Lost another one: HEMI #3

[OVERKILL]

Am I tho one that’s a little skeptical that the oil is actually getting changed at low intervals when the single one that had a valve cover pulled was sludges up. If I was the fleet manager I’d be trying to determine if the Indy was actually doing the work…

Anyway…

Varnish, not sludge, a bit surprising, but the HEMI is arguably hard on oil, so maybe shouldn't be THAT surprising?

 

[Skippy722]

My mom has the 2019 Ram Classic (that got hit with hail damage the other day unfortunately), but it sounds like her Hemi engine should be ok from what I’m reading here.

My Charger is getting a replacement engine, if the hail damage doesn’t do it in monetarily. Even then, I’ll strip out my factory upgrades before that happens.

Yeah, I considered replacing cam and lifters, but hearing that the entire engine is probably contaminated with shavings means it’s a foolish endeavor to take on now.

If you pull the oil control valve and it’s covered in metal yeah, engine is toast. But if not, dealers will just do the cam and lifters…. At least that’s what happened to my friend in his Durango at 180k. Last I asked it was over 250k miles and still going strong.

 

[RAR]

If you pull the oil control valve and it’s covered in metal yeah, engine is toast. But if not, dealers will just do the cam and lifters…. At least that’s what happened to my friend in his Durango at 180k. Last I asked it was over 250k miles and still going strong.

I figure I’ll be safe dropping in a reman long block. The car is solid so I’d had to scrap it.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

One of my sons friends family is trying to figure out what to do, I'm not sure what other advice to give.

2017 Ram 1500 Crew Cab 5.7 Hemi with 114k miles. Said it started make a lot of noise on highway and he was able to pull off safely. Shop told him camshaft is shot from lifter issue. I asked if any pictures but he didn't have any yet. I know he does regular maintenance at same shop with good reputation. IMO his family has always been a maintenance minder, nothing extra, inexpensive dino oil if possible. Tires were always the cheap and black, mostly round versions etc. Not a spend a bit more to protect investment type. Not that it seems that would help with this either.

I told him to call a couple dealers to see about remanufactured motor and what his shop says also. Any advantages on going to dealer instead of indy shop? I think he wants to fix it as it's less than a new vehicle obviously.

I didn't dig into it on previous noises or other things that may have been fixed like manifold leak or maybe he thought it was that and not wanting to spend $$ on it.

 

[OVERKILL]

One of my sons friends family is trying to figure out what to do, I'm not sure what other advice to give.

2017 Ram 1500 Crew Cab 5.7 Hemi with 114k miles. Said it started make a lot of noise on highway and he was able to pull off safely. Shop told him camshaft is shot from lifter issue. I asked if any pictures but he didn't have any yet. I know he does regular maintenance at same shop with good reputation. IMO his family has always been a maintenance minder, nothing extra, inexpensive dino oil if possible. Tires were always the cheap and black, mostly round versions etc. Not a spend a bit more to protect investment type. Not that it seems that would help with this either.

I told him to call a couple dealers to see about remanufactured motor and what his shop says also. Any advantages on going to dealer instead of indy shop? I think he wants to fix it as it's less than a new vehicle obviously.

I didn't dig into it on previous noises or other things that may have been fixed like manifold leak or maybe he thought it was that and not wanting to spend $$ on it.

I think you've provided all the guidance you can. If they were mechanically inclined and had the space they could order the cam and lifters and do it themselves if a teardown showed minimal contamination, but it doesn't sound like that's the case. Junkyard engine is probably the cheapest option, reman is probably the safest.

 

[addyguy]

GM was infamous in the late 1970’s for having problems with cheap, ‘soft cams’ that went flat on 305 and 350 engines. It cost them millions probably to fix it.
You’d think this many years later all manufacturers would learn from this and NOT want to repeat it!
I’ve seen it first hand; dad had a ‘78 Malibu wagon with a 305 that had nothing but problems, near then end it barely ran…

 

[ripcord]

GM was infamous in the late 1970’s for having problems with cheap, ‘soft cams’ that went flat on 305 and 350 engines. It cost them millions probably to fix it.
You’d think this many years later all manufacturers would learn from this and NOT want to repeat it!
I’ve seen it first hand; dad had a ‘78 Malibu wagon with a 305 that had nothing but problems, near then end it barely ran…

Those executives and engineers are likely long gone and there's a new generation of bean counters in the house who know they are WAY smarter than those old duffers.