My 2003 Dodge Durango makes a ticking sound when starting up, then goes away.

I had the same problem. At first I was told, it the oil raising to the top of the motor. It was actually an exhaust leak. If you get it checked out, Look at both exhaust manifolds. I had to have both replaced. Hope this helps

i have the same prob in my 01 durango,,its cuz im missing an exaust manifold bolt. when u start ur truck the engine is cold so it ticks,,once it warms up the leak isnt really noticeable cuz ur manifold gasket swells from the heat closing the gap which is leaking.

I finally figured this one out on the way back from camping when I stripped my torque converter coming back from the river. It appears that the bolts holding the flywheel to the torque converter had worked loose and it would wobble until the transmission fluid built up enough back pressure to stabilize it, 2 or 3 minutes. The splines inside the converter had been completely stripped over time until it finally gave out, the mounting holes on the flywheel were oval shaped. About a $1500 job.