5.7 Hemi "blew up" by dealership?

[Silver21Ram]

140K on the truck? I’d tell them to give you a killer deal on a new truck and junk this one. Not worth the hassle to install a new engine.

Absolutely. Blown-up and all, trade it, sell it, donate it. Anything except spending a dollar on it.

 

[Dean2]

Absolutely. Blown-up and all, trade it, sell it, donate it. Anything except spending a dollar on it.

What am I missing here, running the OP says the truck is worth 17 to 20 grand, and even with the drop in used values that seems pretty reasonable. Not running it is 2 or 3 grand. Spend 10, sell for 20 seems like a pretty good upside to me. Now maybe you guys have way more money than time but for most of us the difference between running and not is material.

 

[Andrei20]

I'd go after the dealership for wrong troubleshooting. The engine could have been saved, if they found the real problem and fixed it. Bad lifter, ok, change the lifter, maybe the camshaft, maybe something else, but not the entire engine. That's why you brought the car to them, to get it fixed, not just throw some parts at it, that was probably not needed, and now you have to pay for and then they turn the key, blow your engine and are telling you that it would have happened anyway. No! It would have not happened. They could have borescoped the cylinders, check the valve train, check compressions, ets. That engine could have been saved with minimal repairs.

 

[Hootbro]

I'd go after the dealership for wrong troubleshooting. The engine could have been saved, if they found the real problem and fixed it. Bad lifter, ok, change the lifter, maybe the camshaft, maybe something else, but not the entire engine. That's why you brought the car to them, to get it fixed, not just throw some parts at it, that was probably not needed, and now you have to pay for and then they turn the key, blow your engine and are telling you that it would have happened anyway. No! It would have not happened. They could have borescoped the cylinders, check the valve train, check compressions, ets. That engine could have been saved with minimal repairs.

Let's get real. How would the OP actually pursue the dealership for negligence on a 140K mile motor?

Right or wrong, the dealership is in charge of the narrative the motor was going to fail regardless. Proving negligence in a civil court action would be a colossal waste of time and money.

The best the OP could hope for is reimbursement of the failed diagnosis and the parts the dealership initially shotgun at it.

 

[nlambert182]

Let's get real. How would the OP actually pursue the dealership for negligence on a 140K mile motor?

Right or wrong, the dealership is in charge of the narrative the motor was going to fail regardless. Proving negligence in a civil court action would be a colossal waste of time and money.

The best the OP could hope for is reimbursement of the failed diagnosis and the parts the dealership initially shotgun at it.

This is where I'd hedge my bets if I were the OP. Maybe..... if you get a decent shop.... they will eat the bill if you walk away. But getting them to replace the motor for free? About as rare as hens teeth unfortunately.

 

[LoneStarHemi]

Not sure if it's been discussed but the only way I can imagine an injector causing a connecting rod to break is if the injector dumped liquid fuel into the cylinder causing the engine to hydro lock and bend/break the rod.

 

[demonram]

I don't plan to go the remanufactured route. If I do this I will do brand new Chrysler Hemi installed by dealer. How do I go about putting better lifters in it and doing MDS delete and do you think this would void any warranty that came with the engine? I've always heard the MDS was the issue in the first place but what do I know

I seen several posts on here saying Chrysler changed the lifters in 2017 to try to correct this issue. If someone with more knowledge of whether or not this is true, feel free to chime in. Did the dealership test drive the truck after replacing the fuel injectors? If so, did they do a WOT test drive? It could be they did the deed and now don't want to fess up to it. As someone else said, Ram Cares is a good source to try to get some satisfaction. They did me a solid back in 2017 when my 5.7 ate the cam.

 

[Hydrasport23]

So what exactly failed in the engine? Did it bend a piston rod or crack a piston? I doubt they pulled the head to inspect the engine so no one is certain of the failure or the reason for the failure. The fact that the engine needs to be replaced seems to already be a given. Did they give you a failure code to prove the engine needs to replaced?
A compression test can be performed using a scan tool. It is easier and quicker than having a tech run a mechanical compression test or cylinder leak down but may not give the information that you need to make a determination for the best route to repair the engine. A customer will pay for the tests if they ask for the tests to be performed by a tech and they are not in the diagnostic procedure for the needed repair.
With over 140K miles and no extended warranty, why is Ram offering to pay the first $4000? You brought the truck to a dealer because it had a problem, it's not like they caused the problem. We have had engines, some almost new and others half worm out, suffer catastrophic failure in our shop while running various tests to determine the problem. It's not unheard of.
If you can get $4000 off the installation of a rebuilt Hemi, consider yourself lucky. You ever see the failure of an out of warranty GM DOD engine or Ford valve train failure repair cost? Fuel system failure on a Powerstroke is upwards of $20K.

 

[scott lass 18]

I have a 2015 5.7 Hemi with 140,000 miles

First of all, I am no mechanic so bear with me. Bought this truck new in 2015, serviced regularly and never had a single issue until about a month ago. The malfunction indicator light came on and I noticed I was getting approx 2.5 MPG less than normal. A guy I know that owns a shop ran the code and showed me where cylinder 3 was misfiring. He replaced 1 (or 2?) oxygen sensors and said I should be good to go. Light came back on. Changed the plugs and ignition coil. Light came back on. This time I took to local dealership. They said two cylinders were misfiring and diagnosed two bad fuel injectors. I gave the thumbs up to replace the two fuel injectors and they told me they would call when it was ready to pickup. A few days later dealership called and told me they changed the two injectors and fired the truck up to test drive it... then it "blew up". I was furious obviously. They said it was no fault of their own. They said if I drove it 1 mile further it would have "blown up" on me. They said that a lifter broke. After taking it apart they called again to say they were wrong (again) and that it was a piston rod that broke.

Now I'm left with two options: Pay them to install a new engine or tow my truck off their property.

I called Chrysler Corp to file a complaint on the dealership. They gave me a claim #, said they were contacting them to find out what happened and will "help me with the cost" (not getting my hopes up)

Does this BS sound legit? Do I have other options? What all comes with a new engine? Even if I go with new engine option in an older truck I am worried I will have more issues and will always be in and out of the shop

the dealers are really playing games time for lawyer get all the paper work you can ! three times they say fix and it isn't lie s warranty is useless to me this grap ! I have work on trucks years on the side never seen worthless mechanic s playing there games ! sorry to hear pull it out get a new motor ok ! mine is idles 500 rpms in drive update did get in park now 650 rpms ! found lose and broken things after went there my mechanic show me plug just laying back in engine now ! hummm could that be the one they pulled out hummmm sad games in Sacramento land

 

[73-Cudah2]

My 2014 just got a new (5.7 HEMI) 2014 engine (Bad Cam and lifters after 168k miles) they said they review that year specs and and build it to standard 2014, I question is they put a high volume oil pump in the 2014? I'm still asking them to define any upgrade they may have to do because of failures in the 2014 design.