FCA Reman 5.7 Hemi
I just purchased a factory 5.7L Hemi for a 2006 Ram 1500. My technician installed it and when he started it up, there was a very audible ticking noise. I thought it was a lifter, but wasn't sure. He ran the engine for about 5 minutes, then shut it off to re-charge the A/C. When he started it, the engine cranked over and would not start. Sounded kinda like it was out of time. Waited about 30-40 minutes while I was with some customers and it started and knocked REAL BAD. I shut it off and called the Mopar Powertrain Hotline. The person I spoke to immediately started going down his list of reasons to deny warranty. First he asked what happened to the old engine. I said it overheated and blew the head gasket. It had 240,000 miles and I wasn't going to do the heads. He asked if there was catastrophic failure and I said no. (or it would have needed an intake manifold) He asked me to send him pictures of the heat sensors on the freeze plugs. I did and they are light pink. He said, thats it! You overheated it and it caused a valve seat to drop. I said really? It didn't run long enough to open the thermostat. It made noise on initial start up. We went back and forth with several emails and pictures.
Bottom line, NO WARRANTY. I tried to get a Jasper engine, but they are at least a week away. I ordered yet another Mopar (they billed me for it) and we are installing it as I speak. I called my parts manager at the local dealership and told him he needed to get out in front of this, but I had absolutely no intention of paying for both engines. I am going to start the 2nd. motor and see if the heat tabs turn pink on warm up. I am not a smart man, but I can promise you one thing, this thing didn't overheat. It never ran long enough to overheat. Noise on first start up.
Now I do have to replace the intake, there is metal inside the old one. NLA from Dodge.
Oh and the kicker is my parts guy at the dealer told me they had another one do that recently.....
Stay tuned......
From the pixs looking like someone left metal or nut got left in the motor Best of luck
That’s the valve seat. It fell out of the exhaust valve and beat it to s#%t if you zoom in, you will see a gap between the valve and head.
I think you just opened up a can of worms with disassembling the motor, with Jasper, that is a no-no, we just send it back and they take it apart and send us another new one, what is funny is the Mopar rep just left us flyer with a clip board to buy from Mopar since I get them from Jasper, I will be sure to mention that to her when she returns....
Hi Jamey: It reminds me of the garbage that Champion used to send out. You can probably guess who bought them. Sean has a point about opening it up unless you were authorized. If this goes south on you, you may wish to consider filing an insurance claim. I'd follow that up with a call to that dealership asking if they have the number of your new dealership vendor. HTH, Guido
They declined the claim already. So that’s why I popped the head off. They will either pay or they won’t. I don’t plan on paying for the motor. I would just like to have them pay my technicians labor. Of course I will pay him, I‘m just looking for some love from Mopar, or my dealer.
JAMEY,we had that happen to me after the dealer installed some kind of updated software for cooling issue,very good customer shows up a week later says engine acting really odd as it was sure misfiring,cylinder leak down showed 2 bad valves.customer whos father retired from chrysler asked for reman from dealer.So i order,installed also new intake and numerous other new parts.I have done too…
WOW, that is messed up. I had one warranty experience with them (Chrysler Powertrain), and they were a bit difficult, but we got paid. When you start the next one, can you video the heat tab, with sound? That would be great. This racket really hurts us.
That is my plan. I am going to try and take a video of the tabs. See if they turn pink with normal heat.
Try to get a scanner in the video as well to show coolant temp.
I work in a shop attached to a machine shop and I have replaced more Hemi's than anything else over the past 10 years. Absolute junk!
Oh no, not junk, everyone just overheats them. That’s what the Mopar guy told me when I said this is what happens to all these engines. never mind the fact that the rocker studs come out, valve springs break... etc....
You you tried to talk to someone other than that clown? Did you ask him at what temperature the heat tabs change? Yeah, they can't BE junk- people love them! Haha!
He said they change at 255* F I‘m not talking to anyone there now. I told the parts manager I wasn’t going to pay for the motor, I sent him the case # and told him I would send him a bill for the labor. easy way or hard way, they will pay.
Best wishes, I hope that you get taken care of and that change happens at tech support (unlikely).