engine failure @ 148000 miles.

[moparecodiesel]

So @ 148000 miles my 2014 ram ecodiesel engine developed a weird engine pinging rattling knocking sound. I removed the fuel quality solenoid on my hpfp cp 4.3 and found some steel stringy stuff in the filter, but no smal flakes. The rattle dosnt get really much worse when the rpm increases and there's a small shake when holding the rpm @ 2000. Rpm fluctuates about 100-200 I don't know if this is the way the engine acts if junk goes into all the injectors for a hpfp failure? Nobody fucking knows. All anyone wants to do is just throw in a complete long block fully dressed motor and be done with it. That's $30,000. Yeah let me just pull that out of my ass. So why do you buy a diesel? Longevity, towing, mileage, durability, and longevity? I've never exceeded the maximum tow rating of 7000 lbs. That's what my trailer weighs maximum. I never tow over 55-60mph. And I think in the past year and a half I've never exceeded 75mph empty or full. I don't beat it, I am a freak with the oil changes. I sample all my fluids and monitor for wear. The new oil sample came back cleaner than any other persons oil sample out there. There's no alerts from blackstone or CAT. This is bullshit. If I nEeded to replace an engine every year and a half its cheaper to own a hemi or pentastar v6. Those are only $6000. And nobody's afraid to work on them for you. I hate to be the guinea pig. This is what is going into my truck this week if I can find a shop to do it for me. After a year and a half of Making payments on this expensive thing I've managed to pay down $15000. Now even with my massively discounted engine and Trans I bought a year ago, care to guess how much ill owe on my 148000 mile truck? The exact same as I paid for it new. Care to guess how much my truck was estimated it's blue book is before this shit? @ 100,000 miles? $22000. Who's the dummy? Me. I chose this color because anything you see is the same color and you'll know it's all been replaced and I cannot fake or trick someone if I sell it that it's all been replaced brand new. You'll know anything I replaced or touched after installation. Good luck with these pieces of shit. May yours be better than mine.

 

[Mharrison]

Shawn you sound a little bitter my friend. Is that a 3.0l assembly spray painted cat yellow? If your oil samples seem clean then what makes you think it is an engine issue. It sounds to me like it is an injector failure or something like that. You can get some wild pinging and knocking sounds out of injectors not firing correctly. You should be able to have someone plug into it and see if all of your injectors are in good working order etc.

 

[moparecodiesel]

I've been paying shops to do that. Every shop says it's the motor. Nobody will work on it. It's motor or nothing. It's ok I'm pulling injectors now. Yes I am bitter. Scared. Sad. Mad.

 

[Mharrison]

I can definitely understand your frustration beings it is a new truck outside of warranty and it's essentially worthless. You are a bit of an exception to the rule since you put so many miles so soon on it, and most of us would still be in warranty. But to me it truly sounds like an injection problem or high pressure oil problem as I believe these run a high pressure oil system to fire the injectors as well.

 

[moparecodiesel]

No no high pressure oil. Cp4.3

 

[Mharrison]

Hmmm....still sounds like fuel because of your damn oil samples....do you have too much filtration on the fuel side that may have starved the pump?

 

[moparecodiesel]

This is the drivers side. The nozzle tip and sides have a thick carbon coating. Even the port are covered. So much for Lucas dpf and fuel system cleaner this tank

 

[Mharrison]

Take them to a local Bosch certified injector shop and have them cleaned and bench tested

 

[moparecodiesel]

These are all 6

 

[Mharrison]

Only the one looks really terrible the rest ya they have some carbon but that's typical for any diesel engine...I would start by finding your nearest Bosch certified injector shop...but make sure they are Bosch cert otherwise they won't have the equipment to do the high pressure common rail injectors correctly. They should clean and test all six for about 100 to 150 bucks at least that's what we pay to get them done for mourning hpcr tractors. It's a relatively cheap test given what you have the potential to spend.

 

[moparecodiesel]

Oh yeah

 

[moparecodiesel]

This is all leaving in the morning

 

[Mharrison]

Is that your factory injection pump the damn Thing looks brand new...?

 

[moparecodiesel]

Have you seen my entire engine? You'd never guess I have 148k

 

[Mharrison]

Only in your intake video....but of course you can't see a whole lot....

 

[BoostN]

I miss a few days and this? Sorry to hear Shawn.. yes, have the injectors tested would be step 1. No engine codes stored to help with the diagnostics?

 

[jdn112011]

With the exception of that one injector being heavily fouled I think the rest are surprisingly clean for 148k miles and your 1000+ hours. There must be something else going on. It's unfortunate nobody knows anything about these engines particularly the Stealerships.

 

[jdn112011]

I wonder if a good diesel mechanical school Wyo tech or something would take a serious look at it. They've got equipment up the wazoo and everyone there is supposed to be training for the next Gen diesel engine. My opinion would be that 95% of the people there are going to be pre grads with a lot better incentive to find out the real problems then the shops you're fighting for diagnostics with.

 

[moparecodiesel]

Well to be fair the engine DOES have 5000 hours. So that has to be taken in to consideration over mileage. If the injectors are bad and pump is bad, I'll be happy, but not happy I wasted $600 on rentals and more at the dealer for wrong diagnosis and wasted time.

 

[jdn112011]

Yeah I completely completely understand your feelings there. (Also why I went across the state for a dealer with lifetime powertrain on lubricated parts) as I acknowledged it sucks that no one truly knows what they are doing with this engine to diagnose it for you without some new motor new everything BS.

It's a crappy situation with a hopefully better outcome than previously diagnosed.

All this is also why I questioned pursuing a school to look into it? It could be a serious option. Even if you do replace the motor with your crate system, possibly for the original? They may be in great favor of doing a tear down and rebuild/Repair