Craig I
Junior Member
- Joined
- May 19, 2025
- Posts
- 2
- Reaction score
- 2
- Location
- California
- Ram Year
- 2020
- Engine
- 3.6L Penstar Etorgue
Good day everyone,
Here is a long recap of what is going on with my 2020 1500 Penstar 3.6 with the ETorque with 144K miles.
About a month ago, in the mornings when I would start the truck, I would get a "Auto Start/Stop service system" warning on the hud. This only happened in the morning, and I would simply turn the engine off, and restart with no issues for the rest of the day.
About 2 weeks ago, I noticed that it was happening everytime I would start the car if it sat for more than an hour. Same temporary solution. Dealer told me to simply restart the engine and be on my way if I didn't use the Auto Start/stop feature.
Well now this week in addition to the Auto Start/Stop warning, I just got a cylinder 1 misfire code P0301. At the same time I have noticed that when I get out of my truck and walk to the front of of it, it smells like heated coolant.
Here is what I have attemtped so far.
I am losing coolant fluid somewhere. My oil is clean and no signs of water mixing with it. All my seals on the oil cooler are good, and I ran a camera down through the timing housing and all clean no moisture. I checked the hoses for obvious leaks and could not find anything. I ran a pressure test on the expansion tank and let it sit for 30 minutes, dropped 1 PSI. There is no white smoke coming out of the exhaust either. So.... I haven't had any obvious signs (hoping against it being a head gasket). I have to refill the expansion tank about every 1000 miles.
Moving on to P0301. I swapped the coil pack and spark plug with cylinder 3. Drove it for a while and still got P0301. For a second test, I swapped them again with cylinder 5 and still P0301. I tested the electrical connections to the coil pack and to the fuel injector. Both are good and firing. I replaced the fuel injectors as well. Still P0301. Today I did two compression tests on cylinders 1,3,5. I first did it with no fuel and cranked it about 6 times each. They were all between 120 and 126 PSI. I then ran each cylinder while the engine was running. I disconnected the fuel injectors for the cylinder I was testing at the time. Cyliner 1 was at 62 PSI, 3 at 98 PSI, 5 at 94 PSI. Next step was a leak down test. WIth cylinder 1 at top dead center, I injected air at 20 PSI. I heard nothing from the exhaust, or air intake, and no bubbles from the expansion tank. When i increase the air to 25 PSI, the expansion tank started to bubble.
Bottom line, everything I know about cars tells me that this is a head gasket issue, but I am hoping someone else else a different (and not so much work involved) alternative.
Thanks for taking the time.
Here is a long recap of what is going on with my 2020 1500 Penstar 3.6 with the ETorque with 144K miles.
About a month ago, in the mornings when I would start the truck, I would get a "Auto Start/Stop service system" warning on the hud. This only happened in the morning, and I would simply turn the engine off, and restart with no issues for the rest of the day.
About 2 weeks ago, I noticed that it was happening everytime I would start the car if it sat for more than an hour. Same temporary solution. Dealer told me to simply restart the engine and be on my way if I didn't use the Auto Start/stop feature.
Well now this week in addition to the Auto Start/Stop warning, I just got a cylinder 1 misfire code P0301. At the same time I have noticed that when I get out of my truck and walk to the front of of it, it smells like heated coolant.
Here is what I have attemtped so far.
I am losing coolant fluid somewhere. My oil is clean and no signs of water mixing with it. All my seals on the oil cooler are good, and I ran a camera down through the timing housing and all clean no moisture. I checked the hoses for obvious leaks and could not find anything. I ran a pressure test on the expansion tank and let it sit for 30 minutes, dropped 1 PSI. There is no white smoke coming out of the exhaust either. So.... I haven't had any obvious signs (hoping against it being a head gasket). I have to refill the expansion tank about every 1000 miles.
Moving on to P0301. I swapped the coil pack and spark plug with cylinder 3. Drove it for a while and still got P0301. For a second test, I swapped them again with cylinder 5 and still P0301. I tested the electrical connections to the coil pack and to the fuel injector. Both are good and firing. I replaced the fuel injectors as well. Still P0301. Today I did two compression tests on cylinders 1,3,5. I first did it with no fuel and cranked it about 6 times each. They were all between 120 and 126 PSI. I then ran each cylinder while the engine was running. I disconnected the fuel injectors for the cylinder I was testing at the time. Cyliner 1 was at 62 PSI, 3 at 98 PSI, 5 at 94 PSI. Next step was a leak down test. WIth cylinder 1 at top dead center, I injected air at 20 PSI. I heard nothing from the exhaust, or air intake, and no bubbles from the expansion tank. When i increase the air to 25 PSI, the expansion tank started to bubble.
Bottom line, everything I know about cars tells me that this is a head gasket issue, but I am hoping someone else else a different (and not so much work involved) alternative.
Thanks for taking the time.
