Fix it, Trade it, Sell-It?

[diymirage]

I made sure my Ram being delivered tomorrow has 180 day warranty with an extended warranty that lasts for 3 years. By then I will have enough to either fix what craps out, or buy another good used truck. As one needs a to adopt a brand new truck. With this twin turbo 6 cyl crap, I will gladly keep my Hemi.

Smart man

I got nothing against turbos, but there simply is no replacement for displacement


Even with the 5.7, my ram is tied for having the smallest engine I have (car wise)

 

[marine0311]

I have nothing against turbos. I looked at a Hemi 572 that cranks out 700hp on 93octane. All motor. How about putting twin turbo on something like that. Twin turbos on a Cummins at the drag strip is awesome as well. I blame GM with their Buick and Pontiac 6cyl with turbo running 13sec 1/4 mile. The GMC wind up truck was awesome as well. Then came out with the 454ss truck with no turbo. I know the foreign jobbers have this technology for years with 4bangers and 6pops on steroids for years. Nothing against them at all. I’m American, and I want American V-8 . My new “used” adoption may be me last truck for a long time. If my little 5.7 Hemi craps out, putting in a 572 Hemi will definitely wake this baby up

 

[RodRamCar]

Aint no way this is a good kit. If it is, i'd buy it but with no reviews, hard to trust.

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

Aint no way this is a good kit. If it is, i'd buy it but with no reviews, hard to trust.

View attachment 538045

Do it right the first or don't do it at all

 

[RodRamCar]

Do it right the first or don't do it at all

great advice, sir . I agree. been referrred to using a Comp kit and i'm ok with OEM too but damn sure aint paying for the parts at the dealership. Got any great OEM sources?

 

[Docwagon1776]

Aint no way this is a good kit. If it is, i'd buy it but with no reviews, hard to trust.

View attachment 538045

Don't buy car parts off Amazon unless you just want Chinese counterfeit parts. Any reviews are likely fake. If you leave a bad review of some Chinese-ium product, they will often contact you and offer you money to take the review down. So even if 6 stars out of 5, it's still way too likely to be a scam than I'd be comfortable with.

 

[Docwagon1776]

great advice, sir . I agree. been referrred to using a Comp kit and i'm ok with OEM too but damn sure aint paying for the parts at the dealership. Got any great OEM sources?

Site sponsor: https://www.ramforum.com/forums/all-mopar-parts.133/

 

[RodRamCar]

Site sponsor: https://www.ramforum.com/forums/all-mopar-parts.133/

thank you for providing that

 

[Wild one]

great advice, sir . I agree. been referrred to using a Comp kit and i'm ok with OEM too but damn sure aint paying for the parts at the dealership. Got any great OEM sources?

There's better cams out there for the trucks,then an off the shelf Comp cam,and don't use Comps lifters,they don't have a great rep. Last time i priced out a 5.7 truck cam from the dealer,it was actually one of the cheaper cams available,but that was a couple years ago,so they might have jumped up in price since then. Stick with OEM lifters,even if they rock your boat for price.

 

[Burla]

There's better cams out there for the trucks,then an off the shelf Comp cam,and don't use Comps lifters,they don't have a great rep. Last time i priced out a 5.7 truck cam from the dealer,it was actually one of the cheaper cams available,but that was a couple years ago,so they might have jumped up in price since then. Stick with OEM lifters,even if they rock your boat for price.

He's gonna crack open the valve cover and see if he can replace valve spring or see if it is a valve spring, first time for him. Have any advice rick? I said to run engine when cover is off and check it that way, and to do all 4 while it's open. My guess is valve spring, I forget why I believe that after talking with him for a while my guess is that. Anything he can do before poping cover?

 

[Wild one]

He's gonna crack open the valve cover and see if he can replace valve spring or see if it is a valve spring, first time for him. Have any advice rick? I said to run engine when cover is off and check it that way, and to do all 4 while it's open. My guess is valve spring, I forget why I believe that after talking with him for a while my guess is that. Anything he can do before poping cover?

I think you covered it Mike. I forget who i suggested it might be a spring,but either way,he should pull the valve cover on that side.

 

[RodRamCar]

He's gonna crack open the valve cover and see if he can replace valve spring or see if it is a valve spring, first time for him. Have any advice rick? I said to run engine when cover is off and check it that way, and to do all 4 while it's open. My guess is valve spring, I forget why I believe that after talking with him for a while my guess is that. Anything he can do before poping cover?

Here's some pictures so far. I've got just about everything out of the way enough to get the driver's side valve cover off. So far this thing is much easier than my 3.3 Stinger was at getting to certain areas of the engine. Coils are out, harness to all coils and injectors, alternator etc, are unplugged and clips unplugged to move the harness out of the way.

 

[RodRamCar]

Couple more

 

[RodRamCar]

.

 

[Wild one]

Couple more

With that writing on the valve cover,do you know if it's already had an engine swap.That writing looks alot like what a wrecking yard might write on a valve cover

 

[RodRamCar]

With that writing on the valve cover,do you know if it's already had an engine swap.That writing looks alot like what a wrecking yard might write on a valve cover

I've no clue at all. I guess it wouldn't really surprise me. Starting to regret this truck purchase. That makes me nervous.

 

[RodRamCar]

The seller only owned the truck from 144k miles to 165k miles and I know I couldn't find any history on the vehicle. All the seller had done on the truck is plugs, belt, and oil changes in that time of ownership. If it was replaced, I imagine it was a long time ago as in more than 5 years ago.

 

[Kertusca]

Got one of those situations where I am having a hard time deciding do I fix my truck, trade-it while it has no CEL and otherwise drives decent, or Sell it and just wait and be patient?

I have a 2011 Ram 1500 with 165k miles on it. I just bought it recently and never had a CEL and still doesn't but i know for sure something is broken or seized (lifter) at cylinder 1 or 3. Yes, i know i should at least remove the valve covers and inspect it. The noise seriously developed shortly after purchasing. I will probably at least get the intake off to look at the VVT solenoid and check the screen for metal shavings because the oil was new when I got the truck so nothing showed in the oil change that I did when putting fresh PUP oil in. If there are shavings present, I will take a loss to avoid being the one to fork out for a new engine. Also the transmission is smooth when manually shifting and has fresh fluid but when auto shifting it's a bit rough. Assuming line pressure due to clogged filters could be the issue causing solenoids to shift inconsistently.

Anyways, i'm just wondering if I should opt for trading for maybe a newer 15/16/17 Ram or perhaps just being patient and getting a 5th Gen when I can find a really great deal. What would you do? I enjoy reading others opinions. This 2011 is my favorite body style and love the console shifter on these. I do wish i paid more attention to avoid the 5 speed but it does shift damn good in manual mode when I'm in control of shift points.

The main reason I am hesitant on paying to fix it is the truck has the 5 speed and I definitely wish it had the 6 speed. Stupid me. Secondly, i would be pissed if I replace the engine and then something happens adn I have to now address the transmission issue. You can see the 11,500 ive spent on this will quickly turn into a $20k+ truck with lots of miles.

I was in a similar situation. 2014 Ram with , had lifter noises. 160,000 owned since new. Looks amazing still drive train solid. Gave me three options rebuild engine , replace engine or sell as is.
Dealer offered great price for the truck.
But ultimately it came down to a truck I owned with no payments and replacing.
I decided to spend 10,000 on a new engine installed. Gave me 2 years unlimited mileage warranty on engine.
I will get another few years out of this truck for the price.

 

[RodRamCar]

Put the truck back together and selling it today. If it goes through, I will have lost a very small amount on sellingit but gaining 11k back to my bank account and saving for a much newer one just feels like the right move. I'm bummed but at the same time, it is the best thing for my family at the present time. With retirement nearing, and an uncertain future ahead in regard to income (until I find my new job), I want to beef up my savings as much as possible and re-assess after retirement, VA rating decision, and post-retirement job income. Lets hope daddy can get a nice little retirement gift in the form of a newer Ram Rebel. I'm more into those after all anyways.

I want to thank @Burla @jws123 and @Wild one for providing sound advice, taking the time to talk to me and I appreciate everybody for your time. Really. I'm not going anywhere and will plan to stick around and follow the discussions and participate.

 

[RodRamCar]

I was in a similar situation. 2014 Ram with , had lifter noises. 160,000 owned since new. Looks amazing still drive train solid. Gave me three options rebuild engine , replace engine or sell as is.
Dealer offered great price for the truck.
But ultimately it came down to a truck I owned with no payments and replacing.
I decided to spend 10,000 on a new engine installed. Gave me 2 years unlimited mileage warranty on engine.
I will get another few years out of this truck for the price.

Had this 2011 been mine since new, ain't no way this would have been a easy decision to sell. I didn't like so many uncertainties with the engine, it's past and the great unknowns with the transmission as well. It's very disappointing that as I found things when taking it more apart, the previous owner acted like he had no idea how the hell brand new trans fluid ended up in the transmission when it looked so pink it had just come out of a new bottle of ATF. To me, it screams like a transmission shifting issue that was attempted to be fixed by new fluids. That also tells me that likely, they didn't even do a proper filter swap on the ol 545RFE either. That paired with the certainty that engine rebuild was likely, this 11k dollar truck even done by myself and with my time was going to get expensive, complicated and annoying. I went with my gut this time which i've testey own luck in the past. I really like this 2011 for it's looks and if I could do it right now, i'd just pony up for a brand new engine and go the 8 spd swap and pop a new one of those in there at the same time and have a brand new truck practically. Timing wasn't in my favor.