03 durango. . .bad oil pump.

[LoMbArD]

So. . .long story short, I bought an 03 durango with a 4.7. It has 97k miles on it. As I was driving it home I heard an ominous ding, saw a red light on the dash that said "check guages" and saw my oil pressure guage bottomed out. So me being the cautions kind of guy that I am stopped and turned it off immediately thinking that maybe the oil pump died. Thinking again I said to myself, maybe the guage was just freaking out, so I started it up again and the oil pressure was normal. . .for about a mile, then it bottomed out again, and I heard a faint tapping coming from the engine compartment. I got it towed (car place said they would cover repair, but not take the durango back) and got a new oil pump put it, as well as timing chain tensioner, some cracked guides/seals, new tube and screen for the oil pump etc. It was during this time that I began to read about all the wonderful sludge issues in the 4.7's. The mechanic said the engine was pretty sludged up for one with only 97k miles on it. He cleaned it out for me ( I would guess he used something along the lines of seafoam or whatever) and it runs beautifully again. . .but he wouldn't give me any kind of professional opinion on what kind of life I could expect on that engine. He said there was no damage done and I saved it by stopping it as soon as I heard it start tapping. Any ideas on what I can expect? Ball park? I know you can never be exact on this kind of thing, but has anyone successfully replaced an oilpump in their 4.7 and then had a good long life out of it after?

[Benzman]

You did good. You probably saved an engine that most people would have killed a 1/2 mile later.

Make sure that you are using a good oil. I prefer Rotello. The lighter the weight the better. Change the oil every 3000 miles, change the oil while the engine is still hot. These things will minimize sludge.