360 making funny noises, but no loss in power

[AJeep99]

Recently, my dad's 2001 Ram Off-Road had a loose belt tensioner. He took the truck to the dealership where they replaced the belt, belt tensioner, and the A/C clutch (or fan clutch, either one or the other). Now, whenever he drives the truck it makes a sound like the engine is bogging down. This truck has never made this sound before and I haven't really noticed any loss in power, but it should not be making this noise. The 'bogging down' noise can be described as an older truck struggling to go up a steep hill on a hot day with all the belt-driven accessories turned on.

The truck makes the sound when the A/C is on and when it is turned off. It seems to make the sound only at lower speeds (approximately <45 mph) and the noise kind of goes away when the engine has been running for awhile, but it is still there-slightly. He has brought it back to the dealership a couple of times and the technicians can't figure it out.

The truck has never towed anything and is very well taken care by my dad, so I don't think parts were worn prematurely. It only has approximately 46,000 miles on the 5.9L.

Any suggestions or ideas or stories about what is causing this problem would be much appreciated.

[mprtech]

It sure sounds like engine pinging to me. Does it sound like a ringing or tapping or pinging? The lower intake gasket might be blown.

[BleedDodge]

That's real odd. My mom's van started doing that after we replaced the serpentine belt at 100k miles, and the best guess I have for that sound is the new belt, it's the only thing that has changed.

Hey mprtech, I sent you a pm.