What can I do with this mess… BOTCHED cam and lifter job

[healthyrx]

Long story short…
before I started, my company had hired someone who was in mechanic school and was supposed to be out full time mechanic. He began working on replacing the cam and lifters in a 2014 ram 1500 we have and we ended up having to let him go 4 weeks into the attempted lifter job… yes 4 weeks into the lifter job.. we let him go for somewhat unrelated reasons, however now I am left with this mess.
I do not think that he replaced the cam or lifters yet because there is a box of lifters in my shop however I do not have anybody able to pick up where he left off nor do I want to get stuck paying a mechanic to figure it out…

I figure he was not exactly careful in removing the engine either as I noticed one of the transmission cooler hard lines (the ones that run right underneath the oil filter) is ripped- like he forgot to unhook it and just bent it back and forth until it broke

 

[jawzs2]

Quite a bit of reading, but this is pretty a good on what it takes. Suggest reading thru it to get an idea of what's involved and determine if you want to take it on or bite the bullet and pay someone else for all the headaches you'll probably run in to.

How-To: 4th gen hemi cam installation

Since cams are becoming more available for the VVT hemi engine, regardless of whose cam you choose, here is the how-to of doing the cam swap for the 4th gen trucks. This is honestly a job that can be done by anyone with basic handtools and basic mechanical skills. I did my first cam swap...

www.ramforum.com

 

[Jeepwalker]

OP, It looks like the parts are fairly well organized. There are a lot of Hemi rebuild and reassemble videos on Y/T. I suggest watching a few to get you up to speed. What's involved. Then you can decide if you want to take it on, or pay an engine shop to assemble it.

How many miles on the engine? BTW?

What you could do is take the heads and associated parts to a machine shop. Have them hot-tanked, inspected, valve job and reassembled (by the engine shop). That's usually not very expensive and solves one headache for you. You could take the block and have the cam put in. Then it's a matter of reassembly of the parts. And you can decide if you want to do it or pay someone.

Tranny line ....we've all forgot that one line/hose/wire/cable, etc that got damaged in the process. Happens, even to the best. Maybe a connector was full of crud too. Being in NJ, might not hurt to have a fresh set anyway. Order another from RockAuto or wherever.

____

 

[indept]

OP is in Tennessee, not NJ

 

[GTyankee]

one thing that i would do immediately

take a bunch or sandwich bags that seal up.
Those fasteners, bolts, screws, nuts need to go into those baggies.
Use a Permanent Marker to mark the bags, before putting the fasteners into them.

the bags should be marked Starter or Starter Solenoid, etc.
You would be surprised how fast parts & hardware get lost.

Nothing worse than a mechanic hired to put something back together, that can't find hardware, it is irritating enough to start throwing wrenches

 

[healthyrx]

OP, It looks like the parts are fairly well organized. There are a lot of Hemi rebuild and reassemble videos on Y/T. I suggest watching a few to get you up to speed. What's involved. Then you can decide if you want to take it on, or pay an engine shop to assemble it.

How many miles on the engine? BTW?

What you could do is take the heads and associated parts to a machine shop. Have them hot-tanked, inspected, valve job and reassembled (by the engine shop). That's usually not very expensive and solves one headache for you. You could take the block and have the cam put in. Then it's a matter of reassembly of the parts. And you can decide if you want to do it or pay someone.

Tranny line ....we've all forgot that one line/hose/wire/cable, etc that got damaged in the process. Happens, even to the best. Maybe a connector was full of crud too. Being in NJ, might not hurt to have a fresh set anyway. Order another from RockAuto or wherever.

____

Engine has about 175k on it IIRC.
I like the Idea of having a machine shop do the heads and valve job. At this point is it worth looking into the MDS delete kit as well?

 

[CanRebel]

Engine has about 175k on it IIRC.
I like the Idea of having a machine shop do the heads and valve job. At this point is it worth looking into the MDS delete kit as well?

Not to be insulting, but have you done this before or any experience doing it?

Have you look at cost of buying a reman engine? 175K on that engine, and it's in pieces. Sure if you have some experience, it's do able. But if you don't.... YouTube has some videos. But 80% of those are idiots.

If you going to keep going with that mess, for sure get heads done. I would look at those pistons as well, with that many miles on it.

 

[Daw14]

With out experience,a fresh crate from mmx or where can be located may be the best idea.

 

[healthyrx]

Not to be insulting, but have you done this before or any experience doing it?

Have you look at cost of buying a reman engine? 175K on that engine, and it's in pieces. Sure if you have some experience, it's do able. But if you don't.... YouTube has some videos. But 80% of those are idiots.

If you going to keep going with that mess, for sure get heads done. I would look at those pistons as well, with that many miles on it.

No experience with engine rebuilds beyond a 85cc 2 stroke Dirtbike… so this isn’t quite the same thing.
I also don’t really have time to try to learn as I am busy with several other things. Just wondering how best to proceed for the best value - not necessarily cheapest option

 

[Jeepwalker]

Another thought is:

1) Have machine shop do the head work like we said above. Then those are done.
2) Talk to local people you know. Find out who the local dealer's Hemi "Guru" is (but don't go there)
3) Contact that person (not at work), and ask if they'd be willing to assemble and reinstall the engine for you, say at nights/weekends (on the side). Be prepeared to throw some good cash at them to get their attention. The thought-process here is a Hemi guru mechanic will literally know every nut and bolt and where they go. Some of these mechanics have home shops too. They'll charge more per hour, but they should be a lot faster than your guy who took 4 weeks! You learn to work fast at dealerships. You don't want some moron putting too long of a bolt into an engine block and causing damage!
4) If #3 doesn't yield anything. Consider contacting the local dealer and explain your situation and what they might charge to reinstall it. You'll have to pack everything over there ..and that's going to take time/effort. But again, they do this stuff a lot. Especially smaller dealers who might not be so busy right now. So... not sure if you want to do that. But these are some ideas to consider.
5) Plus the Ram mechanic can probably tell you what other parts of the engine you should replace ..things they see crap out.

6) How are the truck's exh manifolds? You might want to have them inspected and 'trued' up too at the machine shop when you take the heads in.


___

 

[Jeepwalker]

175k miles on a 2017 is just shy of 30k miles a yr. Must be mostly highway. There have been guys who've gotten 300k+ miles out of Hemi's ...so. Perhaps price up a new Mopar engine like suggested above. I've heard and known personally more people who've had problems with re-manufactured engines (than success) I don't even know that I would go reman. It all seems good going in until afterwards they're running 15psi oil pressure, or other problems the rebuilder won't warranty, or you spend 4 months of back/fourth trying to collect warranty. Unless it was a factory-backed reman.

Depends how long you plan to keep the truck. Did you do a compression test on the other cylinders before you took it out? What did you see?

 

[healthyrx]

Another thought is:

1) Have machine shop do the head work. Then those are done.
2) Talk to local people you know. Find out who the local dealer's Hemi "Guru" is (but don't go there)
3) Contact that person (not at work), and ask if they'd be willing to assemble and reinstall the engine for you, say at nights/weekends. Be prepeared to throw some good cash at them. The thought-process here is a Hemi guru mechanic will literally know every nut and bolt and where they go. Some of these mechanics have home shops too. They'll charge more per hour, but they should be a lot faster than your guy who took 4 weeks! You learn to work fast at dealerships.
4) If #3 doesn't yield anything. Consider contacting the local dealer and explain your situation and what they might charge to reinstall it. You'd have to pack everything over there ..and that's going to take time/effort. So... not sure if you want to do that.


175k miles on a 2017 is just shy of 30k miles a yr. Must be mostly highway. There have been guys who've gotten 300k+ miles out of Hemi's ...so. Perhaps price up a new Mopar engine like suggested above. I've heard and known personally more people who've had problems with re-manufactured engines (than success) I don't even know that I would go reman. It all seems good going in until afterwards they're running 15psi oil pressure, or other problems the rebuilder won't warranty, or you spend 4 months of back/fourth trying to collect warranty. Unless it was a factory-backed reman.

Depends how long you plan to keep the truck. Did you do a compression test on the other cylinders before you took it out? What did you see?

So I am a licensed pharmacist coming into a management position in my families engineering company. I started about 2 months ago now. The engine was pulled from the truck and disassembly began in may.. I have no idea if this guy we had as a mechanic did anything right because everything he touched I seem to be going back and fixing. I see that he has a box of off brand-chinese valve train components for this engine rebuild which I will not risk using.

This truck is a vehicle that we have construction inspectors uses- so it drives all across the country and then will sit and idle all day long for weeks on end to which i am surprised we made it 175k before the engine blew on it. We want to keep the truck if possible as we are short on vehicles but it has crossed my mind to scrap it and replace with something else like a tacoma. Last I heard the truck was valued at 18k in 2021 before the engine blew and at the height of the pandemic. So I am not really willing to put more than 8k max into getting it back on the road

Other than that I like those Ideas and I actually discovered this morning that there is a machine shop a few doors down from me in the warehouse plaza we have the truck stored in

 

[Jeepwalker]

Well, if it's for 'corporate' ...maybe best is to get the heads done and take it all to a dealer and have them do it. Find out and make sure they have their 'good guy' on it. Small town dealers, or family run places to me are easier to work with. If you don't need it right away, it can be decent 'filler work' too. Then you can expense the whole engine thing as an expense.

Or you could sell the truck as-is and write it off as a loss if that helps your taxes any.

I was somewhat impressed how your mechanic put various bolts in the bins ...at least he was organized there. Probably all the exhaust is in one bin, water pump and front bolts in another ...looks like head bolts are in another bin. To me it looks pretty well organized. That saves a lot of work right there.

It looks like all he did was get the truck apart & remove the engine. Who cares what he knew/knows or 'might' know ...at this point. It's removed and taken apart. At least you know what you have there sitting on the ground. Start mining your contacts, find out who a good Ram mechanic is and see if you can swing a "side-deal" for them to re-assemble the engine and put it back in. Or put it up on Facebook and move on.

 

[Travelin Ram]

Scrap it and move on. As a manager, you have more important uses for your time.

 

[CanRebel]

No experience with engine rebuilds beyond a 85cc 2 stroke Dirtbike… so this isn’t quite the same thing.
I also don’t really have time to try to learn as I am busy with several other things. Just wondering how best to proceed for the best value - not necessarily cheapest option

kind of of figured that by how you wrote the first post.

My advice would come up with plan, before doing anything. As it as mentioned. Find local person( this could lead to same problem you have now, pay for work, it still doesn't work)
Or get a local shop, might be able to get some warranty Or reman engine, which could have problems Or as it was mentioned, sell it off.

If you really need or want a truck. Could look at what local dealer/used shop would give as trade-in.

As you mentioned, your busy with other things, no time to babysit it. Good luck with whatever way you decide to go.

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

You've got you use out of that block, get a complete long block from MMX and have a reputable shop install it.

5.7L HEMI TRUCK Crate Engine

5.7L HEMI TRUCK Crate Engine

www.modernmusclextreme.com

 

[madtrucker2016]

Crate engine 7 grand or have a shop rebuild it the correct way do the heads-over rings cylinders bordered cam lifters, and a lot of other things. my advice is to go buy a crate engine and slip it in Also it will come with a warranty on it.

 

[GTyankee]

i came up with some scrambled thoughts

You mentioned deleting MDS
I believe to truly deleting it, you have to use the Camshaft out of a 2500 & build up from there with parts that interchange with both the 1500 & 2500 engines, i think i recall, something about the heads, maybe 2500 parts

another thing, you mentioned that the truck was in the same complex as the machine shop.
I bet that the machine shop manager knows a couple of mechanics that moon light

 

[Sillygoose]

Scrap it and move on. As a manager, you have more important uses for your time.

this. You're only gonna get "enthusiast" responses here.

 

[TotallyHucked]

Since you threw out that $8k figure, my thoughts would be to first go talk to that machine shop up the road. They could probably do a basic hone/ring job, fresh cam/lifters and assembly for under that. Second would be to price out a fresh long block. Whatever that costs and the labor to put it back in.

Outside of those 2 options, I think selling it as a roller and buying a Tacoma like you also stated may be the best path. Especially since you already found some other damages caused by that guy. No telling what other surprises you'll find as you go to put the motor back in