Ram owners with 3.6 V6

[JoeCo]

Yes, agree whole heartedly. Sometimes I think I worry about it too much, and should just buy what I want and let the cards fall where they may. But, it doesn't hurt to do some research at least.

Absolutely, it's a big purchase and you want to get the right truck the first time. Never hurts to do your homework, but can often hurt if you don't!

 

[Fake-Account27]

I have the penstar in our 19 Pacifica, 30k miles in never had any issues. My friend has one the the jeep, he is closer to 90k and never had an issue. it is a very reliable engine.

 

[Haas]

Thanks for that Fake-account. There's a number of people in the "high Mileage" thread that are posting good reliability and high miles on their 3.6's.

 

[bmclark25]

I have a 2015 with the 3.6 and just went through this. I have 86k miles on my truck and had to replace the battery. When I backed out of the garage there was a huge puddle of oil on the floor. Immediately checked my oil and it was full. Drove to the dealership and they told me the oil cooler housing was cracked. They told me that normally this part would be covered under the powertrain warranty but since it was cracked it was not covered and I should go to the shop that did my oil change to be reimbursed. This was 2 weeks after my oil change. I paid for the oil cooler to be replaced $1,076. Contacted the shop that did my oil change and they contacted the dealership. The dealership told them that they cannot definitely say that is how it happen so they would not cover the repair. I did ask for the part and the pictures that they took and I cannot find the crack anywhere. Contacted FCA for reimbursement through the powertrain warranty and they refused. The whole bottom of my truck was covered in oil and they had to spray the entire thing off.

 

[PoMansRam]

Anyone who owns the Ram with a V6 Pentastar. Are any of you hearing of, or having a problem with an oil filter housing adapter cracking, and then leaking oil?

I'm starting to hear rumblings about this being a common problem because they are plastic. The heat of the engine starts to degrade the plastic, and then it eventually develops a crack, only to leak oil.

Was, or is this a problem?

The integrated plastic oil cooler and filter housing assembly will always be a weak point on the pentastar regardless of model year.

It's not only the potential of cracking it by over tightening the oil filter cap, the O-ring seals on the oil supply and return nipples on the bottom of the unit that go into the block can leak over time. There's also an oil temperature and pressure sensors threaded into this assembly that can leak.

It's the only part on a pentastar that scares me a bit, but at the end of the day, given how many millions of them are out there now, problems are rare.

 

[Haas]

Man, I don't understand why they make stuff like that. Such a critical item

 

[PoMansRam]

Man, I don't understand why they make stuff like that. Such a critical item

Not only that, it's where the thing is located, being buried under the intake manifold. I've not had to replace one yet, but it doesn't look like too bad a job. Another issue is, if they do start to dribble, the valley in the engine block holds like a quart and a half of oil before it will start to drip onto the ground.

I think I have some seepage from this housing on my 2017 Ram 1500 because I can smell a slight oil smell from the engine bay and it sometimes gets into the cabin. I'm at 45K miles and have noticed it for awhile. No evidence of leaking that I can see, but you pretty much need one of those snake cams to get in there to see. I've done every oil change myself since I bought the truck a year old with 12K miles on it. I do wince every time I hand snug the oil filter cap.

Regardless.. I absolutely love my pentastar powered Ram and would buy another tomorrow.

 

[Xena1]

Man, I don't understand why they make stuff like that. Such a critical item

That happened to one of my JK Wranglers. Poor design. Our 2012's had bad cylinder heads, the 2013 had sand in the casting which clogged the radiator/heater core. The 2014 had a cracked oil cooler as well and it was not because some dealer over-torqued it, as I did all my oil changes myself. A friend I know had a leaking rear seal on his 2016. Both the flimsy oil cooler and the single exhaust port on the left head are bad design problems. The remedy from FCA to keep the head from failing was to increase the mass of the aluminum in the exhaust port area. While that certainly helped, it really doesn't address the root issue of the problem, (ie) poor design. Give me the hemi, with spin on filter and conventional exhaust ports anytime.

 

[Haas]

Not only that, it's where the thing is located, being buried under the intake manifold. I've not had to replace one yet, but it doesn't look like too bad a job. Another issue is, if they do start to dribble, the valley in the engine block holds like a quart and a half of oil before it will start to drip onto the ground.

I think I have some seepage from this housing on my 2017 Ram 1500 because I can smell a slight oil smell from the engine bay and it sometimes gets into the cabin. I'm at 45K miles and have noticed it for awhile. No evidence of leaking that I can see, but you pretty much need one of those snake cams to get in there to see. I've done every oil change myself since I bought the truck a year old with 12K miles on it. I do wince every time I hand snug the oil filter cap.

Regardless.. I absolutely love my pentastar powered Ram and would buy another tomorrow.

Cool, so you wouldn't let this deter you from buying another. Good to hear.

 

[CYSTemrebel]

I am told by an expert in answer to my question about the Penstar's ability to function as an engine in a work truck that they can take it. This guy IS an expert for sure.

I towed a heavy trailer with a 5 ton tractor last week fifty miles with my 2008 2500 six speed standard 5.7 and it performed well. There were some hills I was down to 4 to keep the RPM up but still lots of power.

I am inclined to be of the opinion that more cubes is the best way in terms of reliability to add horsepower and substance reliability to any vehicle doing heavy work. It scares me to think of a mini engine like the Penstar powering my truck with loaded camper up mountain roads or carrying tons of equipment.

I am at 308,000 now with no serious issues since I bought it new except regular maintenance replacement of brake shoes, tires, belts.

I am told the problem with the 5.7 relative to cam failure started in 2009 and it was due to cheap low quality parts and/or engineering errors. If anything I would be inclined to think the problem is an increased wear rate due to offshore non quality parts.

Just put snow tires on today and beginning camper organization/packing for the trip to the mid west in 10 days.

 

[papanogo]

I have an 18 1500 pent. 143000 miles on it. No problems except windshield washer nozzles keep clogging up. I've had all services done at dealer. Penz. Full syn. At 6500 miles. Mich.tires just turning 80000 miles and still plenty of miles left. No after mkt. Add one except running boards and cap. Avg. 21 to 24 mpg. Love this truck

 

[PoMansRam]

I have an 18 1500 pent. 143000 miles on it. No problems except windshield washer nozzles keep clogging up. I've had all services done at dealer. Penz. Full syn. At 6500 miles. Mich.tires just turning 80000 miles and still plenty of miles left. No after mkt. Add one except running boards and cap. Avg. 21 to 24 mpg. Love this truck

143K miles on a 2018!!! Ho-lee-CHIT that's a lotta driving.

Like said, I believe this engine will rival the toughest of V8s in terms of putting miles on them.

Are they a tow beast? No! Why would anyone expect one to be?

 

[Haas]

143K miles on a 2018!!! Ho-lee-CHIT that's a lotta driving.

Like said, I believe this engine will rival the toughest of V8s in terms of putting miles on them.

Are they a tow beast? No! Why would anyone expect one to be?

Agreed, that's a lot of driving. Lol. But for me, I don't do any towing, so the V6 is just about perfect.

 

[CYSTemrebel]

I have an 18 1500 pent. 143000 miles on it. No problems except windshield washer nozzles keep clogging up. I've had all services done at dealer. Penz. Full syn. At 6500 miles. Mich.tires just turning 80000 miles and still plenty of miles left. No after mkt. Add one except running boards and cap. Avg. 21 to 24 mpg. Love this truck

I had stock Michelins on my truck rated M&S They kept going and going and going. At ten years of ownership I changed the Michelins for new summer tires even though there was still about 25% of tread thickness left. No big cracks but after ten years I was worried. All I need is a flat/blowout with a few tons of wood on the truck.

I am amazed at these tires. Hard rubber but had good grip. On my second set of summer tires and second set of winter tires. 308,000 km

 

[Lucy Girl]

No headaches here. Love my 3.6. Headaches are for 5.7 HEMI CAMS.

 

[gypsy400]

I have a hemi now, but I think my next one will be a v6.. I don't tow anything heavy and the v6 will be easier to live with as the gas mileage is substantially better.
I talked a friend out of a hemi and into the v6.. he is pretty happy with it now that he put a cat back system on it. He doesn't tow anything and his commute to work is about 30 miles of straight highway driving... not much need to feed a v8.

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

 

[dls56]

Had a 17 with the V6 and traded into a 19 Classic w/ 5.7. Only put 40k on the 17 and the engine was fine. At start up the oil pressure would go to around 100 psi before a slow decline, this always gave me the *******. The V8's oil pressure is in line with what I'm used to which gives me comfort. I understood the double pump system but still didn't care for the higher pressures and after reading through this string of posts am glad I made the switch. I know the Hemi has its foibles as well, being a maintenance nut will hopefully mitigate much of them.

 

[jbowen52]

My 2014 has 50K miles and so far OK. I will keep an eye out for it. Thanks for the info.

 

[Matty Moo]

I just replaced the oil filter adapter housing on my 2012 Jeep Jk.... 144k on it and the engine has been flawless aside from that. It was bought new. Also had the 3.6 in my 14 ram.

Mine wasn't cracked at all anywhere or even leaking from the actual housing. My only guess is it was the o-rings on the bottom where it mates to the block.

Put in the newer version, took 5 hours. Once fully assembled there was an o-ring sitting there that fell off when installing it, tore it all apart again and it took a little over 2 hours the second time. I was pissed.

 

[Xena1]

I just replaced the oil filter adapter housing on my 2012 Jeep Jk.... 144k on it and the engine has been flawless aside from that. It was bought new. Also had the 3.6 in my 14 ram.

Mine wasn't cracked at all anywhere or even leaking from the actual housing. My only guess is it was the o-rings on the bottom where it mates to the block.

Put in the newer version, took 5 hours. Once fully assembled there was an o-ring sitting there that fell off when installing it, tore it all apart again and it took a little over 2 hours the second time. I was pissed.

Hard to believe your 2012 JK lasted 143K with the defective AA left cylinder head. Both my (2) 2012's **** the bed around 50K.