2013 5.7L Hemi cam is failing

[Chris Bleistine]

Hey everyone,

My truck started making a metallic sound coming from the rear part of the motor; near the firewall.
Two mechanics have told me that it's the camshaft and that Ram has a documented problem with the cams in these motors. At least 3grand to fix and the motor will more-than-likely have metal shavings throughout.

Anyone aware of this issue and if I can call Dodge and have them eat it?
The truck only has 117,000 miles. Mechanic said that it should run for at least 250K.

Any thought, or actions that I can do?

Thank You in advance,

Chris

 

[Burla]

Most of these cams are smoothed out overtime, unless the cam has chunks/pits in there is likely no metal. You can do a used oil analysis to check, it will likely show up in ppm which is better then shavings. They wont know til the cam is out for sure, anyway better off doing nothing til you get the mis fire code. And when you change the oil do it yourself and inspect good for any metal shavings. I'd switch to redline 5w30 and a royal purple filter if you haven't had a mis fire code yet to see if you can smooth out the noise. Nick at gotexhaust a vendor here has the cheapest price on the oil.

I'd bet my left nut FCA wont do squat for you, this is a known issue as you know, most of the time they deny any service anyway.

 

[Hootbro]

I will be a negative Nancy and tell you FCA will probably not do squat since you are out of warranty. Yeah it is well documented across the interwebs and I think maybe a class action has been started on this, but for the average Joe with a problem now, you are going to have to pay out of pocket to get this fixed.

A Hail Mary pass "might" be had if a dealership tears this down and inspects for cam damage and maybe a partial goodwill coverage may happen, but you are still on the hook to pay the dealership for their investigative work. FCA's needle will not move if you submit a claim from a indy mechanic.

Good Luck.

 

[Bee1971]

Pull your oil filter

Cut it open , let the oil drain into a coffee can , pull out the media filter , let the oil drain and media dry

Spread out the filter media a mile long LOL , get the magnet out , any metal will bee on one side of the filter media

Cam and lifters will stick to magnet

All your metal will go through the oil pump into the oil filter if that’s the case you will know all you need

Start there and post back

 

[Kap1]

Hi, sorry to hear about your trouble

We've just had two very good case studies about both just cam replacement and whole engine replacement very recently:

This will provide you with all the information: https://www.ramforum.com/threads/2011-lifter-cam-failure.129766/

We've discussed probably 5 different threads here in the past month regarding cams out, and it has good info on everything from cam replacement to engine replacement . Here's one on engine replacement: https://www.ramforum.com/threads/engine-5-7-hemi-problem-camshaft.83283/

You have two options: replace cam and lifters, costing about $4k . Once they take apart engine, they'll tell you if cam is eaten bad or if it can simply be replaced. If there's metal all over the engine, then will need to have the entire engine replaced at about $7-9k range repair. THE KEY IS TO FIND trustworthy MECHANIC WHO'S EXPERIENCED WORKING WITH HEMI ENGINES .

Other option is to walk away from the truck and trade it in as is or do minimal repair with replacement of cam whether it has metal shavings or not.

Good luck to you.

 

[Garce421]

If anything please let fca know so that they can add it to hopefully a list or a tally of these. I know it’s hard to think positively here since this all seems to fall on deaf ears or were just shooting wish arrows into the sky. Hopefully the squeaky wheel, or cam, can get the grease on this one and Ram will do something. If not I’m afraid this is my last Ram and FCA product.

 

[Kap1]

Could you tell us how often you've been changing oil and what kind of oil you've used?

We're oil fans here and hope it may help us bribe the HEMI gods to spare our cams

 

[Ramnewbie]

You can get a reman long block for a 2012 hemi from advance auto for $4k. I don't know if there is any difference between a 2012 an a 2013. Of course you'd still have to pay someone to do the swap or do it yourself. I believe that comes with a 3/36 warranty. I think that was a Spartan reman, you can check others to see what all you're getting and price.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[RLJ10X]

If it was me, I wouldn't hit the Panic Button just yet. Id stop driving it. I'd get a UOA. Depending on the the results of the UOA, I'd trade it for something else before it starts throwing codes.

If my engine ever munches a cam, I may buy another FCA, but I'd never buy another 5.7.

Honestly, I don't know why they even still make the 5.7. They'd get the same HP and TQ if they just put 2 more cylinders on the Pentastar.

Are these cams iron, or steel? Are they surface hardened?

 

[Kap1]

I'm not sure if UOA will be as valuable in this situation ... We already know that there's a problem, and I don't think that UOA will help us much in terms of making a decision. Any end result will be to tear down the engine and look at the cam and inspect if there's any significant amounts of metal shavings in the engine

 

[HammerHead]

Hey everyone,

My truck started making a metallic sound coming from the rear part of the motor; near the firewall.
Two mechanics have told me that it's the camshaft and that Ram has a documented problem with the cams in these motors. At least 3grand to fix and the motor will more-than-likely have metal shavings throughout.

Anyone aware of this issue and if I can call Dodge and have them eat it?
The truck only has 117,000 miles. Mechanic said that it should run for at least 250K.

Any thought, or actions that I can do?

Thank You in advance,

Chris

Chris please post a video so we can hear what your talking about.

 

[Chris Bleistine]

Okay. It's in the shop, but I'll get it soon.

 

[RLJ10X]

I'm just saying, that before I tore that engine apart because a mechanic said it was the cam (with no check engine light) I'd do an oil analysis.

I've been a victim of the "Bad Sound" (mis)diagnosis before.

Engines make lots of different noises. And his guy may be correct. But then again, he may not.

 

[crackerjack1957]

Dial indicator to check lift at valve will find bad cam lobe/roller without tearing down engine.

 

[meedom]

OP, please list the type and weight of oil you were using, the type oil filter, and your oil change interval\mileage for us.....

 

[meedom]

Bump

 

[kgl306]

Hey everyone,

My truck started making a metallic sound coming from the rear part of the motor; near the firewall.
Two mechanics have told me that it's the camshaft and that Ram has a documented problem with the cams in these motors. At least 3grand to fix and the motor will more-than-likely have metal shavings throughout.

Anyone aware of this issue and if I can call Dodge and have them eat it?
The truck only has 117,000 miles. Mechanic said that it should run for at least 250K.

Any thought, or actions that I can do?

Thank You in advance,

Chris

Check your VIN# and see if the eighth character is a "T", if so these problems are coming out of the same factory( I believe in Canada) . I have same problem currently and most start with a misfire error code of '0303" , which is a misfire on cylinder 3 . I have a simple scanner on the diagnostic port and it shows the same misfire on cyl. 3 along with "random misfires"

 

[Hemi395]

Great, the 8th character in my VIN is T....

 

[Ramnewbie]

Great, the 8th character in my VIN is T....

Yeah, so is mine. I thought my engine was built in Mexico though, I'll have to recheck that.

Sent from my VS996 using Tapatalk

 

[Hemi395]

Thats what I thought too...