Noise turns into a new engine...

I bought a 2011 Ram with 9500 miles in 2012 and decided the extended 5 year/75,000 mile warranty was a good idea. Serviced the truck religiously so that I would have reliable transportation for years to come. The exhaust manifold studs started to break at about 40,000 miles and after 50,000 miles I had those replaced (5 were bad). I figured I had about paid for the extended warranty with the broken exhaust studs, but at 83,000 miles the same (similar) noise came back. Thinking that I already knew what the problem was, I was ready to take the problem on for a second time. After a more thorough examination, I decided it needed to go in for repairs. I also had read on line about the transmission issues these trucks had with the flex plate fatiguing the metal and thought that could also be the problem. After removal of the transmission and inspection of the flex plate... good news/bad news. Flex plate is fine, but the crank is walking longitudinally in the block and metal shavings are in the oil. We watched the crank and could see it moving back and forth in the block. BAD BEARINGS = Either wait a month, or more for parts to rebuild this engine, or REPLACEMENT WITH A JASPER LONG BLOCK REBUILD!

No help from the warranty folks... just "sorry, you are past the time and mileage.

MOPAR will be NOpar for me. I could have bought 2 Fords for the price of what I spent this Ram.

This is THE SAME PROBLEM everyone else below states.

I love my Ram and used to brag on how great it was to EVERYONE. But now I will tell EVERYONE that Ram threw me and everyone else under the bus on a problem they KNOW about but refuse to address.

Details. 130-140k-ish, driving to work a lifter failure causes cam failure, thought I don't know it at the time. I just get a Check engine light is consistently blinking when under harder acceleration then CEL goes out. Shows code P0303 misfire cylinder 3, truck goes into limp mode. Scary. What the heck is wrong with my truck! I babied the truck since I bought it new, performed all maintenance at recommended intervals. So, I get on the internet and find a crapload of stories just like mine and now I know what has happened. I also learn that if I keep the RPMs under 3000 I won't have the problem (CEL/limp mode) and can keep driving the truck. So I did, for several months, saving up the money for the repair. I never had the problem again.

So when I finally scraped together the money and it's time to do the repair do I trust the dealership? Not under warranty- so not on your life. I take it to a shop that works on race cars, Finish Line in Milford, OH. They asked dealership if this is a known problem. Dodge's predictable answer: No. But they were happy to sell me all new parts for Finish Line to install. Parts and labor: $4400 out the door and without my truck for the better part of a week. And by the way, as they tore apart my engine the race-car mechanics told me that they were impressed that an engine with now 157k miles was so clean and well taken care of inside.

My conclusion after much reading: as my pic shows, the lifter fails and routs a groove in the cam on an arbitrary cylinder (depends on the truck, #3 for me) -but this may be be an oil distribution issue so not just a matter of replacing the parts but how that year, 2011, has an inability to to properly oil all components. Maybe I am not exactly right. So hey, Dodge, set me straight, because I KNOW YOU KNOW exactly what it is. How could they not know? This is a pattern-failure, occurring often well under 100k miles and pretty much every carcomplaints.com sub-heading under "Engine Problem" is for the same problem! People just list it differently. Dodge engineers are not stupid. But the Corporation finds it easier to just say, Caveat Emptor (let the buyer beware).

Step up Ram. This is a repair for 2-300k miles if then, if ever.

I do OK but $4k is a lot of money for a family guy to dish out to correct a design flaw. Dodge should take more pride in their product, specifically the engine- the core of the vehicle. Where is the recall?

Remember the TV commercial where in a dream sequence someone asks the guy in the Ram driver, 'Hey does that have a Hemi in it?' His answer and mine are the same: "You're about to find out."

I bought this truck May 2016 and love taking my boat to lake and camping trips. September 2017 on one of my camping trips check engine start flashing and felt some vibration. Slowed down and stopped and checked the code was P0303 which is misfire om cylinder#3. I checked all things like replace 16 spark plugs, new coil, moved injectors but didn't change anything. I dropped my truck at shop for diagnostic and mechanic called to let me know that lifter on cylinder#3 sized and damaged camshaft. He's working on the truck right now and that will cost me $2800. I'm beyond pissed off that truck has only 68,000 miles and such serious damage. Is there anything that can be done to get compensated for this repair?

ENGINE HESITATED ON ACCELERATION AT FIRST, KEPT GETTING WORSE. ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON AND HAD IT CHECKED . CYLINDER 5 WAS MISFIRING.TOOK TO AUTO REPAIR SHOP AND THEY THOUGHT IT MAY BE A BROKEN VALVE SPRING. RECEIVED CALL THAT THE CAM WAS NOT WORKING FOR ONE OF THE VALVES. THE LIFTER WAS BARELY MOVING. METAL SHAVINGS THROUGHOUT ENGINE, THEY SAID THEY COULD REPAIR FOR AROUND 3600$ OR REPLACE WITH A REBUILT, I TOOK THE REBUILT WITH 100,000 MILE WARRANTY. WHAT CAN DODGE DO TO HELP MYSELF AND EVERYONE ELSE THAT HAD THIS PROBLEM??I HAD CALLED THE DODGE DEALER I BOUGHT FROM AND WAS TOLD OUT OF WARRANTY AND NOT COVERED. I LIKE MY TRUCK BUT THIS IS NOT RIGHT.

Engine Light came on took it in said misfire on no. 2 found out bad cam and burnt a lifter. Seems that Dodge would do something about this with this many complaints. I know I won't buy another Dodge if they aren't going to do something about this problem.

Update from Jan 10, 2017: After contacting Chrysler they are going to pay over 4000.00 towards a new motor even though it had over 100000 miles they have been very good and helpful with getting me back on the road. it only cost me 3000.00 for a new engine.

Hello everybody.... I am here to tell you PLEASE DO NOT GET A DODGE. THEY DO NOT HELP YOU WITH ANYTHING (CORPORATE)... My truck has been a problem since day one literally... I have been on the phone since then with them. My cam shaft recently blew along with my radio, cylinder heads, etc... and all they tell me is "lets see what happens after this repair"... time after time... now my truck hasnt left the dealer in 8 going on 9 weeks now... I picked it up about a week ago and same day I got it, it broke down and I had to get it towed... and lets not forget about while in the process of repairing my truck they CUT A A/C HOSE, BROKE MY RUNNING BOARDS AND SIDE SWIPED MY TRUCK WITH ANOTHER CAR. I want everybody to know how chrysler really feels about their customers. They dont. When I finally got a representative from their "resolution group" and she tried to push for a replacement vehicle and they now say we have to have somebody come check it out. Why didnt they say that 2 years ago. I cant wait till this headache is gone.