Finally lost one - 2011 RAM 1500 Laramie

[OVERKILL]

One of our work trucks has finally experienced the cam/lifter failure issue apparently. It was making an intermittent noise that sounded like a tensioner seizing so I suggested taking it to the dealer, as it otherwise appeared to be running fine. Apparently, that's not what it was. I'm not up to speed on the details yet and will hopefully get some more once they become available.

Amusingly, this would be one of the lower mileage trucks at I believe ~240,000Km (150,000 miles), driven mostly around town. It's been serviced on bulk NAPA 5w-20 its entire life and NAPA filters.

According to the guy that drives it, the dealer wants to put an engine in it, not fix it, which would be around $8,000 so we are likely to just replace the truck instead.

I'll update as more information becomes available.

 

[bdcardinal]

I get why they want to put an engine in it. There are probably rollers all throughout the engine and they don't feel comfortable just replacing the cam and lifters.

 

[OVERKILL]

I get why they want to put an engine in it. There are probably rollers all throughout the engine and they don't feel comfortable just replacing the cam and lifters.

Yup, exactly. But this will almost assuredly lead to simply replacing the vehicle, as spending $8K to fix a truck that's almost 10 years old isn't likely to happen.

 

[Donald]

I see a truck headed to auction.

 

[The Critic]

Does your line of work require for the trucks to see excessive idling?

What is your fleet's service intervals?

 

[OVERKILL]

Does your line of work require for the trucks to see excessive idling?

What is your fleet's service intervals?

It may idle a lot, but I really don't know. We are several businesses under one roof, the truck in question is the issued vehicle for one of our execs on the real estate side, hence the mostly local driving. I'm honestly not sure how much he idles it.

Service intervals are I believe 7,000Km? Don't quote me on that, but I know it isn't extended.

 

[JTK]

Is this the one with the nicely Krowned underbelly and clean corners?

 

[OVERKILL]

Is this the one with the nicely Krowned underbelly and clean corners?

Negative, that one has higher mileage. This one is white, that one is blue.

 

[Gasbuggy]

Find a local shop, they'll do the cam/lifters for probably at or under 3k. The parts aren't that expensive. I watch police auctions and TONs of hemis have them swapped and go on running and driving for years.

Did it start by making a "chirp chirp chirp" noise at idle? Like something was dry?

 

[OVERKILL]

Find a local shop, they'll do the cam/lifters for probably at or under 3k. The parts aren't that expensive. I watch police auctions and TONs of hemis have them swapped and go on running and driving for years.

Did it start by making a "chirp chirp chirp" noise at idle? Like something was dry?

yes, that's exactly the noise it was making, that's why I thought it sounded like a seizing tensioner.

The truck is at his house now, the guy I'd recommend to fix it works at a dealer but could probably do cam and lifters as you described, I think the concern is that there may be damage beyond just cam/lifters.

 

[Gene K]

How many Rams do y'all run?
Just trying to get a feel for the odds.

 

[OVERKILL]

How many Rams do y'all run?
Just trying to get a feel for the odds.

We have currently:
4x 2011 SXT crew with the 5.7L
1x 2011 SXT V6 regular cab
1x 2011 Laramie crew 5.7L (this thread)
1x 2012 SXT crew 5.7L
2x 2014 Laramie crew 5.7L
1x 2020 Laramie crew 5.7L
1x 2020 SXT crew 3.0L EcoDiesel

So I'm counting 9 with the HEMI. We had another 2011 but it had a rod bearing going on it (it was driven INCREDIBLY hard, so I don't blame the truck) and was traded on the EcoDiesel near the end of last year with around 250,000Km on it.

 

[350Rocket]

We have currently:
4x 2011 SXT crew with the 5.7L
1x 2011 SXT V6 regular cab
1x 2011 Laramie crew 5.7L (this thread)
1x 2012 SXT crew 5.7L
2x 2014 Laramie crew 5.7L
1x 2020 Laramie crew 5.7L
1x 2020 SXT crew 3.0L EcoDiesel

So I'm counting 9 with the HEMI. We had another 2011 but it had a rod bearing going on it (it was driven INCREDIBLY hard, so I don't blame the truck) and was traded on the EcoDiesel near the end of last year with around 250,000Km on it.

My neighbor has a rod bearing go on his 2008 with 160,000kms. He takes care of his stuff but did plow with it. He had to replace the transmission and a front axle also.

Judging by the internals (he tore it apart) it maybe had an internal coolant leak. That or a pcv problem for a long time. It got 5000km oil changes with conventional.

He replaced it with a new Ram warrior, despite all the issues.

 

[bbhero]

One of our work trucks has finally experienced the cam/lifter failure issue apparently. It was making an intermittent noise that sounded like a tensioner seizing so I suggested taking it to the dealer, as it otherwise appeared to be running fine. Apparently, that's not what it was. I'm not up to speed on the details yet and will hopefully get some more once they become available.

Amusingly, this would be one of the lower mileage trucks at I believe ~240,000Km (150,000 miles), driven mostly around town. It's been serviced on bulk NAPA 5w-20 its entire life and NAPA filters.

According to the guy that drives it, the dealer wants to put an engine in it, not fix it, which would be around $8,000 so we are likely to just replace the truck instead.

I'll update as more information becomes available.

You oughta try having the rear end completely and suddenly seize up while going 50 mph down a bridge.... Ripped the transmission completely out of the bell housing and ripped the bell housing off too... More damage done in addition to all of that obviously.

This happened to my step father's 2010 Dodge Ram Laramie... Not a whole lot of miles on the truck. Ended up with a new transmission, new bell housing, new rear end... Whole 9 yards replaced. Only cost my step father and mom about $700... Gotta give Dodge credit for repairing it. The truck had been serviced at a Dodge dealer. Though evidently they did not either pay attention to or bother to replace/repair the part that would lead to this type of sudden massive failure thus causing the rear end to lock up suddenly. Id bet good money that dealership could be in trouble. This all happened while my parents were on vacation in Charleston SC 450 miles south of here/home.

 

[Kira]

No junkyard engines here? It is among your most senior class of truck. Time to retire it.

Are the others nice? Still a gamble to repair it even if you wanted a beater. Questionable rod bearings?

And that rear end story! Case full of steel bits or seized pinion bearing?

Is $8,000 a representative price for a 5.7?

Is there an advantage to operating RAM vehicles over the others? You seem Mopar loyal.

 

[OVERKILL]

No junkyard engines here? It is among your most senior class of truck. Time to retire it.

Are the others nice? Still a gamble to repair it even if you wanted a beater. Questionable rod bearings?

And that rear end story! Case full of steel bits or seized pinion bearing?

Is $8,000 a representative price for a 5.7?

Is there an advantage to operating RAM vehicles over the others? You seem Mopar loyal.

We've had good service out of them. The 2020 replaced a 2014, which replaced an F-150 Platinum. We have one Ford left in the fleet, it's a 2012 F-150 XLT.

There are very few wreckers engines available and the ones that are have 300-400,000Km on them. I expect this truck will be traded (talked to the guy that drives it today, we haven't settled on a plan yet I guess but that's the way he's leaning) on a 2020.

 

[Kira]

Yup. Trucks just wear out.

 

[MattPersman]

Technically you are supposed to pull the oil control valve to see how much metal is on the screens if there is they want you to put an engine in it.

I have seen more than 1 hemi just have car and lifters put in and a short time later engine failure

At 150k they want to cover there @ss

 

[JTK]

I see a ton of remanufactured hemi 5.7's of this vintage available on FLeBay and the likes, but you're talking $4000, then install costs, etc, etc.

Might be a good DIY project for someone who's got a good used engine if you could get the truck cheap enough.

In corporate world, they just unload them. They do very bare minimum service to our plant trucks. They never see a wash and rarely, if ever get an interior cleaning.

We just unloaded a ~2007 Ford F250 4x4 reg cab, long bed powerstroke with ~130K miles on it when it started leaking ATF. Local Ford dealer came up with a laundry list of work it "needed" to the tune of $7K IIRC.

 

[Jeep CJ-7]

Have a 2012 Ram 1500 Hemi 5.7. Just had the first major repair. The transmission took a dump at 340k miles. We have a lifetime warranty so we got a brand new factory reman free of charge. Great truck, can't say I have ever had better.