2013 Ram 1500 5.7 misfire on vacation

[W-Architects]

I have a 2013 Ram 1500 5.7 with 230K miles on it. I just got back from a long trip out west and while I was in South Dakota, I noticed a slight loss of power at the end of the day, but nothing crazy. When I went to get back on the road in the morning, cylinder #2 was misfiring. I have a "lifetime" warranty from Chrysler, so I took it to the dealership. They pulled out two mangled sparkplugs they said were finger tight. They replaced the spark plugs and coil pack and got me back out on the road. I've had the lifters fixed at least one time, also fixed a manifold bolt. My engine had a tick before the spark plug issue, and it still has the tick, but nothing worse. I have an appointment with the dealer to get the engine torn down to find the problem. Take a look at the two pictures. Any idea how this could happen? Some google research lead me to a broken valve seat, but i have no idea. What else should I be concerned about? Where did the electrode go?? Could it be in my cylinder grinding around???

 

[Burla]

Cylinder Pressures heat and time, you can tell if it was acidic environment like low quality fuel as the plug would be corroded, but that isn't the case here the rest of the plugs look good. Sometimes piston tops can cause that mostly non hemis, but I doubt that here as well. How old are those plugs, they don't seam to be that old. Did you use Mopar plugs and bought from where? Did they pull all the plugs after that? That metal is probably stuck somewhere in combustion chamber, it wont make it past the rings. Might be stuck in exhaust valve since you say you thing there is a valve issue. last time you changed pcv?

 

[Burla]

It's not wet and oiley either, so that collapsed plug was probably working pretty efficiently regardless. Makes me wish I had a lifetime warranty.

 

[AEDELGOD]

The electrode absolutely is in the cylinder if it didn't come out with the plug. I would expect some scoring to the piston and cylinder walls, maybe even the valves at a minimum.

 

[W-Architects]

It's not wet and oiley either, so that collapsed plug was probably working pretty efficiently regardless. Makes me wish I had a lifetime warranty.

I replaced plugs at 200k I believe. I do all recommended services at my dealership since I have the warranty. I believe the dealership uses mopar plugs, but I never checked. I typically use 87 grade gas (Ohio), but since I was running into a lot of high ethanol gas in other states I was using 91 a lot for this trip.

 

[Burla]

I don't think this is fuel related, and since they did the tune and they own the warranty, it's irrelevant you get to kick back and watch them work. Interested case, thanks for bringing it.

 

[Wild one]

I replaced plugs at 200k I believe. I do all recommended services at my dealership since I have the warranty. I believe the dealership uses mopar plugs, but I never checked. I typically use 87 grade gas (Ohio), but since I was running into a lot of high ethanol gas in other states I was using 91 a lot for this trip.

Stick a borescope in that cylinder and look the piston over,the electrode could be stuck under a valve,but there's also a good chance it went right out the exhaust port,only way to really tell is do a leak down test,or pull that head off

 

[W-Architects]

UPDATE:
The dealership is recommending replacing the 4 sets of valve tappets. I am assuming those are the 4 sets of lifters. They said there was no damage to the cylinder walls or piston head from the electrode. The mechanic said that the play in the tappets contributed to the failure, so i will have to take his word on it. I am including a few images for reference. The mechanic is not recommending replacing anything else. With the heads off should you replace anything else? I'd love to get another 100K out of this vehicle.

 

[Wild one]

UPDATE:
The dealership is recommending replacing the 4 sets of valve tappets. I am assuming those are the 4 sets of lifters. They said there was no damage to the cylinder walls or piston head from the electrode. The mechanic said that the play in the tappets contributed to the failure, so i will have to take his word on it. I am including a few images for reference. The mechanic is not recommending replacing anything else. With the heads off should you replace anything else? I'd love to get another 100K out of this vehicle.

They should be replacing the camshaft to,not just the lifters.Get stubborn and tell them to replace the cam if they aren't,otherwise you'll be doing it all over again in 6 months.
Don't believe them if they tell you the cam doesn't need replacing at the same time as the lifters

 

[AncientSword]

Any updates? A lifetime warranty sounds really good to me.