Noob needs help 6.4L possible lifter and cam

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EdGs

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Looks like it might be the sand.

If you've got it apart, might as well try to get it cleaned out as good as you can.

I had a bunch in the bottom of my coolant reservoir, that's how I noticed it to begin with. I didn't have my heads off or anything like that.

Some have had the sand so bad the heater core gets plugged, or the water pump gets clogged.
 
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BurtShaver

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Looks like it might be the sand.

If you've got it apart, might as well try to get it cleaned out as good as you can.

I had a bunch in the bottom of my coolant reservoir, that's how I noticed it to begin with. I didn't have my heads off or anything like that.

Some have had the sand so bad the heater core gets plugged, or the water pump gets clogged.
I would say it’s the sand, I cleaned it out. Is this sand from the manufacturing process? Or is it some type of deterioration
 

Wild one

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I would say it’s the sand, I cleaned it out. Is this sand from the manufacturing process? Or is it some type of deterioration
If i was to guess,i'd say it's probably a combination of both along with not enough cooling system maintence by the average owner.
 
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BurtShaver

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If i was to guess,i'd say it's probably a combination of both along with not enough cooling system maintence by the average owner.
I have never maintained the cooling system at all and the truck has 174,000 km
 
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BurtShaver

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While you're that far into the engine,nows the time to flush the heater core Burt,it's easy to do now ,and with that amount of crud in the cooling passages it's probably wise to flush the heater core
It’s easier now rather than after it’s back together? I will search up how to do that. It will be good to know as my work van has no heat so maybe it’s plugged up
 

Wild one

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It’s easier now rather than after it’s back together? I will search up how to do that. It will be good to know as my work van has no heat so maybe it’s plugged up
Watch this video,if his theory is even close about the EGR breaking down the coolant,i think i'd be doing a coolant flush on a 6.4 truck probably every couple years.

 

EdGs

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Looks like it might be the sand.

If you've got it apart, might as well try to get it cleaned out as good as you can.

I had a bunch in the bottom of my coolant reservoir, that's how I noticed it to begin with. I didn't have my heads off or anything like that.

Some have had the sand so bad the heater core gets plugged, or the water pump gets clogged.
I meant to type that the water pump gets ruined by the sand, not sure how I typed clogged.....lol.

But if you have no heat, I'd say there's a pretty good chance your heater core is plugged up.

I wish you the best getting it sorted out.
 
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BurtShaver

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I meant to type that the water pump gets ruined by the sand, not sure how I typed clogged.....lol.

But if you have no heat, I'd say there's a pretty good chance your heater core is plugged up.

I wish you the best getting it sorted out.
I have heat in my Ram but no heat in my 2012 express work van. I guess I better get to flushing the heater core and keep that coolant changed.
 
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BurtShaver

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Watch this video,if his theory is even close about the EGR breaking down the coolant,i think i'd be doing a coolant flush on a 6.4 truck probably every couple years.

I just finished watching this video, it looks like there’s a lot that needs to be torn apart to change the heater core, that doesn’t look like fun at all
 

EdGs

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Yeah, looks like a pain in the ass to change the core.

I think I got lucky on my Ram as I never had an issue with heat, and I had changed coolant about 90k miles ago.

Got me thinking maybe I should preemptively change it out every year or so from here out. Two gallons of Mopar OAT concentrate is only around $45, and distilled water is about $1.25/gallon, so very doable for piece of mind.

Plus, I wanna see if there's more sand coming out.

 

Wild one

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Yeah, looks like a pain in the ass to change the core.

I think I got lucky on my Ram as I never had an issue with heat, and I had changed coolant about 90k miles ago.

Got me thinking maybe I should preemptively change it out every year or so from here out. Two gallons of Mopar OAT concentrate is only around $45, and distilled water is about $1.25/gallon, so very doable for piece of mind.

Plus, I wanna see if there's more sand coming out.

I've never had any issues with the sand in my 3 Mopars,but i change thermostats twice a year,every spring and fall,and all 3 get refilled with new coolant each time,and i'm wondering if that's saving my rear
 

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Do you think that a Inline Filter could be installed in the Coolant Hose, that is directly below the Air Intake Box ?

1737696855052.png
some of them may have a 3 way valve down on the frame

Remember when vehicles had one of these, to cut off coolant from entering the Heater Core ?

1737697680682.png
 
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Wild one

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Found this old post on another forum that's years old.

johnny87Discussion starter
266 posts · Joined 2007

#1 · Jan 12, 2010
Hey thought I'd ask and see if many 6.4 owners/operators have installed a coolant filter on their trucks. If so are you finding any sand or other debris? It does not seem to be talked about as much on the 6.4
 

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There was another valve, similar to the one above,
except it was shaped in a Small h

Coolant was able to go right up to the closed valve, but because it could not go into the Heater core, it was redirected over to the other hose & then returned to the radiator
I could not find an image of the h shaped valve :(

But many cars & had these, until around 2008

1737699544850.png
 
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Wild one

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There was another valve, similar to the one above,
except it was shaped in a Small h

Coolant was able to go right up to the closed valve, but because it could not go into the Heater core, it was redirected over to the other hose & then returned to the radiator
I remember when alot of vehicles had a valve similiar to this in the heater inlet hose,when you shut off the heat on the dash a cable from the dash control ran out to this valve and closed it,it also was the heat regulator for the interior,as you could adjust the valves opening.

 

Wild one

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Mishimoto builds coolant filter kits for alot of vehicles,i bet if they were asked to develop one for the 5.7 and 6.4 Rams they'd probably consider one if they get enough interest.They have one for 6.4 Fords,lol


 

EdGs

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I've never had any issues with the sand in my 3 Mopars,but i change thermostats twice a year,every spring and fall,and all 3 get refilled with new coolant each time,and i'm wondering if that's saving my rear
You just never know.

Kind of why I think mine must not have had as much sand as some others.

I haven't done the full ***** flush either, I would like the get the mooar numbers for all of the Coolant heater hoses and metal tubing in the coolant system so I can have them on hand and swap them all out since I have so many miles on my truck.

Wow! ***** = w i l l y. Really crazy
 
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Sherman Bird

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Update, I took that head with the scratch to a Performance shop locally, I won’t mention the full name just in case someday this thread is found with a google search using his name, he is a mechanic about 51 years old, super busy, not a high performance shop or machine shop but I know he’s rebuilt many engines and runs a very successful business, anyways, he said I had nothing to worry about with the scratch. Me being me, analyzing everything to death I took it to another local mechanic, this fellow is about 65 years old, runs a small auto repair shop that is nearing the end, him and his worker were just sitting in there enjoying their coffee, I had him look at it and he said he would have the heads resurfaced, he was poking at other spots saying hmmm, hmmmm. Something about heat making it worse, I should have really had my listening ears on. He recommended Crysler Automotive center
I was talking with Darryn at Crysler machine shop and he said those heads should be resurfaced every time, something to do with the gaskets that are used now, again should have been listening better. The old gaskets I guess you could get away with more. Anyways Darryl quoted me 125.00 per head to deck or resurface, whatever it should be called. 150.00 per head with a leak down test or whatever he called it to test the valve’s, the seats I’m assuming? And 75.00 per manifold to deck them or if I have him do the resurface/test valves/and deck the manifolds 175.00 per head total. How does that pricing sound to you? Is he being fair, or does he know I’m a Noob and over pricing? So here’s what I’m thinking, I’m thinking learning is great, I’ve been trying to learn about engines for the past 3 years or so, rebuilding a couple snowmobile engines and such with SeaDoo’s as well but I’m thinking now is not the time to start experimenting with decking the heads myself on a vehicle I rely on for work and paid 34,000.00 for. It’s great to learn new skills and I would definitely at some point try resurfacing a cylinder head or block but I’m thinking better to try that on a 600.00 project. Oh, he said turnaround is 2 to 3 days. Can’t beat that. Another thing I’ve noticed is RA is out of stock for almost all the left bank exhaust manifold gaskets, only the cheapies are available. The exhaust manifold heat shield is a little worse for wear as well so might as well replace that. I see the new exhaust manifold hardware comes with red thread locker already applied to the studs. Any tips for removing the existing studs without breaking them off? Red loctire normally requires heat to remove and I don’t think it would be a good idea at all to add heat to get them out for fear of warping the head

Your guy is trying to make a living in a world where HIS costs have sky-rocketed.
Red loctite doesn't require enough heat to warp a head, if the heat is properly applied, so, that can't be a blanket statement. Also, I've used heat to release Red and Yellow thread locker so many times over the past few decades, that, surely, if it were THAT priggish a job, I'd have encountered problems by now.... er, uh, nope! Not once!

I once witnessed a VERY frustrated Master technician with factory Rolls Royce training take a cylinder head which had been to 2 different machine shops for surfacing, yet the head gasket failed both of those times. He got out his riding lawnmower, tied the head to the tow ball by a 6 foot length of rope, and pulled the head across his concrete driveway with the gasket surface of the head abraded by said concrete. He re-installed the head, and it never leaked again!
 
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