'll have to open the blades on the throttle body and may need a flashlight to see inside), if you see oil in there, your intake plenum gasket is blown. This lets oil into the combustion chamber which will cause you to detonate, which will make a rattling noise. If it's the gasket you have a couple of options, you could replace it with a stock gasket, or you can get a steel gasket for it.

Even though your truck is computer controlled Check the service manual and check base timing. What kind of mileage do you have sometimes a new timing chain is needed.
If you have a distributor pull the dist. cap rotate to top dead center go past about 90 degrees and turn it back to 0. Then take some white out and make a mark where the metal rotar tip matches with the side of the dist. Then have somebody watch the rotor. Turn the crank the oposite direction until the rotor just starts to move. Much over 15 to 20 degrees indicates you need to replace a chain and gear.
This isn't a super big job if you have done it before and not very expensive.
Otherwise pull the camshaft position sensor rotate one way then the otherway and watch the sprocket when it starts to move.
A flashlight is needed.