Took a look inside my hemi

[Wild one]

This Piston scuffing caused the scratched cylinder wall and the cross hatching is miminal.

I only like short skirts on the Ladies!!!



View attachment 543424

That depends on the lady,i've seen a few gals in Wally World that'd look better in a Hazmat suit then they do in short skirts

 

[Xsen]

Are you sure your cylinder measurements are metric or standard. .01 mm out of round or tapered would be considered OK.

FWIW, here's the factory manual for 2014 MY Ram 1500:


The 0.0076 mm does convert to 0.0003 in, so unless they missed the decimal in both, that's the requirement.

The taper specs are much more lenient, and I've heard the same from the engine builders. All things considered if the 0.02-0.03 mm was the taper - they would advise against boring the block. But for the out-of-round - No, can't do.

 

[Wild one]

FWIW, here's the factory manual for 2014 MY Ram 1500:
View attachment 543430

The 0.0076 mm does convert to 0.0003 in, so unless they missed the decimal in both, that's the requirement.

The taper specs are much more lenient, and I've heard the same from the engine builders. All things considered if the 0.02-0.03 mm was the taper - they would advise against boring the block. But for the out-of-round - No, can't do.

Aw hell you can compensate the out of round,by squeezing the pistons in a vise till they don't rock anymore,lol Hokay i'll admit as broke ass kids we did some wild $h!t and got away with it,lol. In high school we ball honed a few engines,and squeezed the pistons till they were semi tight in the bore,and then beat the hell out the engine.Some had a heathly appetite for oil,but they usually ran for quite awhile afterwards

 

[crackerjack1957]

Seems they have tightened the tolerances since I have been out of the game.....LoL
I do know they have a production tolerance & a wear tolerance.
Also you cannot get that round without torque plates.

 

[Kootbiker]

FWIW, here's the factory manual for 2014 MY Ram 1500:
View attachment 543430

The 0.0076 mm does convert to 0.0003 in, so unless they missed the decimal in both, that's the requirement.

The taper specs are much more lenient, and I've heard the same from the engine builders. All things considered if the 0.02-0.03 mm was the taper - they would advise against boring the block. But for the out-of-round - No, can't do.

That must be quite the boring bar used to get a cylinder that round.

 

[Xsen]

Can't say I've built a hundred engines, but to me that 0.0076 sounds weird too. We'll see, once the pistons get here.

BTW, I haven't seen a DIY instruction on taking out the engine here. Should I do a write-up?

 

[Burla]

Can't say I've built a hundred engines, but to me that 0.0076 sounds weird too. We'll see, once the pistons get here.

BTW, I haven't seen a DIY instruction on taking out the engine here. Should I do a write-up?

hells yeah

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

Ordered the +0.25 mm pistons set yesterday, will start working with the block once they arrive.

Thats a good oversize number, a light bore on the cylinder walls, and you should be good to go, make sure you replace all bearings, mains, rods, cam, and check the lifter bores.

 

[djhartm]

Seriously doubt the damage was the result of lightweight oil.

Most likely the previous owner neglected it and/or didn't maintain the oil level.

Even with that, 200k miles ain't bad.

Very cool tear down & write up!

 

[DC Tradesman]

The oil’s these days are excellent in many respects BUT the EPA standards removed friction inhibitors. Use Arch Oil additives or something like Amsoil.

 

[Hagar1]

That piston has the hallmarks of poor or negligent maintenance. I have a engine in my garage with a lot of miles but was serviced decently. The patch is still on the pistons.
In the case of my engine, the cam died from plugged oil galleries. Some oils are just better than others.

 

[rosco11]

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.

View attachment 543302

Then the heads and the oil pan were removed and it was time for the pistons. And the pain.

View attachment 543303

All eight are more or less like this.

200k miles or not, this much damage was definitely unexpected. The block looked a bit better.

View attachment 543304

View attachment 543305

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:
View attachment 543306

I would bet good money the truck overheated, big time, at some point before you owned it. That said, i would hve done it the easy way and it would probably have cost less. I would have bought a longblock and swapped it out. But i am lazy like that.