Xsen
Member
Hey everyone,
Thought I'd share some thoughts and experience that I have recently gained. After all, I still love the forum format.
So in the beginning of April one of my two Rams has very suddenly developed a strong ticking noise. The noise was very clearly audible, metallic and generally had a valvetrain frequency. Looking at the engine, it did sound like coming from the even side. So I thought the obvious thought and went to order a set of lifters, a new cam and a gasket set. I ceased driving the truck on the very same day.
Before actually taking the engine apart, I went and took off the valve cover on the even side, and there it was - intake rocker of the 6th cylinder and it's rod had huge play. So I deduced that the roller on this lifter has broken, hence the sudden noise development, and the lifter is sliding on the cam lobe, destroying it.
Now, the choice was whether to fix everything without taking the engine out of the truck, or take the engine out and enjoy the luxury of easy access to every bolt and nut. I remebered someone posting here that even with all the effort required to take the engine out - it was well worth it, so I thought this was the right way to go. Besides the obvious lifter/cam job, the plan was to have both heads re-conditioned at the machine shop. Plus, as this engine already had at least 200k miles on it - I figured it could not hurt to measure the cylinders. I was wrong, it could hurt.
Long story short, it took me about 26 hours to take the engine out in a small DIY shop. This was my first experience of this kind, so maybe things can be done quicker, but I played safe.
Then the heads and the oil pan were removed and it was time for the pistons. And the pain.
All eight are more or less like this.
200k miles or not, this much damage was definitely unexpected. The block looked a bit better.
These scratches on the cylinder walls are very shallow and could be easily cured, but actually measuring the cylinders destroyed all hope - 5 out of 8 cylinders are about 0.02 - 0.03 mm out-of-round. Factory manual states that the max out-of-round is 0.0076 mm.
The bright side - all bearings, including the cam, are in great shape, no signs of wear. The engine was showing good oil pressure too.
A few thoughts on what could cause the damage. I bought this truck used, so I assume it had been using the factory recommended low viscosity oil. Maybe it was overheated or close to overheating at some point in its life, maybe it was using low-octane fuel, that creates higher temperature during combustion and the pistons were locally overheated. In any case, I really believe that this was the very moment when the oil should have been there to protect the components, but the eco-ish W20 oil was not designed for that. All the more reason for the 6.4 engines (which are likely to see more stress and load) to have strict 0W40 only recommendation.
This engine block will be repaired, and the new oversize pistons will go in, along with the new cam and lifters, reconditioned heads and new exhaust studs. All in all I plan to keep this truck for long time.
Now here are my questions:
1) While looking for similar cases I found that it's not that common in the hemi world. Maybe it's just my bad luck. If anyone here has opened their high mileage 5.7 - what were your pistons like?
2) What are your thoughts on what could have caused this damage?
Funny thing, if not for the lifter and the tick - I won't have ever thought of looking into the cylinders. There was no smoke, no noticeable oil level changes, maybe a bit too noisу on a cold start (but hey, it's a pushrod V8), and when the exhaust stud broke off - it could be heard under load. Other than this - the engine was just what you'd expect it to be.
Oh and yeah, the cam:
Thought I'd share some thoughts and experience that I have recently gained. After all, I still love the forum format.
So in the beginning of April one of my two Rams has very suddenly developed a strong ticking noise. The noise was very clearly audible, metallic and generally had a valvetrain frequency. Looking at the engine, it did sound like coming from the even side. So I thought the obvious thought and went to order a set of lifters, a new cam and a gasket set. I ceased driving the truck on the very same day.
Before actually taking the engine apart, I went and took off the valve cover on the even side, and there it was - intake rocker of the 6th cylinder and it's rod had huge play. So I deduced that the roller on this lifter has broken, hence the sudden noise development, and the lifter is sliding on the cam lobe, destroying it.
Now, the choice was whether to fix everything without taking the engine out of the truck, or take the engine out and enjoy the luxury of easy access to every bolt and nut. I remebered someone posting here that even with all the effort required to take the engine out - it was well worth it, so I thought this was the right way to go. Besides the obvious lifter/cam job, the plan was to have both heads re-conditioned at the machine shop. Plus, as this engine already had at least 200k miles on it - I figured it could not hurt to measure the cylinders. I was wrong, it could hurt.
Long story short, it took me about 26 hours to take the engine out in a small DIY shop. This was my first experience of this kind, so maybe things can be done quicker, but I played safe.
Then the heads and the oil pan were removed and it was time for the pistons. And the pain.
All eight are more or less like this.
200k miles or not, this much damage was definitely unexpected. The block looked a bit better.
These scratches on the cylinder walls are very shallow and could be easily cured, but actually measuring the cylinders destroyed all hope - 5 out of 8 cylinders are about 0.02 - 0.03 mm out-of-round. Factory manual states that the max out-of-round is 0.0076 mm.
The bright side - all bearings, including the cam, are in great shape, no signs of wear. The engine was showing good oil pressure too.
A few thoughts on what could cause the damage. I bought this truck used, so I assume it had been using the factory recommended low viscosity oil. Maybe it was overheated or close to overheating at some point in its life, maybe it was using low-octane fuel, that creates higher temperature during combustion and the pistons were locally overheated. In any case, I really believe that this was the very moment when the oil should have been there to protect the components, but the eco-ish W20 oil was not designed for that. All the more reason for the 6.4 engines (which are likely to see more stress and load) to have strict 0W40 only recommendation.
This engine block will be repaired, and the new oversize pistons will go in, along with the new cam and lifters, reconditioned heads and new exhaust studs. All in all I plan to keep this truck for long time.
Now here are my questions:
1) While looking for similar cases I found that it's not that common in the hemi world. Maybe it's just my bad luck. If anyone here has opened their high mileage 5.7 - what were your pistons like?
2) What are your thoughts on what could have caused this damage?
Funny thing, if not for the lifter and the tick - I won't have ever thought of looking into the cylinders. There was no smoke, no noticeable oil level changes, maybe a bit too noisу on a cold start (but hey, it's a pushrod V8), and when the exhaust stud broke off - it could be heard under load. Other than this - the engine was just what you'd expect it to be.
Oh and yeah, the cam:
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That's exactly what these trucks are if you're not the first owner.
