Uncle Tony SPEAKS on cam and lifter failure in 5.7 hemi

[Dan Topp]

What a bummer obviously a comp cam and lifters will wait until the stock one is fried,as for now no extra warm up idle.Thanks for the video,it saved me money and aggravation.

 

[eddie046]

My question is: What can the Engine Rebuilders do to the block to make it flow more oil to critical areas?

^To me, that would be the definitive solution; not that better oils aren't another avenue for the time being.

How long will it take FCA to modify the block to provide the cure?

Frankly I don't see FCA doing a darn thing to resolve this. They have probably run a ton of cost analysis and it is cheaper to pay a handful of warranty claims than the cost of a total redesign of the block. Basically they are telling everyone to suck it!

 

[eddie046]

I would love to see a tracking on this forum of truck idle hours for those who have the tick & don't if that indeed is an issue. (I believe it is). You would expect at the very least those who have 4-6 months of winter per year would have more issues.

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Actually it would be great to put together a spreadsheet showing year of the truck, oil used, idle hours vs total, rear axle ratio, and those who have and have not had an issue and their current mileage.

 

[eddie046]

Time for an LS Swap. lol jk but hopefully they’ll do something to help fix this, as far fetched as that might be.

The GM LS platform has had more than their share of camshaft lobe failures too.

 

[Harley Harrold]

There are many owners of the Hemi's who have reached 200K - 300K miles on these engines. If this was a wide spread problem I don't think these engines could eve reach these milestones. It would be almost imposible for a Hemi engine to reach 100K miles. There is a company that makes lifters for the Hemi's that lubricate off the cam gallery sending oil up thru the pushrods to the rockers, this could be a fix. I run AMSOIL 5W30XL synthetic engine oil in my 07' Hemi, and it rarely ticks. I am not sure the tick on my engine is from the exhaust manifolds.

 

[demonram]

What is the failure rate of these engines using 5w-20 and not red line or other additive oil? I’m curious the failure rate and the average miles it failed at and per which type of driving habit.

I can’t imagine the failure rate of these engines being pass 10 percent or there would be a class action lawsuit against fca.

Mine failed a little over 92,000 miles. I used Pennzoil 5W-20 Full Synthetic at every change. To Ram cares credit, they paid to replace the cam and lifters if I would pay 10% co-pay. Truck was out of the 5 year warranty, but less than 100,000 miles. I now use Pennzoil 5W-30 Full Synthetic. I can't hear a tick at all. One question; at 70 mph, I'm turning less than 2000 rpm. Is that still a problem?

 

[TheEnder]

Thanks Chrysler for making me never trust any V8 without “Magnum” in the name..


Sent from my Blue Onyx RAM 1500

 

[seabrook]

What about all the hemis in the jeeps and cars- do they have lifter failure?

 

[Jtblackram]

What about all the hemis in the jeeps and cars- do they have lifter failure?

Yes

 

[Tim Garceau]

Guys with 3.21s/taller tires might as well have a set of lifters and cam on the shelf.

 

[pacofortacos]

Thanks Chrysler for making me never trust any V8 without “Magnum” in the name..


Sent from my Blue Onyx RAM 1500

Yeah, except the hemi is more dependable than the magnum. My 01 5.9 had to have the heads replaced due to sunken exhaust valve seats that failed. Of course the intake manifold and the stock coil within a year of use. Then throw in the #8 piston rings starting to go when I traded it in. Not to mention the 46RE.
However the 5.9 was a better tow engine

 

[TheEnder]

Yeah, except the hemi is more dependable than the magnum. My 01 5.9 had to have the heads replaced due to sunken exhaust valve seats that failed. Of course the intake manifold and the stock coil within a year of use. Then throw in the #8 piston rings starting to go when I traded it in. Not to mention the 46RE.
However the 5.9 was a better tow engine

I was directing that more towards the 4.7L. The 5.9 had issues, but i wouldn’t put it against the Hemi reliability wise.


Sent from my Blue Onyx RAM 1500

 

[pacofortacos]

The 4.7 had a few issues too, especially if you stretched out the oil changes. Many sludged up, timing chain guides breaking and locking up the motor, exhaust manifold bolts almost as common as the hemi - ok not quite that common but much more than any 3.9/5.2/5.9, and of course head gasket failure.


There have been millions of hemis made, if it was a fatal flaw they all would fail and the fact is that they just don't.
Rollers don't need a ton of oil. Personally, I would have preferred the oil to go to the lifter, then up to the pushrod to the rocker vs. rocker - pushrod- lifter.
More oil couldn't hurt that's for sure. But there have been pictures of pitted cam lobes and that isn't from lack of oil, that's a metal problem.
More oil to the roller would possibly keep the rollers cleaner with the longer oil changes.
I wouldn't want the roller to slide on the cam and I could see that happening with too much oil to the cam.

I would be willing to bet just a simple knurling of the lifter bores (to give a space for oil to seep down and hang in the lifter bore) would probably fix any oilling issue IF the cam metal is good and doesn't pit and if the roller bearings don't seize.

 

[TheEnder]

The 4.7 had a few issues too, especially if you stretched out the oil changes. Many sludged up, timing chain guides breaking and locking up the motor, exhaust manifold bolts almost as common as the hemi - ok not quite that common but much more than any 3.9/5.2/5.9, and of course head gasket failure.


There have been millions of hemis made, if it was a fatal flaw they all would fail and the fact is that they just don't.
Rollers don't need a ton of oil. Personally, I would have preferred the oil to go to the lifter, then up to the pushrod to the rocker vs. rocker - pushrod- lifter.
More oil couldn't hurt that's for sure. But there have been pictures of pitted cam lobes and that isn't from lack of oil, that's a metal problem.
More oil to the roller would possibly keep the rollers cleaner with the longer oil changes.
I wouldn't want the roller to slide on the cam and I could see that happening with too much oil to the cam.

I would be willing to bet just a simple knurling of the lifter bores (to give a space for oil to seep down and hang in the lifter bore) would probably fix any oilling issue IF the cam metal is good and doesn't pit and if the roller bearings don't seize.

Yeah, the 4.7 had its issues in the beginning with the first gen 4.7. The second gen has little to no issues. I’d know, mine has almost 500K on it and it’s needed no maintenance aside from oil changes and a water pump. I don’t wanna risk the Hemi at all if Chrysler isn’t gonna design them better. That’s my honest opinion.


Sent from my Blue Onyx RAM 1500

 

[TheEnder]

View attachment 210099

Guys with 3.21s/taller tires might as well have a set of lifters and cam on the shelf.

At 80 my truck is at 2.5K...


Sent from my Blue Onyx RAM 1500

 

[Burla]

Dang. Now I wish I had not bought my 2019 Laramie (which I love). The thought of engine failure is not something I want to contemplate on my $54,000 truck. I am disappointed in Chrysler engineers. This should have been rectified years ago. I own a GMC Sierra work truck and it has 230k miles on the engine and it runs great.

You could do used oil analysis from blackstone once in a while and check wear metals. If the wear is low or average I think the hemi can be very reliable. If you have iron under 20ppm at a 7500 mile run, I'd say you have one of those bullet proof hemis.

Also as a lubrication strategy get oils or additives with high EP oil soluble additives, molybdenum being the main additive in the category. Redline has very high moly and lubegard biotech is an additive with high moly and ester based to mention two of the good ones. These additives protect the metal when the oil is not there.

 

[pacofortacos]

Yeah, the 4.7 had its issues in the beginning with the first gen 4.7. The second gen has little to no issues. I’d know, mine has almost 500K on it and it’s needed no maintenance aside from oil changes and a water pump. I don’t wanna risk the Hemi at all if Chrysler isn’t gonna design them better. That’s my honest opinion.


Sent from my Blue Onyx RAM 1500

Don't get me wrong, the 4.7 isn't a bad motor at all and the trans with them is pretty dependable in stock form.
My only gripe with the 4.7 was it didn't have the torque I needed for towing and really didn't give much of a mpg boost over the magnum engines.
I don't think any of the engines are bad honestly. I was disappointed in my 5.9 heads going bad but to be honest it had a ton of hard miles on it.
The hemi really only has 2 issues - exhaust manifold bolts and a few cam/lifters (more than you would like to see but not a majority by any means).

If you got 500k miles out of your 4.7, then you obviously are taking care of it right

 

[seabrook]

Yeah, the 4.7 had its issues in the beginning with the first gen 4.7. The second gen has little to no issues. I’d know, mine has almost 500K on it and it’s needed no maintenance aside from oil changes and a water pump. I don’t wanna risk the Hemi at all if Chrysler isn’t gonna design them better. That’s my honest opinion.


Sent from my Blue Onyx RAM 1500

My wife had a 4.7 grand Cherokee absolute junk (we had a 4.0 GC before that, sounded like a tractor lol) it’s the whole reason I went to the Acura MDX for her. At 50k the thing was DONE it spent more time in the shop and the stupid 7/75 warranty was a joke- stuff like the oil steering failing but an o ring in the oil steering is considered a wear item so it’s not covered. my dad’s magnum threw a rod at 90k due to the oil pump getting clogged and we changed the oil every 3k!

so im glad you have had good luck with your 4.7 but I’ll take my chances with the hemi and never own anything magnum

 

[smiley]

Thought this was worth sharing

I wanted to make sure my thoughts were in this thread as well.


What is crazy is these engines can endure a lot of hours and miles. I have had two myself. My Dad has has had three. All Ram 1500’s except one Durango I had. None of them have had or do have engine issues to my knowledge. We always use synthetic oil and don’t typically exceed 10,000 miles per change. Two of the trucks we sold and don’t know how far they made it. The Durango was at around 150 when I traded it in for the Ram. That Ram has close to 200k today. My Dads Ram also an 09 has close to 200k as well. I thought these engines were pretty much these same design from around 03 to current except addition of MDS and VVT. I personally turned off MDS but my Dad has not. Has not seemed to matter. I know they can last when worked as we both have worked ours but we both have idled a lot too living in North Dakota and not parking in a garage.

 

[Tim Garceau]

At 80 my truck is at 2.5K...


Sent from my Blue Onyx RAM 1500

How are your MPGs spinning up there?