Road gator

Hi everyone..got an issue with my baby(99ram1500,5.2)...was cruising down the road at night...pretty sure I hit a road gator..didn't think much of it....Dodge!!! That's why...so about 5 miles down the road I noticed I was loosing power...looked at my oil pressure..Nada!!!0 oil pressure...I was losing power quick...so I killed it and threw it in neutral..coasted into a commercial parking lot...crawled under the passenger side...that's odd..nothing is wrong with my oil pan or plug...but theres oil on the undercarriage....and then..what do my wondering eyes do I see...but an oil filter bent and cut open...Noooooo!!!...So.im tearing up because.well I think I seized it...Had my brother toe me back with his Dodge..so today I had to rip the housing of the oil filter and get after it with a hammer and screw driver...done..not easy..but done..put oil and new filter..Didn't turn over..Noooooo!!..so I put it in first(it's a manual). And rocked it back and forth for about ten minutes..turned the ignition..it turned...little rough..tried it again..Dodge Baby!!!it started running..it does have a knocking sound..if I step on the gas it speeds up the knock...it idles fine..I know it's a piston..don't know if it's a fried plug or something worse...can somebody give me a couple of worse case scenarios...do you think (and I hope) it's just a plug?

Anything more than half a minute without oil starts to cause serious damage. You only went 5 miles or so, I went 30.

At the worst, you've mucked up the cylinders, rings, pistons, bearings, crank, cam and lifters. Best case, you need a rebuild. If you can hear it knock, its usually the rod bearing is what goes first.

If you're lucky the hydraulic lifters leaked down enough to keep the cam and its bearings from becoming too damaged.

If you are willing to do the work, you should stop driving it and drop the pan. Inspect the rod bearings for play and signs of overheating on the rods themselves. When you look at the crank, you will see discoloration in specific points, this is the hardening they do to the crank and is normal. The discoloration on the crank is a blue gray, and should be very uniform as well as repeated along the crank.

You should remove the rod cap on the front most and rearmost rods, look for scoring or metal impregnated in the bearing surface. You will also have to look at a cylinder with the piston near the top of the travel and look for scoring or shadowing of the cylinder wall.

Trying to inspect the main bearings is useless unless you pull one of the bearings, if you do, pull the middle, but you need to put it back on fairly quickly to prevent warpage of the crank.

I went 30 miles with a big enclosed trailer with no oil pressure, aside from having little power, it sounded like you attached a hammer to the crank and put some crap in there to make a loud metal squealing sound, but it still drove.

Rebuild?

Well, it's got a knock.sounds deep...can't tell if it's from the right or left...seen rebuild kits for about 400...does anyone know how much a mechanic will charge me...I'd rather take it to a mechanic than start pulling it apart...

Rod knock!!!

Ok guys....after researching the sound..and talking to some mechanics....I've isolated the sound to under the engine...right above the oil pan....it's freakin rod knock.....ugh....haven't done serious mechanic work since I was in the army twenty years ago....I appreciate the post..well,...time to look at options...not giving up on the dodge though..

Sorry to say, but I called it. Good news is, you can probably drive around like that for a while. One option is to unplug the injectors for each cylinder 1 at a time until the knocking quiets down.

As for a rebuild, most shops wont do that anymore, usually they will only put in replacements. A few shops will rebuild it, but its gonna cost a lot.

Thanks dudeman

Thanks dude man for the advice...ugh.don't think I can bare driving her around hurt like that..if I can find somebody to just replace the rod bearings I'd run her for about six months then put a new heart in her...got a couple of numbers to some certified mobile mechanics that claim to do major work...idk...see where that goes...guess ill also call around to some of the local mechanics to see if I can find somebody who can do it for a reasonable price....I was looking on you tube...saw some mechanics changing them out...it looks possible...

Honestly might just be easier to swap it. These engines are a dime a dozen

What would be a fair price for a 5.2.???

No more than 500 max

Swapping them is pretty easy, I did mine in about 3 days time. Replaced my old 5.2 with a nice low mileage 5.9.

I just wish i'd had the money to rebuild the trans while I had it out.

Sorry if it's a dumb question but what in the hell is a "road gator?" When I read this topic, I initially thought that you ran over a literal alligator in the road, LOL.

Around here, 5.2's are somewhat common and are almost always under $500. 5.9's are less common but if you don't care about 30 odd lb/ft of peak torque, no reason not to nab a nice 5.2. Before dropping in the engine, consider a few little things that are much easier while the engine is out like a plenum repair (it'll need it eventually) or new timing set (not a bad idea since most used engines are well north of a hundred thousand).

If you want to spend a little more money, you can get a remanned short block for around a grand. Just take the top end stuff from your old engine and drop it on.

Yeret said:

Sorry if it's a dumb question but what in the hell is a "road gator?" When I read this topic, I initially thought that you ran over a literal alligator in the road, LOL.

Around here, 5.2's are somewhat common and are almost always under $500. 5.9's are less common but if you don't care about 30 odd lb/ft of peak torque, no reason not to nab a nice 5.2. Before dropping in the engine, consider a few little things that are much easier while the engine is out like a plenum repair (it'll need it eventually) or new timing set (not a bad idea since most used engines are well north of a hundred thousand).

If you want to spend a little more money, you can get a remanned short block for around a grand. Just take the top end stuff from your old engine and drop it on.

Click to expand...

I imagined a literal alligator too