Chrysler PowerTech 4.7 V8
4.7 L · V8 · naturally aspirated · petrol · 1999–2013
Also known as: powertech, 4.7 v8, eva, eve, evc, magnum 4.7, 4.7 magnum
Chrysler's 4.7-litre V8 — the PowerTech, fitted to the Grand Cherokee, Dakota, Durango and Ram before the HEMI displaced it from the top of the range and the Pentastar replaced it from below.
It is a single-overhead-cam design with a reputation that is genuinely mixed, and the reason is specific: it is intolerant of overheating and of extended oil intervals. Sludge from neglected servicing blocks the oil passages, and the resulting camshaft and bearing wear is the usual cause of the knocking that ends these engines. A 4.7 with unknown service history is a compression and oil-condition inspection before anything else.
The second known issue is head gasket failure following an overheat, which on this engine tends to be terminal rather than repairable because the aluminium heads warp readily. Where the engine has been maintained on schedule and never overheated, it is unremarkable — which is why owner history matters more here than mileage does.
Cars fitted with this engine
4 generations, across 3 makes. From the authored catalogue — an absent car means the catalogue has not reached it, not that the engine was never fitted.
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
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