3.6l rocker arm tapping noise

[Ricardo Martinez]

Hi you all this is my first time doing anything like this. I need some advice what do next.
I got a Ram 2016 3.6L with 44105 miles that I could hear rocker arm tapping. Took my truck to the dealership the first chance I had.
They replaced 2 rocker arm 1 lifter and the intake cam right side #5 cylinder. They wanted to change the oil but I said that I could change it at home with full synthetic oil (Mobil1) for the price they would do it for.
I got home change the oil and found a lot of metal particles in the oil. I did call Dodge customer service and created case number.
I’m here asking what should I do if anything.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Burla]

That could be normal, and smart you did it yourself. What I would do for sure is keep changing it yourself. Also if you want to find out the source of the metal flakes you can send a sample of the oil to blackstone labs if you still have some, if might show you it was just metal from the new lifter. You also might want to use a zinc additive or break in oil.

 

[Ricardo Martinez]

Thanks Burla. But they did tell me that I might have some metal particle from the part they changed out.

 

[PoMansRam]

Sorry about your issues! I haven't heard of this one with the Pentastar. I assume they had to pull the motor for this repair? Unless there's a way to secure the cam sprockets during the cam replacement.

Metal in the filter would concern me due to the fact the filter is downstream of the oil pump. Any particles had to get sucked up through the pick up screen, run through the pump, then get deposited into the filter. This doesn't mean the motor is toast though..

I'd do a few short succession oil changes, document with pics and save the filters if they're still glittery.

Keep us posted!

 

[Burla]

Yes you can get metal from repair, but so can every cam swap and folks swap cam's all the time around here. Rarely to people pop on an entire engine. Good luck either way, B

 

[Ricardo Martinez]

Morning you all thanks for your reply’s. No they didn’t take the engine out to repair and replace the part. In fact I took the around 4:30 and by the following day 2:00 I had a call that the truck was ready.
I will be pulling out the filter once and a while to check it. I have seen a lot video where the owner guy replaced the rocker arm. Apparently is mostly on 3.6L engine.
I traded my wife SUV (4 year old Durango) because it was started to have a lot of transmission issues and she got me the truck because she wanted a new truck for me.
Now it’s my truck with the issues.
I’m just worried that being so close to my warranty running out that I will get stuck with bill the bill replacing the engine.

 

[Burla]

So for now it's fixed yeah? Sounds great.

Now, you may want to visit the syn thread to see ideas on how to best prevent this in the future. yes, it is theory based, but theories based on science with some good results to back it up over the last 6 years here on ram forum.

Cliff notes version, going up in weight helps protect metal, roughly 1/2 the forum uses 5w30 or heavier based on poll w/o issue. Furthermore, look for an oil with high Molybdenum content, read this. The next level protection after those two if you want to go balls out is the ester/pao based high zinc high moly high detergency fluid of redline 5w30. There is no going past that when it comes to protecting your engine with an oil, that would be the top shelf choice. Vendor nick from got exhaust has the cheapest prices on that, saves a couple bucks for item then the prices on the redline website. If you pop on redline, get a good spun microglass filter, you can make up for the cost by having a long oil change interval.

The running theory is that the entire industry has went to thin oil because of the epa and the gov't's desire for fuel mileage. But, it is a fact we are seeing engine damage at a higher rate because of this and FCA knows it. FCA changed the oil weight in some applications such as the eco diesel just because the lower weight was causing so much internal damage. They can't change the weight for these engines because of CAFE standards, but there is nothing preventing you from changing oils to run a heavier oil. Do some research, come up with a lubrication strategy, these modern engines benefit from everything you can add past the sparce 20 weight formulas the manu wants you to run. I don't necessarily prefer additives, but if you were to look at those you might want to look at lubeguard's biotech moly treat.

very nice truck you have there.

 

[Ricardo Martinez]

Thanks Burla
Since I’m in south Texas I will using 5W 30 in my next oil change.
Thanks again.

 

[huntergreen]

My 15 costar engine sounds like a different engine with 5/30. Nice and quite.

 

[HammerHead]

Hi you all this is my first time doing anything like this. I need some advice what do next.
I got a Ram 2016 3.6L with 44105 miles that I could hear rocker arm tapping. Took my truck to the dealership the first chance I had.
They replaced 2 rocker arm 1 lifter and the intake cam right side #5 cylinder. They wanted to change the oil but I said that I could change it at home with full synthetic oil (Mobil1) for the price they would do it for.
I got home change the oil and found a lot of metal particles in the oil. I did call Dodge customer service and created case number.
I’m here asking what should I do if anything.
Thanks in advance.

Did you first hear the tapping when the truck was in park or in drive or both?

 

[Ricardo Martinez]

Hi HammerHead
I could here the tapping sounds while in park and while in drive. I thought it was 1 rocker arm it turned out to be worse.
I end opening up the filter and I did find a lot off shaving.

 

[HammerHead]

Hi HammerHead
I could here the tapping sounds while in park and while in drive. I thought it was 1 rocker arm it turned out to be worse.
I end opening up the filter and I did find a lot off shaving.

View attachment 142913

WOW!!! I have never seen that much metal fragments before. You think buying some cheap oil and change the oil every 100-200 miles would help flush that out?

 

[Ricardo Martinez]

Will when the service adviser call me and tried selling me an oil change because there MIGHT be SOME metal partials and I said no then he tried more pushing to have my fuel system cleaned for over $200 that made me believe that he was just trying to sell me any services I was willing to buy. Instead OF MIGHT BE all he had to do is just ask the tech pull the oil filter and check for any metal partials. That would taken less the 3 mins to do but that wasn’t done. To me great customer care is taking a few extra steps beyond the rest of the co- works but they didn’t do it. So like always I bought 6 quarts of Mobil 1 and the oil filter of course. If I would have know there was going to be any partials in there I would have bought cheap oil.
Never the less I got the truck home and within mins I was already draining the oil thinking there MIGHT be SOME metal partials in the oil. Per the service adviser “ there might be SOME metal partials in the oil I would change it once you get home.”
That is what I did that I left it draining all night and while changing it I also burned my forearm.
Since my truck has only 100 mile since the oil change I took a look at the oil filter and so far no metal partials in the filter. If this continue I will change out the oil and filter at 1000 miles just to be sure. But if I see any partials in any of my inspection between now and then I will change out the oil and oil filter.

 

[PoMansRam]

I'd think any metallic particles big enough to see would have been run through and deposited onto the filter media pretty quickly after the repair. Still a good plan to check the filter like you did.

In regards to my question above as to if they had to pull the motor to change out the cam. I've seen a youtube video or two where you can get around having to pull the timing covers if you're careful to keep the timing chain pulled up and out of the way with tension on it while the cam or cams are removed and replaced.

Hopefully they replaced the bearing caps along with the cam. Hopefully everything else on that cylinder head looked good and wasn't scored up. You'd like to think the dealer service department would have addressed that given they were in there already.

 

[droopie85gt]

I would expect if there is damage it is in the oil pump itself. But if the oil pressure is still in the normal range, I wouldn't worry too much. Doing a couple of quick oil changes will help flush any remaining metal out. You could also pick up a couple of permanent magnets and stick to the sump of the oil pan to help corral any metal still getting washed down.

 

[Ricardo Martinez]

Hi and thanks
Yes I have been looking at my oil pressure. Just yesterday my oil pressure way high. It was running at 80-81 psi while running my truck under 45 mph for about 5-10 seconds before it dropped down to 41 psi.
Thanks for the idea of the magnets and I will also pick drain plug with the magnet end on it.
Thanks for the advise.

 

[Ricardo Martinez]

Hi ProMans Ram
I don’t think the went rout
I think they just remove the valve cover and replaced the rocker arms, lifter and camshaft. If the had gone the route you mention they would have taken the 3 mins to check the oil filter to tell me that an oil change was required because of the debris found in the oil filter which then I would accepted the oil change.
But then again I would not have know how much Metal particles was in my oil system.

Thank you for your advices and reply.

 

[Ricardo Martinez]

Will guys after 500 miles since my oil change I pulled the filter and found a little bit of metal partials caught on the filter. Once again replaced the oil filter and changed the oil. ( Mobil 1)
And add a magnetic drain plug.