2013 5.7L Cam/Lifter issue

[Reaper]

Alright, after chiming in on a few others I’ve decided to start my own thread.

I’ve got a 2013 Ram 1500 5.7L crew cab/short bed 4x4 with 33,900 miles on it. It’s got a 4” lift with 325/60r20 tires, upgrade from 3.21 gears to 3.92’s, and a few bolt ons (vararam CAI, moes 87mm TB, ARH LT’s, pedal commander, and a T-1000 with custom Hemifever tune.)

This truck had been occasionally throwing a P0304 (cyl 4 misfire) and I would take it to the dealer. Every time it was under warranty they cleared the code, said they couldn’t duplicate the issue and sent me on my way.

In July the code popped up I decided to run it to ground on my own. Changed plugs, not it. Swapped a coil pack, not it. Took it back to the dealer to find I was 20 days out of the 5 yr warranty ( I thought it was lifetime, like my last dodge). Anyways, be it coincidence or not (I think not) now the dealer wanted $1k to tear my engine apart to see whats wrong.

After a month and setting up a claim with FCA, the dealer finally said it’s most-likely cam and lifters....and will cost $5k to fix. Even with previous invoices FCA, says they can only help out with $1500.

I got a second opinion from a local shop that did my gear swap and header install. They say $3400 for OEM caliber comp cam and lifters, gaskets, labor etc..,or $3800 for same with mild (comp) cam.

I read several threads and finally decide to start down the “repair” route today, looking at MMX kit in their website and this forum’s weekly email pops up on my phone with a thread about shavings being in the engine from this issue and suggestions for engine swaps.

I don’t really want to swap an engine into a 6-7 yr old truck, even if it does only have <34k miles.

Someone on here mentioned an oil analysis before. I’m thinking that should give me the info of if I have metal in my oil.

*If no metal, do cam/lifter swap and roll on.

*If metal...go back to the drawing board.

Right?

 

[Garce421]

I’ll bump this up because I have the exact same questions. Is there a way to perform a flush for possible metal particulate contamination? I know UOA would be helpful here but wondering if anyone has successfully completed the repair and not had any problems down the road.

 

[Burla]

No, the kind of metal you are thinking about wont show up in a uoa, that is metal flake, not high metal ppm as in invisible metal. The way to tell if you have metal flake, is cut open your oil filter and change your oil yourself. Best way to access risk of metal flake is visually look at the cam lob and rollers, if it's smooth you :should" be good, if it is pitted you could be in trouble.

What oil have you used for your oil changes? What weight?

 

[Burla]

 

[Burla]

Anyhow, people have metal in their oil all the time, I think the risk is negligible. if it is that versus 10 grand plus. Typical FCA horror story, sorry to hear it, but yet come to expect it from no good FCA. Consider small claims, let a judge decide if they fixed it correctly. Talk with a lemon lawyer first, they may help, if not file small claims. I wouldnt let those idiots touch my **** again, use the other shop.

 

[Reaper]

No, the kind of metal you are thinking about wont show up in a uoa, that is metal flake, not high metal ppm as in invisible metal. The way to tell if you have metal flake, is cut open your oil filter and change your oil yourself. Best way to access risk of metal flake is visually look at the cam lob and rollers, if it's smooth you :should" be good, if it is pitted you could be in trouble.

What oil have you used for your oil changes? What weight?

Th first two I had the dealer change at the 5k miles interval and used their normal penzoil platinum 5w20 with mopar filter. I began experiencing the “hemi tick” and had my first p0304 code at 11K miles. From 15k on I’ve used redline full synthetic 5w20 and a royal purple filter.

 

[Burla]

Did redline kill the tick? So not good sign for us if it did, failed anyhow, dang. I bet you would have high ppm in your uoa regardless if there was metal or not. But it can help you in the future if you fix it and experience this again. Fkin 34k miles, dang man sorry to hear your problems and that fca is such a ******* of a manu.

 

[Reaper]

Redline stopped the tick for a few thousand miles, but it came back, although quieter. Dealer continued to do nothing about the tick or the p0304 code.
Would love to fix my truck (cam/lifter) swap, if I knew it would work without issue for another 5-7 years. But recent posts make me think there is no sanity in doing the cam/lifter swap if you had ANY metal grinding. As those particles could still be in there with the now new cam & lifters.

 

[Burla]

I hope you pursue your legal remedies, good luck to you man. 20 days outta warranty with the issue documented is as weak as it gets for FCA. I would never buy a new vehicle from them again. 40k dollar trucks aren't supposed to last 34k miles.

 

[Kap1]

Take it to a local shop to have them tear it down and see how bad is it and if there are any metal shavings. Have them replace the lifters cam anyway then decide if you want to sell it asap or keep it based on what your mechanic finds.

 

[Reaper]

I hope you pursue your legal remedies, good luck to you man. 20 days outta warranty with the issue documented is as weak as it gets for FCA. I would never buy a new vehicle from them again. 40k dollar trucks aren't supposed to last 34k miles.

Already pinged the dude that set up a class action suit. This truck was $48k msrp and I’ve put ~10k in add ons. Dodge, ram, and FCA have treated me ok in the past, fixing defective vehicles. But their lack to to even make an attemp to save their name (IMO) is what has me ticked off. I don't plan on buying anything from FCA again.

 

[Reaper]

Take it to a local shop to have them tear it down and see how bad is it and if there are any metal shavings. Have them replace the lifters cam anyway then decide if you want to sell it asap or keep it based on what your mechanic finds.

Yeah, $3400 is the quote I got to fix it from my local shop. Kinda steep (to me) to potentially turn around and sell. Can’t get that extra $ back out of it.

 

[Garce421]

I’ve seen mopar crate hemis online for $5k not sure if that’s a better route to take or not if you want to keep it. Did the class action guy say they are having any luck getting people to join?

 

[Kap1]

Yeah, $3400 is the quote I got to fix it from my local shop. Kinda steep (to me) to potentially turn around and sell. Can’t get that extra $ back out of it.

Yeah, it's steep, but with a major CEL your truck won't be worth much either as nobody will buy it, and any potential buyer will automatically deduct the price for this same repair or a new engine. So unfortunately you don't have too many options. Hey... There's still a good chance that a cam and lifters job will suffice.

 

[Musky Mike]

On a side note, that is not the typical damage I’ve seen when the cam lobe/lifter goes out (disclaimer, I’ve only seen 7 or 8 pictures on different HEMIs that have chewed up cam lobes). There is no wear to the cam lobe from the roller lifter in that picture. You have a material defect in the metal. It looks like there was void under the surface of the metal when cam lobe was formed. No oil in the world have saved that cam lobe.

 

[local]

I agree with Musky Mike, that is not wear. I have seen plenty of internal engine wear as well as some defects and unless that is just a terrible picture it looks like a defect to me.

 

[Fargo97]

Never owned a Ram until now. I always had fords but I really loved how aggressive the rams looked. Found a "good deal" on a 13 ram at a dealer so I bought it. Not a week later it went back to the dealer where it's been for a month now still waiting to be fixed. With less than 100,000 miles they are replacing lifters and cam. From what I gather, it seems to be a common thing for the rams. Very disappointed! I have a 2001 F150 with 300,000 miles on it and all I ever replaced was the squeaking front end. Now I have a 13 Ram with less than 100,000 miles and already major internal repairs.

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

I'm no expert but that picture is not wear, that's a bad casting or other type of damage like something floating around in the engine. It's a damaged cam or a really bad photo. Whatever it is that apparent rough spot is not from wear.

 

[Ramnewbie]

That picture is definitely a bad cam due to material or hardening, either way, bad part. I'm of the opinion that there are a couple different issues with hemi tick and cam/ lifter failure. The picture above is a bad part, no oil is going to fix that. Then you have the rollers seizing which in my opinion could be lubrication related or alignment related. Ive seen lifters that the roller is starting to seize and it appears to me that the rollers are not running at an absolute 90 degree angle to the cam, thus they not only roll on the cam but they have a slight sliding action because of not being aligned properly. That sliding action is creating extra heat in that one roller, hence, the needle bearings will only sustain that extra heat for so long befire they seize. No oil is going to fix bad parts, some oils may prolong bad alignment failures. Any way you look at it its bad quality control by FCA.

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[demon3404]

I went the path of replacing the cam and lifters but due to my mistake I ended up having to replace the engine. I found a 10,000 mile engine from a 2015 for $1750. The oil pan on the replacement engine was dented so I swapped it with mine. There was a lot of metal in the bottom of the pan that I had to scrap and clean out. I don't see any way for it to get sucked up into the engine as it had basically become sludge. That doesn't mean it could have, it just wouldn't have been much.

You can pull you dipstick and shine a flashlight on the oil and see if there are any metal flakes on it, mine had flakes on the dipstick. My cam and lifter was in pretty bad shape, the cam lobe was ground off and the lifter roller was flat. The supports for the roller on each side of the lifter were starting to bend from cutting into the cam.