Cyl 1 Engine Misfire

ChuckL333 · Sep 14, 2021

I've had this truck for two years now, and since the day I picked it up it's had a misfire on cyl 1. Never bothered to dig into it until now, as it has been easy to avoid. Now I'm looking to haul a few things around that's changed and getting it fixed has moved up on my priorities.

So since getting the truck (09' Ram with a 5.7) Ive put 30k miles on it. The misfire only happens under 1/2 - 3/4 load. When it happens the light flashes and goes out. Can feel the misfire slightly without a ton of loss of power, can mostly hear it. Parking the truck, turning it off then on always fixes the misfire and I can continue to drive like normal. Misfire is very easy to replicate by using more throttle. Everytime I've checked the codes I've gotten P301 cyl 1 misfire.

So far I've swapped coils, changed plugs and put a new injector in cyl 1. Compression test was perfect.

I'm not super mechanically inclined but I like to do as much as I can on my own. What should I start looking into next? I'm afraid it might be lifters. Find it hard to believe though considering it goes away just by restarting the truck and I've put 30k on it.

Truck is currently sitting at 230k miles.

Burla · Sep 14, 2021

New cam and lifters bud, it is a known issue. Cam lob is wiped and not hitting the bottom of lifter one, it will only get worse. How much do you like your truck? Entering that point where the juice might not be worth the squeeze. It is not rare for the truck to still drive, I'd call some local independents and get pricing. Ask if any give a warranty.

ChuckL333 · Sep 14, 2021

Burla said:
New cam and lifters bud, it is a known issue. Cam lob is wiped and not hitting the bottom of lifter one, it will only get worse. How much do you like your truck? Entering that point where the juice might not be worth the squeeze. It is not rare for the truck to still drive, I'd call some local independents and get pricing. Ask if any give a warranty.

Definitely what I was afraid of. Honestly I'm at the point of deciding whether or not it's worth fixing or possibly dropping a new 5.7 into. I'd be able to do either by myself (close family) so no labor cost involved.

Love the truck and there isn't anything else wrong with it. No a spec of rust, nothing so it's definitely worth working on in my opinion.

ChuckL333 · Sep 14, 2021

Also, what can I do to verify that it is the cam/lifters before tearing into it?

Burla · Sep 14, 2021

ChuckL333 said:
Definitely what I was afraid of. Honestly I'm at the point of deciding whether or not it's worth fixing or possibly dropping a new 5.7 into. I'd be able to do either by myself (close family) so no labor cost involved.

Love the truck and there isn't anything else wrong with it. No a spec of rust, nothing so it's definitely worth working on in my opinion.

give this a gander, dyi cam install, it is ram forum cam bible thread. The way this is going down lends itself to not having a lot of metal in the engine, yes you never know for sure, but I'd consider this route of it were me and I had this experience with that mileage. Maybe boroscope the combustion chamber. If you have that help like you said, this could be done somewhere in 1200 dollar range give or take.

Burla · Sep 14, 2021

Pop the head or valve cover and start the engine see how lifter one is lifting. Pop the heads you can see the shape of the engine hep you decide what to do.

ChuckL333 · Sep 14, 2021

Burla said:
Pop the head or valve cover and start the engine see how lifter one is lifting. Pop the heads you can see the shape of the engine hep you decide what to do.

I'll look into that tomorrow possibly. Maybe you can help me understand in the meantime how it can correct itself. What I mean is, heavy throttle I get a misfire. Pull over, truck is shaking slightly so I shut it down, start it up and it's like brand new again. Seems odd to me. I've always assumed if it was mechanical the misfire would still be there after restarting the truck.

Burla · Sep 14, 2021

It's mechanical, but you also have lubrication running through there. I'd say most of them mimic yours symptoms, look around a bit.

Dodge 1500 4X4 · Sep 14, 2021

Take the valve cover off for Cyl 1 check rocker arm movement for intake and exhaust valves, when you shut it off and start it up the lifter is trying to pump up enough oil pressure, to function # 1 cyl and when it idles down again you loose oil pressure you're on the verge of a failed Lifter & Cam.

RamRod37 · Sep 14, 2021

If that is A MDS 5.7 You May have cylinder 1 MDS lifter not locking back in after activated due to bad lifter or MDS solenoid or oil passage stopped up

fijicorey · Sep 15, 2021

230k miles isn't a bad run at all. I wouldn't fix the issue with that many miles but go with a used engine if you're going to drop it in yourself. You could also put a rebuilt unit in there, but I haven't really heard much on those.

RamJam53 · Dec 6, 2021

RamRod37 said:
If that is A MDS 5.7 You May have cylinder 1 MDS lifter not locking back in after activated due to bad lifter or MDS solenoid or oil passage stopped up

I posted this after reading you post. I picked up a 2011 Ram 1500 at an internet auction. I have read enough of these posts to realize this is a cronick hemi problem. I went through the whole dance like everyone else with plugs and coils ect. and finally pulled the valve cover. I have noticed that in all the other videos I have seen the valves at least move a small amount but my #1 valve spring (it throws a P0301 code) doesn't move at all when cranked over .....zero. I was hoping to get lucky and have it be a broken valve spring.... but no. My question is....is it possible for it to be the MDS lifter is bad on the #1 cylinder and won't lift the push rod at all? Like I said there is zero valve movement when cranked. Also when driving it it really bucks when the torque converter locks up under light throttle.......seems like it is more than one cylinder would do......back off and step on it harder and it seems to smooth out? Wondering if this could be a MDS system malfunction. One last thing, and I'm not sure if it is related, when I let off gas like coming off the Interstate and coast to slow down....when I go to pick up the gas again sometimes I have to keep pushing the throttle down to maybe half throttle with no response and then it will catch and take off hard? Hope someone has seen this before TIA

RamRod37 · Dec 7, 2021

RamJam53 said:
I posted this after reading you post. I picked up a 2011 Ram 1500 at an internet auction. I have read enough of these posts to realize this is a cronick hemi problem. I went through the whole dance like everyone else with plugs and coils ect. and finally pulled the valve cover. I have noticed that in all the other videos I have seen the valves at least move a small amount but my #1 valve spring (it throws a P0301 code) doesn't move at all when cranked over .....zero. I was hoping to get lucky and have it be a broken valve spring.... but no. My question is....is it possible for it to be the MDS lifter is bad on the #1 cylinder and won't lift the push rod at all? Like I said there is zero valve movement when cranked. Also when driving it it really bucks when the torque converter locks up under light throttle.......seems like it is more than one cylinder would do......back off and step on it harder and it seems to smooth out? Wondering if this could be a MDS system malfunction. One last thing, and I'm not sure if it is related, when I let off gas like coming off the Interstate and coast to slow down....when I go to pick up the gas again sometimes I have to keep pushing the throttle down to maybe half throttle with no response and then it will catch and take off hard? Hope someone has seen this before TIA

A mds lifter is still spring loaded to keep there push rod tight there is just less than the valve spring so check your push rod if it lose even slacked you have a bad cam lobe for sure

Soileau · Aug 14, 2022

I have a 2015 RT that this just happened to, code P0301 cyl.1 misfire, but I lost power immediately and only have 82,000 miles. Bought truck new & changed oil every 4-5 thousand using Penzoil 5w 20 synthetic and really took care of it as I love my truck. So far I changed the plugs and coil pack on #1 but doing the same. The truck has been tuned since its around 6 months old and the MDS turned off. The two plugs were real bad for 82,000 miles so I'll have a mechanic change the rest of them and see what happens. If I have to pay someone to rebuild this engine I'll sure lose faith in Chrysler Rams because this is the first I've owned. I'm 53, owned 1 Ford and a whole bunch of GM's and never had an engine go out like that.

grizzstang · Aug 15, 2022

^^^If your misfire persists after a new plug and coil pack it is probably the lifters.

Have your mechanic take the valve cover off and check the rockers on that cylinder.

Many get away with just replacing the cam and lifters. There are many threads on what to look for. It is still a pricy job if your paying someone else to do it but less than a whole engine.

Every brand has their issues. I know Ford has had many issues with their twin turbo 6's and several years of their 5.0 chug oil by the quart. GM is no better.

Ghost1500 · Aug 15, 2022

grizzstang said:
Every brand has their issues. I know Ford has had many issues with their twin turbo 6's and several years of their 5.0 chug oil by the quart. GM is no better.

This is good to know. Thanks.

-Mike

Cyl 1 Engine Misfire

ChuckL333

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