I had to buy a reman long block 5.7 Hemi for my 2005 Daytona edition RAM 1500 last year. The engine cost $6000 from Jasper with a 3 year 100k warranty. I also replaced the torque converter while it was apart and put a new front seal in the transmission while it was apart. Parts and labor total was $9600. The reason I did that instead of scrapping it is because I had just completely rebuilt the undercarriage suspension, upper control arms, lower ball joints, both front wheel bearings, sway-bar links, rack and pinion, tierod ends, rotors, calipers, pads, and shocks all at once just a few years ago. Plus I got a new rear differential via a recall about 5 years ago. So even though the truck is old it is in excellent condition, and I couldn't see just scrapping it after doing all of that other work myself so recently. I'm not hurt too bad about it. I only gave $13k for the truck back in 2007 when it had 24k miles on it. Now it has 266k miles on it, and everything is practically new again from a mechanical standpoint.
The scary part is there some people who put money into the car so they feel like they don’t want to stop because they put too much money into it, sometimes you have to look at it and say OK don’t put any more money into it,
I also have a personal rule to never give someone bad news and a bill at the same time. Everything you give away for the right reasons always comes back times 10
I call it a bad news discount. If work was involved i have to charge them something, but diag/minor teardown labor i almost always give away. Ive earned a good reputation and good customer retention by taking care of the people who keep our lights on
Death sentence on a Subaru I bought from the dealer same year. And they gave me a bill for the diagnosis. Contacted Subaru advocacy and they laughed in my face.
One of the positive effects of outrageous new and used truck prices is that the old trucks are being fixed more often. A five or ten thousand dollar bill is a bargain compared to $75K for a new truck. Mine is a 2001 F150. Its the last truck ill own because i cant afford anything newer and parts are cheap.
I agree. I put an '09 Chev back on the road with some sweat equity and about $5k in actual shop bills (I can do some things but I know when to hand it over to the professionals). Does it make sense to spend that money on a high mileage 5.3? Well, time will tell. But for $5-6k less than the cost of an equivalent mileage "runner" (which still has 160,000mi on it), I am back on the road and driving in comfort. It is possible the engine or trans could go. But then, that would be true of the 'runner' I spent five grand extra on. I can understand the wizards POV here... why spend $8k on a truck that is only worth 8k? But in my view you can't compare the $8k truck you would buy with a 150,000 mile engine in it with an equivalent with a remanufactured unit in. It may not be worth more on the open market, but if you are planning to drive it for ten years, it is absolutely worth it.
You are correct. I own a Ford F250 diesel of that vintage, and four years ago, I engine-swapped it in my driveway. It just made sense to do so since I could do the work, and the prices of the newest version of that truck are insane. I actually can afford a new one, but I refuse to pay that out of principle. I will not do it PERIOD. The wife thinks I'm cheap, but so be it.
Me Too !!!!!!! 97 Ram 1500 318 magnum ..... 300k+ Will never ever even think about getting the Brand New Junk they sell today for 75k+ ................
I know the Wizard isn't a tutorial channel, but how many of us driveway mechanics have learned a lot from his methodical, experienced approach to diagnosis and analysis?
Wouldn't the '59 Plymouth or the MGB make a more interesting case than a piece of junk Ram? But now that I watched to the end, it shows clearly you are an honorable man.
@@Kevin19700ya the new GM’s are breaking down with less than 100 miles. Watch that tow truck channel Dustin tow truck. He’s towed about 15 of them this year under 100 miles broken down. EDIT: Towtruck_dustin is the name
I owned a 2012 Ram with a 5.7 since new that died this year at 197k. I was lucky and bought the life time warranty from Chrysler and they actually honored it. The Dodge dealership replaced the engine at a cost of 13k to them but then Chrysler cancelled the "life time" warranty. I sold the truck after they cancelled the warranty.
I've gotten news like this, my 2011 F150 needed: rear diff rebuild new trans cooler lines new lower ball joints new IWE's new strut assemblies new rear shocks new transfer case new 2 pc driveshaft. All totaled was over 10k, I couldn't find another comparable truck for under 35k. To me, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't. Now, it essentially has way better chance of lasting longer than a used truck would have anyway.
@danterryhankinstheexplodin9009 my thoughts exactly. 65k to buy a new truck equivalent to my 2011, but with a bunch of plastic oil pans for engine and trans, plus all of the nonsense ota gremlins. I'll keep what I have and be happy with zero truck finance payments.
I get it if the owner doesn't have $3k to put into it, but it does look like an easy fix with a used good engine. It doesn't look like a particularly difficult swap, either, lots of room in there...but you never know what you may find or run into...
@@repro7780just did it to my ram… camshaft lifters and oil pump kit. New coil, plugs, gaskets and bearing. I did have help from my neighbor. Was less than 2k
A shop that’s not on a UA-cam channel will need to charge: why because that truck is taking up a bay, lift and above all, the tech’s time. Time, lift and a bay that could be used to make money, obviously UT paid him to compensate.
@@RVthereyet25 I’m not on UA-cam, and typically don’t charge people if I give their machine a death sentence. We work on everything from cars and semi’s, to heavy equipment.
@@stevenlatham4397 well my question is how many 2hr diags can u give away in a week,1,2,10 etc. lets say 5 .at say 100 per hr labor rate .math says 1000.00 loss per week x4 wks equals 4k loss a month. i can see 10 mins but that adds up at the end of year. so giving it away keeps u from buying new tools ,training and paying ur guys a good salary. we are not utube guys. but if ur shop can do that kind of giveaway, the rest of ur customers have to be charged more money per hour to maintain business. i did that my first year in business . saw my losses and changed that rather quickly.
You're a good dude with an awesome pair of shoes and I mean that. In all seriousness finding a shop that feels for and doesn't take advantage of a customer is a rarity. Respect Wizard!!
Our shop had the same truck. They opted to have the dealer to install a new engine, five grand. The drivers seat bottom was shot. They bought a new seat bottom which cost another grand. Our guys installed that. It was cheaper than buying a new truck.
A new engine? Sounds like more money than sense. To me it would be more sense to find a wreck that has the same engine maybe fix a few problems preemptively while it's out still out from the donor vehicle to head off the most likely problems yeah head bolts are going to cost a little bit but cheaper to replace valve seats all around if you think the Rings are okay maybe put regular lifters and remove that DOD crap from the system Side note it seems like modern DOD systems the software is robust enough to do the job but the hardware is lacking especially as they get up there in mileage contrast that with Cadillacs V8 - 6 - 4 from the early 80s which was pretty robust mechanically but the electronics was where the shortcomings lie.
Not counting the fact there's metal shavings from that destroyed cam now circulating throughout the oiling system. The problem just compounded itself even more, an inevitable disaster waiting to happen, turning that $1000 'shade-tree repair' into a $12,000 long-block replacement nightmare, with parts and labor. That will be a horror story to tell your kids around the campfire during a summer night.
@@Mr10AlpineAs a service professional myself, the cam/lifter failure is common on these, and it can be fixed for good for 2k-2.5k easy. You can even eliminate the MDS which is the cause of the failure so it never happens again. Common sense is key. This engine sounds healthy, no major leaks, no oil pressure concerns. But welcome to modern day repair shops, nobody wants to fix anything. Just replace, replace, replace. 🤷♂️
I had a’04 Rumble Bee with the 5.7 magnum and it ran perfectly didn’t leak a drop 113k on it, a nodding heroine addict decided he would go ahead and hit me doing 60+while I was at a stop light, now I got a 5.3 Chevy that uses a lot more fuel, has no power and leaks everywhere 👍
@@fly1ngpapayathey can be just as reliable from what I’ve heard but the hemis are faster and more fuel efficient than a 5.3 from the 2 crew cab 2007 and 2009 Silverado’s that I am using as reference
I did a full rebuild of my 04 ram's hemi in my backyard when it dropped a valve seat. Remanufactured heads, honed the block myself, and only took the rods and pistons to the machine shop. Headers, cats, ac compressor, etc. It still cost me over 3k in tools, equipment, parts, and fluids once it was all said and done. It runs but still has gremlins, partly due to the cam upgrade, so It's still going to need a tune. I'm not saying don't fix it in your backyard like I did, but don't think you're gonna save money doing it, or that the gremlins won't get in while the wiring harnesses is out. It's a great way to learn, but it takes months of your focus to do it, and just when you think it's done, it isn't.
I bought a car for 750 because the shop said it needed a new engine and the customer said it was too expensive. One bank had zero compression. I don't know what happened but it had three bent valves and three broken valve springs. The parts cost me 333. I did not even remove the timing cover. I just marked everything pulled the heads, and replaced the valves, springs, and keepers. I also never found the keepers. Put it back together with the same head bolts. Its been 196k miles since 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Thanks for this tbc. I have found the same with modern engines... the way they are built makes it very difficult for backyard/shade tree mechanics and it is often just not worth the risk vs buying a remanufactured unit w warranty and just putting it in. The days of engine swapping hot rods may not be over, but they are much more difficult to do now.
You have said 'not worth repairing' on other vehicles. As former mechanic i have some problem with dumping the vehicle. If you know the rest of vehicle is solid why buy another for about the same money. You probably will be purchasing someone else's problems that may also include transmission and drivetrain issues. Replacing the engine from reputable reman you have a somewhat like new motor.
@@madmatt2024 $10-$15k is still cheaper than $50k+ for a new truck. If the rest of the vehicle has been maintained then replacing the engine would be more economical than buying another used truck with an unknown history.
It depends on what this truck is worth, what the condition of the rest of the truck is etc. And remember that it isn't just the engine you have to pay for, it's also labour. That makes it a lot more expensive. Then there's the question of the condition of the rest of the truck: has it been well maintained? Or are the shocks, brakes, AC and maybe even the transmission also on their way out, because that would make the truck worth even less. Many people still believe in the manufacturer's myth of transmission oil being lifetime oil, which means that at 145k miles that transmission won't be in too good of a shape. Heck, many people even don't do a regular oil service that often, because "it's expensive and the truck is running fine with this oil, so why do an oil-change?"
I've had those Ram Hemi's come in where they've had a D.O.D. lifter fail, then it bends a pushrod and drops it out of the rocker cup, then that intake rocker will not open. That cylinder will STILL show enough compression to run decent, but obviously it wont fire. You will NOT detect a gallop while cranking, but you WILL feel the engine miss while it runs. Now HERE is the confusing part about this when it happens, and you're trying to diagnose this for the first time.... Since the intake valve on that cylinder does not open, the intake port WILL fill up with gas from the injector firing in the port, and then once the port is full the gas spills out into the intake and makes the other cylinders run very rich. You'll easily see it in the live data on a scanner, and itll occasionally back fire into the exhaust when raw fuel builds up and light off in the converter. The rich problem won't show up rigjt away after the vehicle sits overnight and the fuel evaporates out of the port or leaks past the valve. It'll run fine when you first start it, and then it'll all of a sudden get real rich once that intake port fills up and starts to spill over in the intake. Took me a few minutes to diagnose this the first time, but once you see it once, you wont miss it the next time(s). I've had several come in with the same issue over the last year or so. IF the ruined lifter chewed the can lobe off, PLAN on removing the engine, taking it COMPLETELY apart, and washing/hot tanking EVERY part of it out, replace ALL the lifters, new oil pump, and CLEAN the crank journals and oil galleys out completely. IF you do not, and you simply slide in a new cam and lifters, your engine WILL throw rod bearings in a short amount of time. When the bad lifter(s) eat the cam lobes, it creates a bunch of iron "sand" in the engine that will remain in there if you DON'T do all the above, and that "sand" WILL eventually tear up the bearings and bottom-end in around 3000 or so miles. I have SEEN someone do this without removing and cleaning the engine out, and YEP, 2800 miles later it chucked a rod after it spun a bearing. The motor was FINE before it chewed 3 cam lobes off. I helped him pull the engine, we put a crank kit in it, 2 new rods, dingle ball honed the bores, put new rings in it, new oil pump, new VVT cam sprocket, new chain, new lifters, and new D.O.D. solenoids. Ran great after that, and that was about 40k miles ago. The truck was a 2012.
I am looking for a current gen Ram with a chewed up cam lobe. I fixed my 2010 for a bad lifter and cam about 40 k ago. I pulled the pan but did not otherwise disassemble the engine to clean it. It's still running fine today. If I do another I will pull the engine out. Pulling the pan with the engine in the chassis was probably the same amount of work as removing the engine. Pulling the heads and replacing them in the truck would have been much faster with the engine out
I always figured oil filters were supposed to save you from particulates in your oil. Though I guess 3 lobes worth of metal may saturate the filter and force the bypass to open. You’d definitely want to pull the oil pan and clean that out.
I honestly, have never seen it that bad. I’ve revived a ton of these, and never had to pull the engine nor hot tank it. Normally, the lifter grenades, and the pieces fall into the oil pan. I pull the pan, and clean the pick up etc. Same story with the pentastar 3.6. That one has tons of videos on this very platform, folks just replacing the rockers/lifters and any affected cam. You can probably run an engine cleaner a couple of times after you fix it complete with several filter changes to be 100% sure there is no debris in the engine.
Cam and roller lifters are wiped out. Seen a billion of these, the cure is the melling HV oil pump after everything is disassembled and inspected for damage, cleaned, revealed and re assembled with new cam bearings,cam, upgraded roller lifters, and heads rebuilt with afm delete. Or find a 5.7 or 6.2 with computer swap.
A computer swap won’t fix it, you MUST change the 4 AFM lifters to the regular non AFM ones. The HV oil pump only helps if you’re gonna just sit and idle and idle which you shouldn’t do in any vehicle.
@@jacobclark89 low oil pressure is only an issue at idle. If you sit in park and idle for hours say for work, get a high pressure oil pump. Problem solved
I agree 100%!...but in reality, doing a video on it probably negated the fact he didn't charge the customer to check it out...and then some, probably....
My sister has 2 rams. The first one has 413k 2003 1500 5.7. Still on the original trans. The engine was replaced at 310k, was burning oil, and sping broke. Since I'm a Chrysler tech, I changed out the engine with mopar reman for around 5000. The rear difference was replaced at around 360k. She hoped a curb it cracked the housing, causing a leak. Replaced with a junkyard diff. 2 piece prop shaft was replaced at around 250k, and i just replaced the center bearing about 5k ago. This trunk is more reliable than her second ram. The second one is a 2018 ram 2500 6.4 with 143k. 2 water pumps, heater core clogged, valve body at 55k and trans rebuild at 105k, radiator cracked due to electric cooling fan failed. But all of these repairs were covered under warranty. And she bought the truck with a Mopar lifetime max care warranty.
I swapped my 04 hemi 5.7 for 4200 including a rebuilt torque converter. Took 9 hours.Rebuilt motor. And I kept my original. Its rebuilt sitting in the front room as a spare.I have two years on the rebuild next April.
Usually the hemi engine failure in the 2009 up Hemis is a cam/lifter failure. Prior to that it was a seat drop. I owned a 2005 Dodge Magnum with a 5.7 hemi for 17 years/122,000 miles and it was a reliable car. I loved that car. Considering the price of new trucks, it's definitely worth a reman engine.
Yes. It is. High volume oil pump. My 04 had the cracked spring issue on cylinder 5. Exhaust. Bent a pushrod. Motor was worn out anyway, 250K miles.Using oil like crazy.I was third owner. Rebuilt motor is great. $6 magnetic drain plug is cheap insurance. Lets you know if something is going on at oil change.
My 95 ram 1500 rust bucket has the 318, took 2 days to get the plugs out,(best son in law ever!) the threaded portion rusted in the heads, and the insulator with the electrode separated. Purrs like a kitty cat.. lol...once in a while it cuts out, bucks and then might not do it for months. I agree, I ordered it new and got the 318 instead of the 360. Not a lot of power but great in snow.
My grandad had a 318 in a Chrysler Newport owned it since new and at the time he passed away the odometer read just over 520,000 miles he never had any issues with it other than the distributor acting up whenever it rained.
I have a 98 Durango with a 5.2. 230k and not even using any oil. Had about 7 Dakotas in my lifetime. The first one I bought new back in 2002. It made it past 350k. Not all Chrysler stuff is crap.
I guess I don't understand the philosophy of "Hey I could get the same truck that's out there now running for the price that it would cost to fix this with a new engine" Because if you scrap the truck you have and go get another used one just like it, how long is that going to last? It could be a few months from having the same thing happen. Why not put a new engine in for $8,000 and go another 150k or more miles. Their other alternative is to go buy a completely different used or new vehicle and that's going to cost 20k, 30k, 40k or more depending on whether it's used or new. Seems like it's cheaper to fix it if everything else still works, especially when you're replacing the most expensive part, the engine. I get it, the owner doesn't have money right now so they're just going to drive it as is, fine. But eventually you will have to do something and make a financial decision
Yep I have watched many videos where the Wizard says something like 'You can just buy another running one for the same money', and it never made sense to me (especially if the vehicle is in otherwise good condition like this Ram) as the next one you buy could develop the same problems you could have just fixed on the first one.
@@jamiespinks3657 Because the 2012 is a known trouble year model. Why not sell this one for a few thousand as is, and get like a 2015 RAM Express with less than 100k miles for around $14k...? This thing is already dented with a beat up interior, a newer version outside the malaise range would probably easily go 200k miles or more, or another decade based on the miles this one has.
I had a similar issue, 2011 dodge ram 1500 5.7L. number 6 cylinder misfired with additionally the cam and hydraulic lifters failing aswell since the cam plate came off and allowed the cam to move. Sent the truck in to a local dealership, 15 grand later the truck is back on the road. I'm now pushing into the 600,000km range
Have you noticed the wizard is always talking about cars are not worth fixing. He only wants to work on rich people cars because they will tell him to fix the car and I will pay.
That's the bad side effect of modern engines and vehicles when they come on the used/budget market...regardless of their "book value", engines, transmissions, and parts are still very expensive, even high mileage used ones...if that were an 80's-90's Chevy truck with a small block 350 or 305, you could put a remanned engine with a warranty in if for FAR less than another truck, and even less for a decent running used engine(they are still out there, especially for the 1990's GM trucks)...
It's best for smaller shops to just swap the motor. All it takes is one tiny mistake on a rebuilt engine to cause the engine to have to be rebuilt again...except this time at no additional charge to the customer.
That’s big of you to return that truck back to the owner at no charge after spending 2 hours on it in your bay. Tough break for the owners, since the 5.7 Hemi is actually a decent motor usually.
Actually he just might get that back. Let's say these people look at another used vehicle. Who are they going to get to check it out? Who will look after their next vehicle? What shop will they recommend to their friends? If I lived in Kansas I know where I would go. I've had some rude repair bills but I tried to not get mad and just ask why so much? When you have to take half the engine apart to get a part you just have to accept the bill.
Do your oil changes on time and don't idle that truck unnecessarily/ They last. Cyl deactivation delete and they last forever. Same as the GMC 5.3. Ford 4.6, 5.4 are junk. Coyote seems to be fairly good so far. Long and short - stay away from cyl deactivation.
I’m sorry but they are not a solid engine. There is a known design flaw where at idle or low rpm engine oil is starved to the top side of the motor. This has been going on for 20 years with this power plant. If I bought a 60k truck and was told I could not idle it or I would destroy my engine by 150k miles…yeah, no thanks. JUNK. Why do people keep buying this garbage?
I have a 2012 Ram 1500 with the 5.7 and 118,984 miles. Religious 3000-3500 mile oil and filter changes and maintenance taken care of immediately (except for exhaust manifold gaskets). Mine started misfiring and knocking out of nowhere two months ago and the diagnosis is cam and lifter failure. After all the dedicated care, it sucks to need an replacement engine.
Yep. Had a 2011 Sierra Denali that was meticulously maintained like yours and it dropped a lifter at 175k and shredded the cam within 1 mile. Didn’t even have AFM. A new 6.2 was 10,000 not including labor and at the time there was a 2 month backlog on long blocks. I’m still bitter about it and especially seeing how pushrod engines still suffer this problem on a 70 year old engine design.
I had a 2005 Ram 1500 with the 5.7 hemi. The motor started rattling when cold at 99k miles. It also had glitter in the oil, so i sold it back to the dealer that sold it to me, and i bought a new Toyota 4runner. We're a 100 percent Toyota family now, and I'm not going back.
I own two Rams and in recent years bought a Honda. Best vehicle I've ever owned. I'll never buy another Ram ever again. It's Honda/Toyota from here on out.
So you're a Toyota fan now because your NEW truck runs better and more reliably than your previous 19 year old Ram which you probably bought used with no maintenance history Not sure of your logic here!
Couple of years ago my son was looking to buy a well used ( inexpensive) pickup to use in his job while paying his way through college. Looking at used trucks, prices were obnoxious, even for real high mile stripped trucks. So I found a 2013 dodge, 88k miles with a bad engine, same as this one in video. Engine had low compression in all but one cylinder. Dude that owned it confessed to using single viscosity non synthetic oil, with long intervals. There was a loud bearing knock as well. Paid $3500, towed it to my shop. Found an engine at a recycler, had 33k on it. Came out of a 2012 that got hit in rear, totaling it. Compressions were good, engine was run in truck before it was pulled. $2800 with all the accessories and plugs. Took three days to swap. My boy has the truck to this day, runs great. If you’re willing to do the work, there are simple solutions to expensive issues. Even today, high mile dodges are still going for 13 to 18 thousand, lot more than $6500.
The "Wizard" never diagnosed anything here. "Engine bad, sell your truck" is not a diagnosis. It's like going to the doctor and having them say "Something is going on with your heart and you're gonna die" without telling you what specifically is wrong. He mentioned a few possible failures (really only one) but never told us what actually failed. I applaud him for giving the customer a break (let's be honest, he didn't want the job anyway, he'd rather go back to stiffing Hoovie) but I learned absolutely nothing from watching this video other than the overall condition of the interior and exterior of the vehicle. Make sure to buy some stuff from his affiliate store though.
Can't really diagnose this better without starting to tear it down which equals real time/money. If every video he posted had a nice pay off or had a problem he could actually fix then it would pretty seriously skew reality.
A salvage engine is also a good option. The guy from the ScrapLifeLee channel did something similar. Except he had pulled the engine from a wrecked Dodge Demon he bought at auction. He then bought a used Dodge SRT-10 that had not been running for years for cheap. He then swapped the V10 out for the Supercharged V8 Demon engine. Now he has a pretty badass truck that is better than anything you can by new.
@samuelkerr465 I had seen that too. But it just depends who you buy from. Someone had commented that he used to work at a salvage yard for years and they always did leak down test on all the engines they planned to sell. And they never got a return.
A hole in the piston can be from preignition. The aluminum is soft and generally taking off a head and dropping the pan is enough to fix that cylinder. A failed engine would be more catastrophic like a spun bearing, cooked crank journals, or even parts carnage with holes punched everywhere. Then, the only option would be a complete engine replacement.
Put a hole in a piston on a car I just bought, It was running advanced and had it two days. Was due to reset it next day. But...... I bought it cheap, with a known knackered engine due to miles, so a teardown with new pistons and bearings was still within budget. Went like a train afterwards, ran it for 18 months and sold it for a profit. Only viable if you can do your own work.
Apparently, the difference is 8-10 grand, because the Wizard thinks you should buy another truck. And who of us doesn't have an extra 10K to drop on another used truck? God knows we wouldn't want to pull an engine, and there's no point in actually pulling the head and seeing what it really needs, especially when you have a UA-cam channel with sponsors and someone like Hoovie to bring you cash-cow broken exotics. Sorry I seem so cynical, I think the Wizard is a good guy, I guess I'm losing interest in channels that just churn out content without much really going on.
I am more interested in the red 1959 Plymouth on the lift! My grandmother purchased a new 1959 Plymouth in Silver Spring, Maryland. I enjoyed riding around in it!
Just bought one with the 4.7L, pretty good shape for being a northern truck, a few of the usual fixes like the rusty oil pan, and WIN key box, but a score all in all to have a truck to keep around for small projects at home
The shop that I to says you better off putting in a OEM coil. The aftermarket ones are usually bad. I had a 2012 F150 with the 3.5, I had to use the OEM coils. The aftermarket ones has a issue with the coils exploding or melting.
A friend of mine had a misfire on a Toyota for one coil. She took AutoZone advice and got 6 coils. A few months later one of the replacements exploded and oozed out plastic. Got it replaced under warranty and then another did the same thing... I said this is going to keep happening, where are your old parts? Unfortunately she threw them all away 😢 So I said I can get you some used oem's out of a junkyard and you should have much better luck, or you can keep replacing these under warranty. She didn't have the money, but she did learn how I was finding the bad one and learned to swap them herself, which was cool 👍 just sucks when they fail in winter and you get home with a red catalytic converter because you had to pick up your kid from school and then warranty another crappy coil. 3 had gone bad in 1.5 years last time I talked to her, and she fixed the 3rd herself.
I use NGKs. If you are using copper spark plugs, change them out at 30k miles. When the plugs get worn, they will draw extra current and melt your coil. And possibly burn the driver in your PCM.
Fyi to anyone watching, but if you ignore misfires, they usually foul out the catalytic converters causing them to overheat and melt the honeycomb substrate. Often, it will blow a hole through it, and choke the engine, causing reduced power. Also, the rest of the cat material can break apart in chunks, and wedge inside the actual exhaust pipe bends, hit downstream cats, etc., causing more restrictions and damage. So now you'd need cats on top of the other fixes, and chunks in the bends or even end up in the mufflers, requiring more work to remove them. If sending it, it won't matter unless exhaust gets so hot it causes a fire or stalls on the highway at speed, etc., but just fyi if you ever see misfire codes, whether rodents got into a harness, plugs are worn out, coil is bad, O2 failure causing a short, etc., don't run it.
If I have to run the engine I unplug the injector for the bad cylinder whether it has a cat or not. If that was my truck I'd unplug the injector for the worst cylinder that isn't firing and just drive it till I could find a good used engine, that way it isn't a rush where you can end up with a junk engine just because it was easy.
From 2003 until 2016, I owned 3 Hemi's. Not once did I ever have an issue with any of them. Oil changes every 4-5k miles, changed plugs as necessary for iridium plugs, and kept up with all other basic maintenance.
i had 2006, no engine trans issues, ball joints radiator yes, tree ended up falling on it, otherwise i would have it... now i have 2013 it snapped exhaust header bolt at 110k but i can't hear air leaking about 45 seconds after start, so i didn't do nothing with it yet
@jakebpau2396 I bought a 2003 and a 2005, both 1500 Laramies, very very good trucks. My '03 needed a starter in 2005, but that was it. My 2005, nothing. My wifes 2006 Grand Cherokee, nothing as well. As far as I'm concerned, Rams from that era were excellent. Still simple enough to work on with basic tools and not burdened with so many gadgets that they were ticking timebombs waiting to break.
There is some good advice in this video, but a couple things to clarify. Yes the early Hemi's had valve seat problems (and Timing Chain issues), however that was not really an issue with the Eagle version (2009+), they tended to have Cam/lifter problems. The other thing you mentioned is Hemi head bolts are torque to yield they...are not. The Hemi head bolts are torque to angle but do not get to yield, so they don't necessarily need to be replaced (inspected, yes). Overall a pretty good run through.
Got rid of two rams this year. Both with cylinder disabling. One needed a new engine after filling itself with shrapnel. The other was close but fortunately it was stolen.
It was nice of you not to charge them. I have a 2014 Ram 1500 V8 5.7L . Thank God, it's been good. Hope to keep it for a long time. Not buying anything else, if i can help it. Prices are ridiculous.
It's worth watching the video just to read all the "interesting" comments. Head bolts? Head gasket? worn cam? Electronics? what did the oil look like? Maybe a combination of the mentioned, that's a real treat! You got my time watching--a little more analysis please. Think of all the 5.7 owners sleepless nights after this!!
They all fail eventually. My 5.7 in my 2005 Ram died n April of last year at 246k miles. I replaced it with a long block reman from Jasper, and now I'm at 266k miles.
Great mechanics special. This summer bought a 2012 with 100k miles; only issue it had a failed lifter that destroyed the cam. Took a couple of weekends to tear it apart and replace along with a MDS delete. Now shes running like brand new. Except the front rotor is bad just havent had time to replace it yet
I bought a long block from Powertrain products for my 2012. I installed the engine myself. The install went ok, but the first new long block, (yes i said first one) had 2 collapsed lifters and weak valve spring. I did not feel like doing another removal and install so I took it to a shop. Second engine is doing great so far at the first 500 mile oil change.
I had a 2012 Ram1500 Big Horn. Never again! Nothing but major problems! Rear differential replaced, cam, timing chain replacement, numerous exhaust leaks, fuel pump relay needed to be bypassed and should have been a recall, finally the engine blew!!! What a POS!!!
If that was my truck, I would just drive it until it blows up. It's not worth any more than one with a completely blown engine. One thing about those engines in this condition is it may last a day, or it may last years running as it is. Just be sure to save up for a new vehicle since this one is on borrowed time.
HEMI tick. Roller needle bearings are dickered, roller seized, cam lobe damaged, pushrod is probably playing ping pong, and misfire at higher revs. Due to MDS system and insufficient oiling at idle. Ask me how I know. lol. 2010 RAM.
Yes, I have an old Chevy running a little rough, #8 spark plug. About 1000 miles later, engine seized (happened 2 weeks ago). It had 140k original miles. Thanks for the video.
Question, shouldnt the sway bar links and bushings be tested on the ground in an unloaded condition? That way you can see movement. It wont move under load.
@@Man_in_a_Gucci_Suit 2 blown motors, bad transmission, terrible electrical, warning lights on for no reason, O2 sensors going out all the time, short life on ignition coils, rusting out in less then 30k miles...... Never again, I gave them their chances.
I have a 09 1500 w/5.7 MDS. One lifter started to fail and I caught it in time. I had a engraving tool that I used to "scribe" a line on the side of the lifters and installed a HV oil pump.that was @ 157K it now has 340K on it still going good.
That's why you gotta replace the RAM oil pump with the Hellcat oil pump before the lifter issue starts. It's been a proven solution for these RAM Hemi's.
That's really nice of you to not charge the guy. 👍 I think if I were in the owner's situation, I'd just keep it and drive it till the engine either fails or his financial situation improves. In my eyes, it's worth fixing for someone who can afford it, because, although, as Wizard says, you could just buy another used truck, you won't know that truck's history (its engine could have the same failure in a short time). However, if you replace the engine in this truck, you'll have a truck with a fresh engine that will probably go another 150k miles at least.
I’ve fixed a few of these trucks like this. I usually tell the customer to wait till I get the engine in before they bring me the truck. My current truck is a dodge ram that I bought in a similar fashion. It was an oddball truck though. It was a 16 and it was an extended cab long bed ( exactly what I was looking for ) 1500 with every option they had on it. Turns out it was a repo and I had taken a mechanics lien out when the customer stiffed me. The bank just let me have it after I told them it had a blown engine. ( I neglected to tell them I was replacing it myself lol). I pulled the powertrain and sent the trans out to get rebuilt. I had the old motor ready to go back to the dodge dealer when he delivered my new crate engine. I rustproofed it while I had it up in the air ( Waxoyl hardcoat is good stuff ). Replaced the normal wear items and put the new engine and rebuilt trans back in and boom. Had myself a very nice dodge ram for half the price o
Similar issue with my 2018 wrangler JL replaced all plugs and coil packs. Still misfired intermittently. Turns out coolant was going into the cylinders and had scored the cylinder walls. End result engine needed to be replaced. 10k parts and labor. Ended up getting a Tacoma instead.
I'm waiting for him to get back onto his Duramax swap. He's got a GMC/Chevy pickup truck that he is swapping in a Duramax diesel for the gas engine that was in the truck.
Like many Hemi owners I went through that. The Hemi eventually eats its roller lifters and cam. The fancy roller lifters have needle bearings that eventually work harden and fail. Some also claim the cam/lifters may be deprived oil at idle. It may not need a whole new engine, but cam, lifters, possibly pushrods, all the little stuff, and then the timing chain and water pump may as well be replaced while it's apart. The longer it's driven in that state the worse off the engine will be since it's grinding the cam and lifters, producing metal shavings. Seems crazy, but replacing original Hemi lifters at 75K-100K miles is probably not a bad idea.
I was faced with this exact problem 1 yr. ago on my ‘05 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 with 270,000+ miles. I’d never had any serious problems. I put 2 Water Pumps and 2 Batteries and an Alternator on the engine. I had just 2 weeks earlier replaced the transmission. I opted to replace the motor with a Remanufactured one. Went with a Jasper because they gave a 3 yr., 100K Miles warranty on the engine. The shop gave me 1 yr. on their labor to install and satisfy requirements for Jasper Warranty. It wasn’t cheap but with the cost of replacing the truck at today’s prices, it was worth it despite the mileage. My truck was in OK shape except the Rocker Panels were rusted out. It took me quite some time but eventually I found a Body Shop that would do the work. I had already purchased a Florida truck w/blown engine to supply all of the body parts I needed. So now I have a virtually new 19 yr. old truck that I just put $15K into. For my money it was definitely worth it!!
Not sure what these owners are going to do. If you can not afford the engine, how can you afford another truck? I have a 2008 ram 1500 5.7 hemi with over 322,000 miles still going strong. If my engine blew, I think I would replace rather than getting a different old truck.
Probably easier to finance another truck over a longer period of time than finance the engine..unless they still owe on this truck, or have terrible credit...in which case they are screwed....
I wonder what caused the engine failure? Lack of regular maintenance like oil changes? I have a 2015 Ram 1500 and I always worrie about it when I see these vids or hear stories about the Ram trucks or 5.7L Hemi.
I hear idling and low rpm operation is basically the worst thing you can do for these because it ruins the cam, and if you keep driving it on the ruined cam before you get it fixed you cause further issues down the road.
I'm pretty sure the early 2010's weren't great years for the Hemis in the Rams. I've heard at least that the later 4th gens were better. I have a '17 and runs perfectly. I also avoid idling and use full synthetic, changed every 6 months or 5,000 miles.
@@FarmerTom-bz6tn Like the other guy said, could be exhaust manifold bolts. That is a common problem with these and can trick you into immediately defaulting to the "Hemi Tick" diagnosis.
So sad, glad you are "paying it forward" and not charging the customer for a bad report, that's the last thing they need. Well Done! When I owned my own company and had the opportunity to help people, I received payment in-kind worth more than my helping.
I once had a Chevy 350 drop a valve on a trip from Sacramento to Cleveland. Took it to a dealer in Cleveland and was informed that to fix the valve would be $3500, an entire new head would be $3200, and an entire brand new factory 350 installed would be $2700. Being near the heart of auto manufacturing I'm sure made the new engine cheaper with no real shipping costs but it still was a tremendous deal and they did it in one afternoon.
I would have done a cylinder leak down test to finalize the diagnosis. That way you know if it is just the head/valves or the pistons. Could be timing chain or hydraulic cam timing related, if this engine has that. Three cylinders in the same bank at low compression raises the curiosity.
If you just need a daily beater, get a bone yard engine. Maybe not great, but you'll get the cost of the motor/install plus a few bucks out of it vs paying to have it taken to the crusher.
I was just thinking of something similar that the ScrapLifeLee channel did. Except he already had a good engine he had pulled from a wrecked Dodge Demon. He then bought a used Dodge SRT-10 that had not been running for years for cheap. He then swapped the V10 out for the Supercharged V8 Demon engine. Now he has a pretty badass truck that is better than anything you can buy new.
Did you inspect the other side for oil? See if it was just one side getting oil fouled or both? The intake manifold is plastic and the gaskets shrink letting it suck oil from inside the engine and causing a misfire. In the future you should take the oil fill cap off and hook up a vacuum gauge to see if it has high vacuum at idle. I am a ASE Master certified Tech with 52 years on the job (I just retired this year). Granted these newer engines are way more complicated than the old shtuff I started out with but, a lot of them have the same causes as the old. Intake gaskets are the weak spot on any V engine, I don't care what the gasket material is, IT WILL FAIL. Now, I have a 2011 Ram 1500 with the 5.7 in it and it has 359,352 miles on it and it is OE from the fan blade to the exhaust tip. I had the same misfire and after replacing the intake gaskets (at 152k miles), it's smooth again. My engine hours on it are a little over 13,200 hours.
Does it matter? He found that one side of the engine is cooked, and it's all going to need to be replaced anyway, so why spend the time and effort investigating something that's going to have to be replaced sooner rather than later?
@@danterryhankinstheexplodin9009 The ring lands are choked with carbon. It can be cleaned with a few tank full's of gas treated with Lucas fuel system cleaner, about 32oz/tank full and the carbon goes away. We used to use GM Top Engine cleaner but, it's not available anymore (the good stuff anyway). The one hole with 180# does not have a leaking runner but the others do. You can tell a lot by reading the spark plugs and those were dripping wet with oil and there's only one way to get that much oil is leaking intake gaskets.
My 2017 Ram 1500 failed at 143K. The culprit is the economy cylinder shutoff that goes bad over time. I bit the bullet and had a Jaspers installed that had the cylinder shutoff devices removed. It cost me 3MPG, and gave me about 50HP boost. I now have a great running "old school" 5.7 Hemi that will punch way out of it's class.
I just bought a very clean 2012 Ram 1500 identical to this one for $2800. Interior is in great condition and body is straight with no paint problems. Only flaw is tailgate has dent and rear bumper has small dent. ( I found tailgate and bumper for $400 that are perfect and matching color at local salvage). It has just had complete front end rebuild and brakes all around 6 months ago. Radiator and water pump less than a year ago. And complete A/C rebuild including evaporator few months before that. And he just put new tires on it 2 weeks before it started missing. Our shop has done all the repairs on this truck over last 8 years. I did diagnostic and found a lifter has collapsed or cam lobe is down on exhaust valve on # 8 cylinder. Customer not going to fix it so I bought it from him. I am getting a low mile used engine for $3000. Since I am a mechanic I don't have a labor expense. So for a total of $6000 and some change I will have a very nice pickup with a lot of stuff already rebuilt or replaced. I priced similar ones in running condition and found they get $8000-$12000 depending on mileage and condition.
The dead cylinder is probably a bad lifter and the cam is wiped.Possibly glitter in the oil pan.Lack of oil changes and idling is the culprit. Even on mine, if Im sitting, Ill rev it a bit to keep the cam oiled.
@@dougfisher1813 YES. The intake valve is no longer opening and fuel is just just building up in the intake port until it overflows back into the manifold.
my 2010 ram 1500 was the best vehicle I ever owned. I didn't lose a lifter until 235,000 mi. I had the engine rebuild for four grand. sold it to another guy and he's still driving the truck. it's got like 325 on it now with the original transmission. when my lifter failure happened, I had probably 12,000 hours on the engine because I let it sit in idle constantly all summer long in Florida and I didn't run synthetic oil either. I ran conventional oil the entire time. the lifter problem happened suddenly and I wasn't even mad about it at the time. I would absolutely buy another ram truck from that era. they were the best ones ever from 2009 to 2012.
Am I the only one unimpressed with this half baked diag? Why not use the endoscope to look at the valves while you’re there. Maybe connect the fancy scan tool and get a misfire count, O2 sensor graphs, fuel trims, egr function, which is on the passenger side bank. Timing check for the cylinders on that bank? Exhaust gas in the cooling system? My guess is MDS or VVT failure which requires new VVT solenoid. New lifters, reman head on that bank and you’re good to go.
Yeah, all we know there’s oil on the plugs and low compression, a leak down test would have been worth a go, having said that the customer indicated he didn’t want to spend 2-3k on it. So really not worth digging any deeper
I had an 03 ram with that hemi motor. It broke a valve spring at 68,000 miles, it was still under warranty. Was repaired at the dealer I purchased from. Was undrivable under that condition, couldn't understand why more damage didn't occur. Kept it another 50,00 miles and sold it but never forgot that spring.
Yeah, not a big ram fan but that's a solid truck... If it were mine I'd fix it. You can't replace a truck like that for the money an engine swap would cost. You'd be looking at rusty beat up trucks, or trucks needing expensive repairs that are hidden.
Just get away from the thing. Engines are not good, transmissions are not good, and then there’s the electrical and suspension issues. I learned my lesson many years ago with Dodge/Ram products. If I have to dump money into a truck every 100k miles….fill in the blank
@@hokie9910 despite what people think or say, the Rams are pretty solid trucks. As far as the suspension goes. Only the air suspension trucks have issues, and with that, only a handful. If I had to guess, this engine wasn’t maintained. Never seen a Hemi with low compression. Cam/lifter issues! And I’m guessing if you pulled the head and the lifters for those cylinders, he’ll find the issue.
Low oil pressure issue at idle has been known for years and years and years, yet people keep buying them and Ram Dodge Stellantis keeps making the same engine. Unbelievable.
I absolutely disagree with you. That is a Rust free truck with some small cosmetic issues and the major mechanical problem although your pricing is always Retail and just not realistic. That truck can be PROPERLY fixed and made roadworthy for about $4,500 cash. Just remember the cost of a new Ram truck. Maybe $55,000 so im keeping that Ram on the Road.
Yes ill rememeber the orwellian scam cost of current trucks and compare that to the cost of fixing just the one particular current major malfunction of the old truck.
The problem with the hemi is eventually you’re gonna get the hemi tick and it cost five grand repair. If you do maintenance the engine can last a long time but it’s 100% failure rate.
I found this out the hard way. Maintained my 2016 RAM religiously and it still failed at 85k miles. Cam/lifter failure will happen at some point with so many of these FCA/GM V8s that have cylinder Deactivation.
@@TPowell12 I feel for ya. I warned my brother not to buy a Jeep Grand Cherokee with the Hemi 5.7L V8 and he did it anyway. His Hemi tick started around 80,000 miles and he dropped $5,000'ish to repair it and that was $5K in 2020! His problem now the Jeep is 150K miles now and is absolutely nickel and diming him to death. I told him to get a Lexus GX 460 like I have and he refused. He tells me all the time he wishes he had gotten the 460. My Lexus is a 2012 with nearly the same miles and outside of maintenance haven't dropped a dime into it.
@@fersaccon Typical Chrysler bullshit. These camshaft lifter issues date back to the very beginning in 2003. The way I understand it is the V on the engine block is too steep and oil pan is too low, and it struggles to get oil to the top of the camshaft to lubricate it properly specifically when the engine is idling. Once the camshaft goes the lifters, bearings, o-rings all go bad. The Hemi is a powerful engine but lets be honest these type of catastrophic are unacceptable. The problem I have with the straight-Six Hurricane engine that replaced the Hemi is you cannot even check your own damn oil! To me that is a non-buy for me, because we all know that OW-20 engines especially in hot weather and as the vehicle ages can burn up to quart of oil per 1000 miles and still be considered normal. Are they now saying their engine will never burn oil? How can you know? You cannot find out BECAUSE THERE IS NO DAMN DIP STICK!
My 2011 Ram with 216k is just like this, misfiring, running rough, really really bad tapping sound on startup. We decided to just run it until it's undriveable, and evaluate if it's worth putting an engine in later
Crate motor is 4500 from Chrysler a new truck is 75k. Hardly a goner
2 wheel drive, not a 75 k truck what's next the trans.? I've owned money pits before, I try to avoid that.😊
You can't talk sense to the Chrysler haters that hang out here
You forgot the labor and other "while you're there" items... it adds up fast...
Final cost will be 2x-3x the cost of the engine with all the labor.
This would be an easy engine swap and is at least 10x cheaper than a new truck. But people lack the knowledge necessary to do the work themselves.
I had to buy a reman long block 5.7 Hemi for my 2005 Daytona edition RAM 1500 last year. The engine cost $6000 from Jasper with a 3 year 100k warranty. I also replaced the torque converter while it was apart and put a new front seal in the transmission while it was apart. Parts and labor total was $9600.
The reason I did that instead of scrapping it is because I had just completely rebuilt the undercarriage suspension, upper control arms, lower ball joints, both front wheel bearings, sway-bar links, rack and pinion, tierod ends, rotors, calipers, pads, and shocks all at once just a few years ago. Plus I got a new rear differential via a recall about 5 years ago.
So even though the truck is old it is in excellent condition, and I couldn't see just scrapping it after doing all of that other work myself so recently. I'm not hurt too bad about it. I only gave $13k for the truck back in 2007 when it had 24k miles on it. Now it has 266k miles on it, and everything is practically new again from a mechanical standpoint.
Pretty much every truck in Tennessee.
Cheaper than buying a new car.
There still crap vehicle's
The scary part is there some people who put money into the car so they feel like they don’t want to stop because they put too much money into it, sometimes you have to look at it and say OK don’t put any more money into it,
Endless money pit defined.
You're a good man for not charging them.
Agreed.
Hoovie pays him more than enough to allow him to be charitable to the general public. 🙂
@@Kevin_Rhodes Customer got the benefits of UA-cam money.
Agreed my Mechanic is the same way been fixing my stuff since the mid 90s
That’s because Hoovie has already paid for this from the insane repair bills he’s been overcharged for.
I also have a personal rule to never give someone bad news and a bill at the same time. Everything you give away for the right reasons always comes back times 10
I call it a bad news discount. If work was involved i have to charge them something, but diag/minor teardown labor i almost always give away. Ive earned a good reputation and good customer retention by taking care of the people who keep our lights on
Butt a smart ass cheap bastad
Yep, I tell them last rights are free.
Death sentence on a Subaru I bought from the dealer same year. And they gave me a bill for the diagnosis. Contacted Subaru advocacy and they laughed in my face.
One of the positive effects of outrageous new and used truck prices is that the old trucks are being fixed more often. A five or ten thousand dollar bill is a bargain compared to $75K for a new truck. Mine is a 2001 F150. Its the last truck ill own because i cant afford anything newer and parts are cheap.
I agree. I put an '09 Chev back on the road with some sweat equity and about $5k in actual shop bills (I can do some things but I know when to hand it over to the professionals). Does it make sense to spend that money on a high mileage 5.3? Well, time will tell. But for $5-6k less than the cost of an equivalent mileage "runner" (which still has 160,000mi on it), I am back on the road and driving in comfort.
It is possible the engine or trans could go. But then, that would be true of the 'runner' I spent five grand extra on. I can understand the wizards POV here... why spend $8k on a truck that is only worth 8k? But in my view you can't compare the $8k truck you would buy with a 150,000 mile engine in it with an equivalent with a remanufactured unit in. It may not be worth more on the open market, but if you are planning to drive it for ten years, it is absolutely worth it.
My father just inherited a tenth gen F150 from his father in-law. I bet it will go for awhile. I miss the simplicity of those old trucks.
You are correct. I own a Ford F250 diesel of that vintage, and four years ago, I engine-swapped it in my driveway. It just made sense to do so since I could do the work, and the prices of the newest version of that truck are insane. I actually can afford a new one, but I refuse to pay that out of principle. I will not do it PERIOD. The wife thinks I'm cheap, but so be it.
Me Too !!!!!!! 97 Ram 1500 318 magnum ..... 300k+ Will never ever even think about getting the Brand New Junk they sell today for 75k+ ................
Fortunately the prices on used vehicles are returning to earth, due to the effects of 4 years of a Biden administration.
I know the Wizard isn't a tutorial channel, but how many of us driveway mechanics have learned a lot from his methodical, experienced approach to diagnosis and analysis?
Thanks for yet another “fine” product from Chrysler 😂
@@admiralkrankandhismightyba158 like trying to find the "CONTEXT" behind a Scottie Kilmer title in his 9+min rant vids XD....
Wouldn't the '59 Plymouth or the MGB make a more interesting case than a piece of junk Ram? But now that I watched to the end, it shows clearly you are an honorable man.
@@admiralkrankandhismightyba158 LOL!
@@Kevin19700ya the new GM’s are breaking down with less than 100 miles. Watch that tow truck channel Dustin tow truck. He’s towed about 15 of them this year under 100 miles broken down.
EDIT: Towtruck_dustin is the name
I owned a 2012 Ram with a 5.7 since new that died this year at 197k. I was lucky and bought the life time warranty from Chrysler and they actually honored it. The Dodge dealership replaced the engine at a cost of 13k to them but then Chrysler cancelled the "life time" warranty. I sold the truck after they cancelled the warranty.
You can’t sue them for taking your lifetime warranty away??
Cancelled the "LIFE TIME" warranty.
Blows my mind how the corporations like to cancel contracts from their end but we dare not from our end.
The warranty probably only applied to the original engine,lucky they honored it.
@@randyrussell4331 Happened to my friends '09 RAM. They will honor the first engine. He's still on the second engine to this day.
Lifetime warranty normally applies only to the original owner.
I've gotten news like this, my 2011 F150 needed:
rear diff rebuild
new trans cooler lines
new lower ball joints
new IWE's
new strut assemblies
new rear shocks
new transfer case
new 2 pc driveshaft.
All totaled was over 10k, I couldn't find another comparable truck for under 35k. To me, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't. Now, it essentially has way better chance of lasting longer than a used truck would have anyway.
And likely longer than a brand new one.
@danterryhankinstheexplodin9009 my thoughts exactly. 65k to buy a new truck equivalent to my 2011, but with a bunch of plastic oil pans for engine and trans, plus all of the nonsense ota gremlins. I'll keep what I have and be happy with zero truck finance payments.
Thats what a junknyard is for, get fixed for under $1k
I only buy trucks from the 60s not alot of fancy stuff but very reliable
I'd be worried the trans and engine would go out in 50k miles after doing all that. Then ud be putting another 15k in it now ur at 25k
I am from Canada and I don’t see rust on that truck. It’s a keeper.
For Real. The exhaust is still in one piece, that thing is fine!
I know what you mean
I get it if the owner doesn't have $3k to put into it, but it does look like an easy fix with a used good engine. It doesn't look like a particularly difficult swap, either, lots of room in there...but you never know what you may find or run into...
You're absolutely right! My first thought on this truck too. Greetings also from Canada (Alberta).
@@repro7780just did it to my ram… camshaft lifters and oil pump kit. New coil, plugs, gaskets and bearing. I did have help from my neighbor. Was less than 2k
You have a big heart. Most shops would still charge a 2 hour diagnosis fee. Some of my faith in humanity has been restored.
his honesty and compassion earns customer loyalty.
He’s getting paid quite well from UA-cam from just posting the video.
A shop that’s not on a UA-cam channel will need to charge: why because that truck is taking up a bay, lift and above all, the tech’s time. Time, lift and a bay that could be used to make money, obviously UT paid him to compensate.
@@RVthereyet25 I’m not on UA-cam, and typically don’t charge people if I give their machine a death sentence. We work on everything from cars and semi’s, to heavy equipment.
@@stevenlatham4397 well my question is how many 2hr diags can u give away in a week,1,2,10 etc. lets say 5 .at say 100 per hr labor rate .math says 1000.00 loss per week x4 wks equals 4k loss a month. i can see 10 mins but that adds up at the end of year. so giving it away keeps u from buying new tools ,training and paying ur guys a good salary. we are not utube guys. but if ur shop can do that kind of giveaway, the rest of ur customers have to be charged more money per hour to maintain business. i did that my first year in business . saw my losses and changed that rather quickly.
You're a good dude with an awesome pair of shoes and I mean that. In all seriousness finding a shop that feels for and doesn't take advantage of a customer is a rarity. Respect Wizard!!
getting paid for your work is not taking advantage of a customer.
Our shop had the same truck. They opted to have the dealer to install a new engine, five grand. The drivers seat bottom was shot. They bought a new seat bottom which cost another grand. Our guys installed that. It was cheaper than buying a new truck.
There are ebayers that make a living selling used and refurbished adjustable seat racks and motors.
A new engine? Sounds like more money than sense. To me it would be more sense to find a wreck that has the same engine maybe fix a few problems preemptively while it's out still out from the donor vehicle to head off the most likely problems yeah head bolts are going to cost a little bit but cheaper to replace valve seats all around if you think the Rings are okay maybe put regular lifters and remove that DOD crap from the system
Side note it seems like modern DOD systems the software is robust enough to do the job but the hardware is lacking especially as they get up there in mileage contrast that with Cadillacs V8 - 6 - 4 from the early 80s which was pretty robust mechanically but the electronics was where the shortcomings lie.
@@quietsignal Yeah they got good prices, $20-30 for new seat foam.
Yea I just had a 60k engine put in mine . About 6k. Well worth it. Trucks are expensive
Camshaft and lifters. Lifter failed and wiped out the cam. Parts $1000. Gravy. I do at least 2 or 3 per month
🤨
Not counting the fact there's metal shavings from that destroyed cam now circulating throughout the oiling system. The problem just compounded itself even more, an inevitable disaster waiting to happen, turning that $1000 'shade-tree repair' into a $12,000 long-block replacement nightmare, with parts and labor.
That will be a horror story to tell your kids around the campfire during a summer night.
@Mr10Alpine I've replaced the camshaft and lifters in over 300 of these engines and exactly zero have self destructed. How many have you done?
@@Mr10AlpineAs a service professional myself, the cam/lifter failure is common on these, and it can be fixed for good for 2k-2.5k easy. You can even eliminate the MDS which is the cause of the failure so it never happens again.
Common sense is key. This engine sounds healthy, no major leaks, no oil pressure concerns. But welcome to modern day repair shops, nobody wants to fix anything. Just replace, replace, replace. 🤷♂️
@lynxstarautomotive208 the MDS system is not the problem. The problem is low oil pressure/long idle times/crappy oil service intervals.
I had a’04 Rumble Bee with the 5.7 magnum and it ran perfectly didn’t leak a drop 113k on it, a nodding heroine addict decided he would go ahead and hit me doing 60+while I was at a stop light, now I got a 5.3 Chevy that uses a lot more fuel, has no power and leaks everywhere 👍
Love my rumble bee, slight upgrades like helliphant and some other mods but very streetable with good manners untill ya nail that skinny pedal😂😂😂😂
I'm not even a Chevy guy but ls motors are superior to Chrysler 5.7 by miles. Nice attempt at a dig without any information
What maintenance could have prevented this problem?
@@fly1ngpapayathey can be just as reliable from what I’ve heard but the hemis are faster and more fuel efficient than a 5.3 from the 2 crew cab 2007 and 2009 Silverado’s that I am using as reference
@@fly1ngpapayanot anymore
I did a full rebuild of my 04 ram's hemi in my backyard when it dropped a valve seat. Remanufactured heads, honed the block myself, and only took the rods and pistons to the machine shop. Headers, cats, ac compressor, etc. It still cost me over 3k in tools, equipment, parts, and fluids once it was all said and done. It runs but still has gremlins, partly due to the cam upgrade, so It's still going to need a tune. I'm not saying don't fix it in your backyard like I did, but don't think you're gonna save money doing it, or that the gremlins won't get in while the wiring harnesses is out. It's a great way to learn, but it takes months of your focus to do it, and just when you think it's done, it isn't.
I bought a car for 750 because the shop said it needed a new engine and the customer said it was too expensive. One bank had zero compression. I don't know what happened but it had three bent valves and three broken valve springs. The parts cost me 333. I did not even remove the timing cover. I just marked everything pulled the heads, and replaced the valves, springs, and keepers. I also never found the keepers. Put it back together with the same head bolts. Its been 196k miles since 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Thanks for this tbc. I have found the same with modern engines... the way they are built makes it very difficult for backyard/shade tree mechanics and it is often just not worth the risk vs buying a remanufactured unit w warranty and just putting it in.
The days of engine swapping hot rods may not be over, but they are much more difficult to do now.
@ilsl04 oh, the horrors. Imagine being out $750 and some parts if it didn't work!
@@ilsl04How could 3 bent valves take out the compression in 4 cylinders?? 🤔 🤨
@@davelowetsHe didn’t say how many cylinders the engine was. For all you know it was a V6
You have said 'not worth repairing' on other vehicles. As former mechanic i have some problem with dumping the vehicle. If you know the rest of vehicle is solid why buy another for about the same money. You probably will be purchasing someone else's problems that may also include transmission and drivetrain issues. Replacing the engine from reputable reman you have a somewhat like new motor.
Who do you consider to reputable reman co. ?
@@jeffro221 Jasper.
You're assuming the owner can afford the bill. They already said they can't.
@@alanrouse7285Hell NO.... 👎
@@petercollingwood522 If they can't afford the bill, they can't afford a new truck...
The bones are good. Crate motor and upgraded tranny, and this thing is a proper rig.
And then you have $10K-$15K in at truck that is only worth $8K.
@@madmatt2024 $10-$15k is still cheaper than $50k+ for a new truck. If the rest of the vehicle has been maintained then replacing the engine would be more economical than buying another used truck with an unknown history.
@@martinmessineo4964 But we are talking about a Dodge here, they not worth putting that kind of money into.
@madmatt2024 every brand is built with crappy parts by the lowest bidder. Every brand is trash.
@@martinmessineo4964 Except Toyota for the most part.
I'd rather put a new engine in the truck I know than buy a used one with who knows what problems.
If you have a solid vehicle, it's always better to fix it than replace it. Like for like, you are looking at a used 150000 mile time bomb.
It depends on what this truck is worth, what the condition of the rest of the truck is etc. And remember that it isn't just the engine you have to pay for, it's also labour. That makes it a lot more expensive.
Then there's the question of the condition of the rest of the truck: has it been well maintained? Or are the shocks, brakes, AC and maybe even the transmission also on their way out, because that would make the truck worth even less. Many people still believe in the manufacturer's myth of transmission oil being lifetime oil, which means that at 145k miles that transmission won't be in too good of a shape. Heck, many people even don't do a regular oil service that often, because "it's expensive and the truck is running fine with this oil, so why do an oil-change?"
@@foxstrangler you think that truck was worth 15k without the problem?
His time is worth a lot more than yours
@@johnnnoisein todays insane used truck market I’d say 12k without the engine issues.
I've had those Ram Hemi's come in where they've had a D.O.D. lifter fail, then it bends a pushrod and drops it out of the rocker cup, then that intake rocker will not open. That cylinder will STILL show enough compression to run decent, but obviously it wont fire. You will NOT detect a gallop while cranking, but you WILL feel the engine miss while it runs. Now HERE is the confusing part about this when it happens, and you're trying to diagnose this for the first time.... Since the intake valve on that cylinder does not open, the intake port WILL fill up with gas from the injector firing in the port, and then once the port is full the gas spills out into the intake and makes the other cylinders run very rich. You'll easily see it in the live data on a scanner, and itll occasionally back fire into the exhaust when raw fuel builds up and light off in the converter. The rich problem won't show up rigjt away after the vehicle sits overnight and the fuel evaporates out of the port or leaks past the valve. It'll run fine when you first start it, and then it'll all of a sudden get real rich once that intake port fills up and starts to spill over in the intake.
Took me a few minutes to diagnose this the first time, but once you see it once, you wont miss it the next time(s). I've had several come in with the same issue over the last year or so.
IF the ruined lifter chewed the can lobe off, PLAN on removing the engine, taking it COMPLETELY apart, and washing/hot tanking EVERY part of it out, replace ALL the lifters, new oil pump, and CLEAN the crank journals and oil galleys out completely. IF you do not, and you simply slide in a new cam and lifters, your engine WILL throw rod bearings in a short amount of time.
When the bad lifter(s) eat the cam lobes, it creates a bunch of iron "sand" in the engine that will remain in there if you DON'T do all the above, and that "sand" WILL eventually tear up the bearings and bottom-end in around 3000 or so miles.
I have SEEN someone do this without removing and cleaning the engine out, and YEP, 2800 miles later it chucked a rod after it spun a bearing. The motor was FINE before it chewed 3 cam lobes off.
I helped him pull the engine, we put a crank kit in it, 2 new rods, dingle ball honed the bores, put new rings in it, new oil pump, new VVT cam sprocket, new chain, new lifters, and new D.O.D. solenoids. Ran great after that, and that was about 40k miles ago. The truck was a 2012.
Good explanation.
I am looking for a current gen Ram with a chewed up cam lobe. I fixed my 2010 for a bad lifter and cam about 40 k ago. I pulled the pan but did not otherwise disassemble the engine to clean it. It's still running fine today. If I do another I will pull the engine out. Pulling the pan with the engine in the chassis was probably the same amount of work as removing the engine. Pulling the heads and replacing them in the truck would have been much faster with the engine out
I always figured oil filters were supposed to save you from particulates in your oil. Though I guess 3 lobes worth of metal may saturate the filter and force the bypass to open. You’d definitely want to pull the oil pan and clean that out.
I honestly, have never seen it that bad. I’ve revived a ton of these, and never had to pull the engine nor hot tank it. Normally, the lifter grenades, and the pieces fall into the oil pan. I pull the pan, and clean the pick up etc.
Same story with the pentastar 3.6. That one has tons of videos on this very platform, folks just replacing the rockers/lifters and any affected cam.
You can probably run an engine cleaner a couple of times after you fix it complete with several filter changes to be 100% sure there is no debris in the engine.
Cam and roller lifters are wiped out. Seen a billion of these, the cure is the melling HV oil pump after everything is disassembled and inspected for damage, cleaned, revealed and re assembled with new cam bearings,cam, upgraded roller lifters, and heads rebuilt with afm delete. Or find a 5.7 or 6.2 with computer swap.
A computer swap won’t fix it, you MUST change the 4 AFM lifters to the regular non AFM ones. The HV oil pump only helps if you’re gonna just sit and idle and idle which you shouldn’t do in any vehicle.
Is the cause low oil pressure ?
@@jacobclark89 low oil pressure is only an issue at idle. If you sit in park and idle for hours say for work, get a high pressure oil pump. Problem solved
@Thisappaintreal I wonder if a less restriction oil filter would fix
Thank you for being such a good, honest person and MECHANIC!
I agree 100%!...but in reality, doing a video on it probably negated the fact he didn't charge the customer to check it out...and then some, probably....
My sister has 2 rams. The first one has 413k 2003 1500 5.7. Still on the original trans. The engine was replaced at 310k, was burning oil, and sping broke. Since I'm a Chrysler tech, I changed out the engine with mopar reman for around 5000. The rear difference was replaced at around 360k. She hoped a curb it cracked the housing, causing a leak. Replaced with a junkyard diff. 2 piece prop shaft was replaced at around 250k, and i just replaced the center bearing about 5k ago. This trunk is more reliable than her second ram.
The second one is a 2018 ram 2500 6.4 with 143k. 2 water pumps, heater core clogged, valve body at 55k and trans rebuild at 105k, radiator cracked due to electric cooling fan failed. But all of these repairs were covered under warranty. And she bought the truck with a Mopar lifetime max care warranty.
she's a goner😭
I like it!✔️💯
This Ram looks more like a broken valve spring, or something shot in the valve train of that missing cylinder. What are your thoughts on that?
"she hopped a curb" aaaaand this is why women shouldn't drive trucks...
Very kind and generous of you not to charge the diagnostic time. I'm sure they appreciate it.
I swapped my 04 hemi 5.7 for 4200 including a rebuilt torque converter. Took 9 hours.Rebuilt motor. And I kept my original. Its rebuilt sitting in the front room as a spare.I have two years on the rebuild next April.
How did you manage to"rebuild" the engine, and then suddenly an extra engine appeared, and now you have two?
@@davelowets
He said he swapped his engine. Meaning he bought a new one. He kept and rebuilt the original one and kept it as a spare.
He bought a rebuilt motor. @@davelowets
Usually the hemi engine failure in the 2009 up Hemis is a cam/lifter failure. Prior to that it was a seat drop. I owned a 2005 Dodge Magnum with a 5.7 hemi for 17 years/122,000 miles and it was a reliable car. I loved that car. Considering the price of new trucks, it's definitely worth a reman engine.
Yes. It is. High volume oil pump. My 04 had the cracked spring issue on cylinder 5. Exhaust. Bent a pushrod. Motor was worn out anyway, 250K miles.Using oil like crazy.I was third owner. Rebuilt motor is great. $6 magnetic drain plug is cheap insurance. Lets you know if something is going on at oil change.
Video starts at @6:14
Lol
Thank you😂
Yeah, I get tired of the fluff too. Get to the point.
Shame on you never skip the interview overview
Perfect. Thanks for your hard work! Who gives a damn what it looks like on the outside or inside, get to the point and let’s see what’s wrong with it.
Mechanical issues at 6:45
I agree all that fluff for a blown engine!.. Waste of time to watch.
Many Thanks
@@moparnut6286You don't want to see what the inside of a pickup looks like 😉
Thank you!!! 💯 Agree@@TM_Stone
This video is terrible to watch! Oh my gosh this could have been done in seconds.
Yep, very generous of you. Just one of those things that sucks for everyone involved. Glad you could help him out the best you could.
That trucks worth saving. Especially if your Broke. But Dodge dropping the Bulletproof 318 5.2v8 was a big mistake. It was an Legendary engine.
My 95 ram 1500 rust bucket has the 318, took 2 days to get the plugs out,(best son in law ever!) the threaded portion rusted in the heads, and the insulator with the electrode separated. Purrs like a kitty cat..
lol...once in a while it cuts out, bucks and then might not do it for months. I agree, I ordered it new and got the 318 instead of the 360. Not a lot of power but great in snow.
nope, it was an incentive for em to make $$$
My grandad had a 318 in a Chrysler Newport owned it since new and at the time he passed away the odometer read just over 520,000 miles he never had any issues with it other than the distributor acting up whenever it rained.
I have a 98 Durango with a 5.2. 230k and not even using any oil. Had about 7 Dakotas in my lifetime. The first one I bought new back in 2002. It made it past 350k. Not all Chrysler stuff is crap.
@@brokenujoints3811 Check your grounds.
That truck looks so clean! No black plastic and no chrome, just paint.
I guess I don't understand the philosophy of "Hey I could get the same truck that's out there now running for the price that it would cost to fix this with a new engine"
Because if you scrap the truck you have and go get another used one just like it, how long is that going to last? It could be a few months from having the same thing happen. Why not put a new engine in for $8,000 and go another 150k or more miles.
Their other alternative is to go buy a completely different used or new vehicle and that's going to cost 20k, 30k, 40k or more depending on whether it's used or new.
Seems like it's cheaper to fix it if everything else still works, especially when you're replacing the most expensive part, the engine.
I get it, the owner doesn't have money right now so they're just going to drive it as is, fine. But eventually you will have to do something and make a financial decision
I was thinking the same thing
Yep I have watched many videos where the Wizard says something like 'You can just buy another running one for the same money', and it never made sense to me (especially if the vehicle is in otherwise good condition like this Ram) as the next one you buy could develop the same problems you could have just fixed on the first one.
@@jamiespinks3657 Because the 2012 is a known trouble year model. Why not sell this one for a few thousand as is, and get like a 2015 RAM Express with less than 100k miles for around $14k...?
This thing is already dented with a beat up interior, a newer version outside the malaise range would probably easily go 200k miles or more, or another decade based on the miles this one has.
This isn't a top trim model. For the cost of the engine swap, you can get a top trim model from a few years prior. Something worth the engine swap.
@KevinSmith-qi5yn This is a work truck, they don't care about the trim. Just needs to run.
I had a similar issue, 2011 dodge ram 1500 5.7L. number 6 cylinder misfired with additionally the cam and hydraulic lifters failing aswell since the cam plate came off and allowed the cam to move. Sent the truck in to a local dealership, 15 grand later the truck is back on the road. I'm now pushing into the 600,000km range
Holy crap, that's expensive, but at least you got your $$ worth out of it. Cheaper to fix it than buy a new truck when that engine had failed.
$15k is a lot of money! How much can an engine be? $5k max? $8k for a new one?
@@keshmo12 I'm sure he went all out and had everything rebuilt (trans/engine).. Might as well when you have it all apart.
@@keshmo12 low miles engine is 3000$ on ebay
@@keshmo12it is most likely that was the dealer's price to do the work.
Have you noticed the wizard is always talking about cars are not worth fixing. He only wants to work on rich people cars because they will tell him to fix the car and I will pay.
That's sad. So many people are in the same boat and just can't afford any major repairs. It's even worse now that the holidays are upon us.
That's the bad side effect of modern engines and vehicles when they come on the used/budget market...regardless of their "book value", engines, transmissions, and parts are still very expensive, even high mileage used ones...if that were an 80's-90's Chevy truck with a small block 350 or 305, you could put a remanned engine with a warranty in if for FAR less than another truck, and even less for a decent running used engine(they are still out there, especially for the 1990's GM trucks)...
It's best for smaller shops to just swap the motor.
All it takes is one tiny mistake on a rebuilt engine to cause the engine to have to be rebuilt again...except this time at no additional charge to the customer.
That’s big of you to return that truck back to the owner at no charge after spending 2 hours on it in your bay. Tough break for the owners, since the 5.7 Hemi is actually a decent motor usually.
He's probably making more off this video.
4.7 is a good engine . 280k miles, no problems.
Actually he just might get that back. Let's say these people look at another used vehicle. Who are they going to get to check it out? Who will look after their next vehicle? What shop will they recommend to their friends? If I lived in Kansas I know where I would go. I've had some rude repair bills but I tried to not get mad and just ask why so much? When you have to take half the engine apart to get a part you just have to accept the bill.
Do your oil changes on time and don't idle that truck unnecessarily/ They last. Cyl deactivation delete and they last forever. Same as the GMC 5.3. Ford 4.6, 5.4 are junk. Coyote seems to be fairly good so far.
Long and short - stay away from cyl deactivation.
I’m sorry but they are not a solid engine. There is a known design flaw where at idle or low rpm engine oil is starved to the top side of the motor. This has been going on for 20 years with this power plant. If I bought a 60k truck and was told I could not idle it or I would destroy my engine by 150k miles…yeah, no thanks. JUNK. Why do people keep buying this garbage?
I have a 2012 Ram 1500 with the 5.7 and 118,984 miles. Religious 3000-3500 mile oil and filter changes and maintenance taken care of immediately (except for exhaust manifold gaskets).
Mine started misfiring and knocking out of nowhere two months ago and the diagnosis is cam and lifter failure. After all the dedicated care, it sucks to need an replacement engine.
Yep. Had a 2011 Sierra Denali that was meticulously maintained like yours and it dropped a lifter at 175k and shredded the cam within 1 mile. Didn’t even have AFM. A new 6.2 was 10,000 not including labor and at the time there was a 2 month backlog on long blocks. I’m still bitter about it and especially seeing how pushrod engines still suffer this problem on a 70 year old engine design.
wow i will never buy a dodge product
my toyota has 250k miles of abuse and is fine
I've been there before, but at only 99k miles.
@@TempoMontages Better than the new Tundras. They are on their 3rd motor to make 60k miles. Those days are DONE.
I had a 2005 Ram 1500 with the 5.7 hemi. The motor started rattling when cold at 99k miles. It also had glitter in the oil, so i sold it back to the dealer that sold it to me, and i bought a new Toyota 4runner. We're a 100 percent Toyota family now, and I'm not going back.
Not sure owners of the current Tundra would feel the same way..........
I own two Rams and in recent years bought a Honda. Best vehicle I've ever owned. I'll never buy another Ram ever again. It's Honda/Toyota from here on out.
@@illiniwoodthinking about doing the same. Lifters making noise at start up. 98k on 2016 5.7
So you're a Toyota fan now because your NEW truck runs better and more reliably than your previous 19 year old Ram which you probably bought used with no maintenance history Not sure of your logic here!
Red neck logic 😂@@stevenreid-g2y
Couple of years ago my son was looking to buy a well used ( inexpensive) pickup to use in his job while paying his way through college. Looking at used trucks, prices were obnoxious, even for real high mile stripped trucks. So I found a 2013 dodge, 88k miles with a bad engine, same as this one in video. Engine had low compression in all but one cylinder. Dude that owned it confessed to using single viscosity non synthetic oil, with long intervals. There was a loud bearing knock as well. Paid $3500, towed it to my shop. Found an engine at a recycler, had 33k on it. Came out of a 2012 that got hit in rear, totaling it. Compressions were good, engine was run in truck before it was pulled. $2800 with all the accessories and plugs. Took three days to swap.
My boy has the truck to this day, runs great. If you’re willing to do the work, there are simple solutions to expensive issues. Even today, high mile dodges are still going for 13 to 18 thousand, lot more than $6500.
The "Wizard" never diagnosed anything here. "Engine bad, sell your truck" is not a diagnosis. It's like going to the doctor and having them say "Something is going on with your heart and you're gonna die" without telling you what specifically is wrong. He mentioned a few possible failures (really only one) but never told us what actually failed. I applaud him for giving the customer a break (let's be honest, he didn't want the job anyway, he'd rather go back to stiffing Hoovie) but I learned absolutely nothing from watching this video other than the overall condition of the interior and exterior of the vehicle. Make sure to buy some stuff from his affiliate store though.
Can't really diagnose this better without starting to tear it down which equals real time/money.
If every video he posted had a nice pay off or had a problem he could actually fix then it would pretty seriously skew reality.
oof, cold
Cold, but true. I'm sure this can be fixed as well, no need to sell a whole truck when you can just change a few rings and that's about it.
You summed this guy up in the best way possible. I believe you were holding back though
The truck can be fixed. However the customer doesn't have the money. Now if u wanna loan this Stranger the $ by all means
A reman engine and install is still like 5X cheaper then a new one. 🤪
A salvage engine is also a good option. The guy from the ScrapLifeLee channel did something similar. Except he had pulled the engine from a wrecked Dodge Demon he bought at auction. He then bought a used Dodge SRT-10 that had not been running for years for cheap. He then swapped the V10 out for the Supercharged V8 Demon engine. Now he has a pretty badass truck that is better than anything you can by new.
@@evoman44think the wiz did a vid on that subject, says that he’s had absolutely terrible luck lately with used and remanned engines.
@samuelkerr465 I had seen that too. But it just depends who you buy from. Someone had commented that he used to work at a salvage yard for years and they always did leak down test on all the engines they planned to sell. And they never got a return.
@@evoman44I saw that, i like the mustang he did, i wonder what he sells them for after he is finished?
@@evoman44 And there's the rub: how does anyone buying a used engine know who the good and bad sellers are?
What’s the difference between a hole in the piston and a failed engine?! 😂.
A good schlong video
A hole in the piston can be from preignition. The aluminum is soft and generally taking off a head and dropping the pan is enough to fix that cylinder. A failed engine would be more catastrophic like a spun bearing, cooked crank journals, or even parts carnage with holes punched everywhere. Then, the only option would be a complete engine replacement.
Put a hole in a piston on a car I just bought, It was running advanced and had it two days. Was due to reset it next day. But...... I bought it cheap, with a known knackered engine due to miles, so a teardown with new pistons and bearings was still within budget. Went like a train afterwards, ran it for 18 months and sold it for a profit. Only viable if you can do your own work.
@@_BAD_MERC_ exactly
Apparently, the difference is 8-10 grand, because the Wizard thinks you should buy another truck. And who of us doesn't have an extra 10K to drop on another used truck? God knows we wouldn't want to pull an engine, and there's no point in actually pulling the head and seeing what it really needs, especially when you have a UA-cam channel with sponsors and someone like Hoovie to bring you cash-cow broken exotics. Sorry I seem so cynical, I think the Wizard is a good guy, I guess I'm losing interest in channels that just churn out content without much really going on.
I am more interested in the red 1959 Plymouth on the lift! My grandmother purchased a new 1959 Plymouth in Silver Spring, Maryland. I enjoyed riding around in it!
I live in Michigan, the lack of rust on that unit tells me it is definitely a rebuilder. 100% candidate for a new engine
Just bought one with the 4.7L, pretty good shape for being a northern truck, a few of the usual fixes like the rusty oil pan, and WIN key box, but a score all in all to have a truck to keep around for small projects at home
It's better than the 5.7
The shop that I to says you better off putting in a OEM coil. The aftermarket ones are usually bad. I had a 2012 F150 with the 3.5, I had to use the OEM coils. The aftermarket ones has a issue with the coils exploding or melting.
A friend of mine had a misfire on a Toyota for one coil. She took AutoZone advice and got 6 coils. A few months later one of the replacements exploded and oozed out plastic. Got it replaced under warranty and then another did the same thing... I said this is going to keep happening, where are your old parts? Unfortunately she threw them all away 😢
So I said I can get you some used oem's out of a junkyard and you should have much better luck, or you can keep replacing these under warranty.
She didn't have the money, but she did learn how I was finding the bad one and learned to swap them herself, which was cool 👍 just sucks when they fail in winter and you get home with a red catalytic converter because you had to pick up your kid from school and then warranty another crappy coil.
3 had gone bad in 1.5 years last time I talked to her, and she fixed the 3rd herself.
I use NGKs. If you are using copper spark plugs, change them out at 30k miles. When the plugs get worn, they will draw extra current and melt your coil. And possibly burn the driver in your PCM.
Fyi to anyone watching, but if you ignore misfires, they usually foul out the catalytic converters causing them to overheat and melt the honeycomb substrate. Often, it will blow a hole through it, and choke the engine, causing reduced power. Also, the rest of the cat material can break apart in chunks, and wedge inside the actual exhaust pipe bends, hit downstream cats, etc., causing more restrictions and damage. So now you'd need cats on top of the other fixes, and chunks in the bends or even end up in the mufflers, requiring more work to remove them. If sending it, it won't matter unless exhaust gets so hot it causes a fire or stalls on the highway at speed, etc., but just fyi if you ever see misfire codes, whether rodents got into a harness, plugs are worn out, coil is bad, O2 failure causing a short, etc., don't run it.
If I have to run the engine I unplug the injector for the bad cylinder whether it has a cat or not.
If that was my truck I'd unplug the injector for the worst cylinder that isn't firing and just drive it till I could find a good used engine, that way it isn't a rush where you can end up with a junk engine just because it was easy.
Excellent detailed explanation! Thanks for sharing 😎
I was thinking the same thing. You can’t just drive it like that. You will eventually melt catalytic converters and cause even more problems.
so if you have a missfire cut out the cat and straight pipe ok thanks for tip[
I know somebody that had this happened to their Infiniti M35/45
That's a lot of spark plugs.
You can think Mercedes for that dual ignition idea, that’s likely where Dodge got it from
And I thought my nap z engine had a lot of plugs.
@@JDMHaze I would have assumed it was Champion who thought it up.
From 2003 until 2016, I owned 3 Hemi's. Not once did I ever have an issue with any of them. Oil changes every 4-5k miles, changed plugs as necessary for iridium plugs, and kept up with all other basic maintenance.
i had 2006, no engine trans issues, ball joints radiator yes, tree ended up falling on it, otherwise i would have it... now i have 2013 it snapped exhaust header bolt at 110k but i can't hear air leaking about 45 seconds after start, so i didn't do nothing with it yet
To me, the 2005 model was the pinnacle of this truck. Still own two. A 1500 and a 2500.
Both great trucks.
@jakebpau2396 I bought a 2003 and a 2005, both 1500 Laramies, very very good trucks. My '03 needed a starter in 2005, but that was it. My 2005, nothing. My wifes 2006 Grand Cherokee, nothing as well. As far as I'm concerned, Rams from that era were excellent. Still simple enough to work on with basic tools and not burdened with so many gadgets that they were ticking timebombs waiting to break.
There is some good advice in this video, but a couple things to clarify. Yes the early Hemi's had valve seat problems (and Timing Chain issues), however that was not really an issue with the Eagle version (2009+), they tended to have Cam/lifter problems. The other thing you mentioned is Hemi head bolts are torque to yield they...are not. The Hemi head bolts are torque to angle but do not get to yield, so they don't necessarily need to be replaced (inspected, yes). Overall a pretty good run through.
We have a massive fleet with 5.7 and 6.4 that have ticked with 200k miles on them and have zero failures. 🤷♀️
Imagine the customer getting the news on UA-cam watching this video before in person 😂
What’s the difference?
@@Hellcat71782 how would you feel if someone told you a relative passed away in this manner?
@ but that’s not what happened here. You just mad that scenario up. Plus why would someone records someone’s death for UA-cam?
@ what does it matter if he found out he needs a new motor on video or over a phone call? Doesn’t change the outcome
@@Hellcat71782 dam bro. Live a little. Don’t be such a Debby Downer, it’s just a joke. Geez!
The way vehicles are now, I’m thinking about just leasing vehicles from now on.
prob what the makers want. keep us paying and build the vehicles to last long enough to get you to your next lease
You will lose way more money on a lease. Just buy used vehicles that are 2-4 years old that have already taken the hard "brand new" depreciation.
@@markrushton1516 thanks
@@RedfishCarolina thanks
That's what the makers and the government want. They want us to own nothing and be happy, they want us all to be dependent.
Got rid of two rams this year. Both with cylinder disabling.
One needed a new engine after filling itself with shrapnel.
The other was close but fortunately it was stolen.
It was nice of you not to charge them. I have a 2014 Ram 1500 V8 5.7L . Thank God, it's been good. Hope to keep it for a long time. Not buying anything else, if i can help it. Prices are ridiculous.
I drove my 2005 hemi Ram 300,000 miles before trading for a new one. Was very reliable. 180,000 on the replacement.
It's worth watching the video just to read all the "interesting" comments. Head bolts? Head gasket? worn cam? Electronics? what did the oil look like? Maybe a combination of the mentioned, that's a real treat! You got my time watching--a little more analysis please. Think of all the 5.7 owners sleepless nights after this!!
Agreed. But he's already eating the cost of the second opinion. Could give a clue as how to best limp it along. 50 weight oil and a Cat delete ?
My 2008 Dodge with the 5.7 hemi is still going strong 💪 depends how you drive it
And most importantly...depends how you maintain it.
They all fail eventually. My 5.7 in my 2005 Ram died n April of last year at 246k miles. I replaced it with a long block reman from Jasper, and now I'm at 266k miles.
@@mplslawnguy3389 there are plenty of people who abuse vehicles and all the maintenance in the world won't stop it from failing.
Great mechanics special. This summer bought a 2012 with 100k miles; only issue it had a failed lifter that destroyed the cam. Took a couple of weekends to tear it apart and replace along with a MDS delete. Now shes running like brand new. Except the front rotor is bad just havent had time to replace it yet
I bought a long block from Powertrain products for my 2012. I installed the engine myself. The install went ok, but the first new long block, (yes i said first one) had 2 collapsed lifters and weak valve spring.
I did not feel like doing another removal and install so I took it to a shop. Second engine is doing great so far at the first 500 mile oil change.
I had a 2012 Ram1500 Big Horn. Never again! Nothing but major problems! Rear differential replaced, cam, timing chain replacement, numerous exhaust leaks, fuel pump relay needed to be bypassed and should have been a recall, finally the engine blew!!! What a POS!!!
sounds like you seriously bought a lemon
@@HobbsCedric1 Or kept the gas peddle to the floor.
And guys are still defending these..
If that was my truck, I would just drive it until it blows up. It's not worth any more than one with a completely blown engine. One thing about those engines in this condition is it may last a day, or it may last years running as it is. Just be sure to save up for a new vehicle since this one is on borrowed time.
HEMI tick. Roller needle bearings are dickered, roller seized, cam lobe damaged, pushrod is probably playing ping pong, and misfire at higher revs. Due to MDS system and insufficient oiling at idle. Ask me how I know. lol. 2010 RAM.
Yes, I have an old Chevy running a little rough, #8 spark plug. About 1000 miles later, engine seized (happened 2 weeks ago). It had 140k original miles. Thanks for the video.
Question, shouldnt the sway bar links and bushings be tested on the ground in an unloaded condition? That way you can see movement. It wont move under load.
I will never buy another Chrysler product again. Way too many issues with all of them I have owned.
Such as?
I've been there for decades.
@@Man_in_a_Gucci_Suit 2 blown motors, bad transmission, terrible electrical, warning lights on for no reason, O2 sensors going out all the time, short life on ignition coils, rusting out in less then 30k miles......
Never again, I gave them their chances.
@@hansbreiland3560 what make and model was it? Dodge? Ram? Pacifica? What year? What engien?
@ I’ve had ram trucks, Jeep wranglers, work vans, they have all had issues. Never again.
That hemi has the flat cam package. They all will do it eventually. Poor oil supply to the lifters at idle is the culprit.
I have a 09 1500 w/5.7 MDS. One lifter started to fail and I caught it in time. I had a engraving tool that I used to "scribe" a line on the side of the lifters and installed a HV oil pump.that was @ 157K it now has 340K on it still going good.
That's why you gotta replace the RAM oil pump with the Hellcat oil pump before the lifter issue starts. It's been a proven solution for these RAM Hemi's.
That's really nice of you to not charge the guy. 👍
I think if I were in the owner's situation, I'd just keep it and drive it till the engine either fails or his financial situation improves. In my eyes, it's worth fixing for someone who can afford it, because, although, as Wizard says, you could just buy another used truck, you won't know that truck's history (its engine could have the same failure in a short time). However, if you replace the engine in this truck, you'll have a truck with a fresh engine that will probably go another 150k miles at least.
I’ve fixed a few of these trucks like this. I usually tell the customer to wait till I get the engine in before they bring me the truck. My current truck is a dodge ram that I bought in a similar fashion. It was an oddball truck though. It was a 16 and it was an extended cab long bed ( exactly what I was looking for ) 1500 with every option they had on it. Turns out it was a repo and I had taken a mechanics lien out when the customer stiffed me. The bank just let me have it after I told them it had a blown engine. ( I neglected to tell them I was replacing it myself lol). I pulled the powertrain and sent the trans out to get rebuilt. I had the old motor ready to go back to the dodge dealer when he delivered my new crate engine. I rustproofed it while I had it up in the air ( Waxoyl hardcoat is good stuff ). Replaced the normal wear items and put the new engine and rebuilt trans back in and boom. Had myself a very nice dodge ram for half the price o
Similar issue with my 2018 wrangler JL replaced all plugs and coil packs. Still misfired intermittently. Turns out coolant was going into the cylinders and had scored the cylinder walls. End result engine needed to be replaced. 10k parts and labor. Ended up getting a Tacoma instead.
Currently daily drive a 2012 longhorn with 251k miles on the hemi
Sad news for the client.. still waiting for the story on the red MG Wizard 😊
Cheers Roddy
I'm waiting for him to get back onto his Duramax swap. He's got a GMC/Chevy pickup truck that he is swapping in a Duramax diesel for the gas engine that was in the truck.
I like seeing common vehicles and the problems. It's more realistic and may effect me unlike the ferraris and other high end stuff
Like many Hemi owners I went through that. The Hemi eventually eats its roller lifters and cam. The fancy roller lifters have needle bearings that eventually work harden and fail. Some also claim the cam/lifters may be deprived oil at idle. It may not need a whole new engine, but cam, lifters, possibly pushrods, all the little stuff, and then the timing chain and water pump may as well be replaced while it's apart. The longer it's driven in that state the worse off the engine will be since it's grinding the cam and lifters, producing metal shavings. Seems crazy, but replacing original Hemi lifters at 75K-100K miles is probably not a bad idea.
I was faced with this exact problem 1 yr. ago on my ‘05 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 with 270,000+ miles. I’d never had any serious problems. I put 2 Water Pumps and 2 Batteries and an Alternator on the engine. I had just 2 weeks earlier replaced the transmission.
I opted to replace the motor with a Remanufactured one. Went with a Jasper because they gave a 3 yr., 100K Miles warranty on the engine. The shop gave me 1 yr. on their labor to install and satisfy requirements for Jasper Warranty. It wasn’t cheap but with the cost of replacing the truck at today’s prices, it was worth it despite the mileage.
My truck was in OK shape except the Rocker Panels were rusted out. It took me quite some time but eventually I found a Body Shop that would do the work. I had already purchased a Florida truck w/blown engine to supply all of the body parts I needed.
So now I have a virtually new 19 yr. old truck that I just put $15K into. For my money it was definitely worth it!!
Remember Cash for Clunkers.
Trade in your vehicle and buy a new clunker for lots of cash.
🤣They seen you coming 🤣
Not sure what these owners are going to do. If you can not afford the engine, how can you afford another truck? I have a 2008 ram 1500 5.7 hemi with over 322,000 miles still going strong. If my engine blew, I think I would replace rather than getting a different old truck.
Probably easier to finance another truck over a longer period of time than finance the engine..unless they still owe on this truck, or have terrible credit...in which case they are screwed....
I wonder what caused the engine failure? Lack of regular maintenance like oil changes? I have a 2015 Ram 1500 and I always worrie about it when I see these vids or hear stories about the Ram trucks or 5.7L Hemi.
Just keep up on your basic maintenance---& pray.
I hear idling and low rpm operation is basically the worst thing you can do for these because it ruins the cam, and if you keep driving it on the ruined cam before you get it fixed you cause further issues down the road.
Sell it while it’s running good and buy a Tundra with the 5.7.
@nickgrant42 But I'll have to give up my heated seats, A/C seats, leather, air ride suspension, factory alpine stereo system. Toyota has noth of this.
It’s a Dodge… nuff said. Inferior engineering, design, materials, manufacturing process
Good on y’all for a “no-charge “ for this customer.
I subscribed to your channel because of your kindness.
Hope they can find a replacement truck….
Not the most important comment however. Your OBD scanner is called C Reader. Not creader
LOL
How many idle hours on that hemi? 2014 with 206k still runs amazingly.
I'm pretty sure the early 2010's weren't great years for the Hemis in the Rams. I've heard at least that the later 4th gens were better. I have a '17 and runs perfectly. I also avoid idling and use full synthetic, changed every 6 months or 5,000 miles.
Im at 124k and its been smooth and quiet soo far.
@@FarmerTom-bz6tn Broken exhaust manifold bolts have been commonly mistaken for the death rattles. That's what I've got going with my 2009 RAM.
@@FarmerTom-bz6tn Like the other guy said, could be exhaust manifold bolts. That is a common problem with these and can trick you into immediately defaulting to the "Hemi Tick" diagnosis.
Just bring that thing to Mexico, we will have it rebuild in like 2 weeks, tha will cost like 2,500 dollars and you have almost a new motor 😊
So sad, glad you are "paying it forward" and not charging the customer for a bad report, that's the last thing they need. Well Done! When I owned my own company and had the opportunity to help people, I received payment in-kind worth more than my helping.
I once had a Chevy 350 drop a valve on a trip from Sacramento to Cleveland. Took it to a dealer in Cleveland and was informed that to fix the valve would be $3500, an entire new head would be $3200, and an entire brand new factory 350 installed would be $2700. Being near the heart of auto manufacturing I'm sure made the new engine cheaper with no real shipping costs but it still was a tremendous deal and they did it in one afternoon.
I would have done a cylinder leak down test to finalize the diagnosis. That way you know if it is just the head/valves or the pistons. Could be timing chain or hydraulic cam timing related, if this engine has that. Three cylinders in the same bank at low compression raises the curiosity.
If you just need a daily beater, get a bone yard engine. Maybe not great, but you'll get the cost of the motor/install plus a few bucks out of it vs paying to have it taken to the crusher.
I was just thinking of something similar that the ScrapLifeLee channel did. Except he already had a good engine he had pulled from a wrecked Dodge Demon. He then bought a used Dodge SRT-10 that had not been running for years for cheap. He then swapped the V10 out for the Supercharged V8 Demon engine. Now he has a pretty badass truck that is better than anything you can buy new.
Did you inspect the other side for oil? See if it was just one side getting oil fouled or both? The intake manifold is plastic and the gaskets shrink letting it suck oil from inside the engine and causing a misfire. In the future you should take the oil fill cap off and hook up a vacuum gauge to see if it has high vacuum at idle. I am a ASE Master certified Tech with 52 years on the job (I just retired this year). Granted these newer engines are way more complicated than the old shtuff I started out with but, a lot of them have the same causes as the old. Intake gaskets are the weak spot on any V engine, I don't care what the gasket material is, IT WILL FAIL. Now, I have a 2011 Ram 1500 with the 5.7 in it and it has 359,352 miles on it and it is OE from the fan blade to the exhaust tip. I had the same misfire and after replacing the intake gaskets (at 152k miles), it's smooth again. My engine hours on it are a little over 13,200 hours.
That’s what I said too
Why would it have low compression if it's a manifold gasket?
Does it matter? He found that one side of the engine is cooked, and it's all going to need to be replaced anyway, so why spend the time and effort investigating something that's going to have to be replaced sooner rather than later?
@ compression goes in the crankcase
@@danterryhankinstheexplodin9009 The ring lands are choked with carbon. It can be cleaned with a few tank full's of gas treated with Lucas fuel system cleaner, about 32oz/tank full and the carbon goes away. We used to use GM Top Engine cleaner but, it's not available anymore (the good stuff anyway). The one hole with 180# does not have a leaking runner but the others do. You can tell a lot by reading the spark plugs and those were dripping wet with oil and there's only one way to get that much oil is leaking intake gaskets.
My 2017 Ram 1500 failed at 143K. The culprit is the economy cylinder shutoff that goes bad over time. I bit the bullet and had a Jaspers installed that had the cylinder shutoff devices removed. It cost me 3MPG, and gave me about 50HP boost. I now have a great running "old school" 5.7 Hemi that will punch way out of it's class.
I just bought a very clean 2012 Ram 1500 identical to this one for $2800. Interior is in great condition and body is straight with no paint problems. Only flaw is tailgate has dent and rear bumper has small dent. ( I found tailgate and bumper for $400 that are perfect and matching color at local salvage).
It has just had complete front end rebuild and brakes all around 6 months ago. Radiator and water pump less than a year ago. And complete A/C rebuild including evaporator few months before that. And he just put new tires on it 2 weeks before it started missing.
Our shop has done all the repairs on this truck over last 8 years.
I did diagnostic and found a lifter has collapsed or cam lobe is down on exhaust valve on # 8 cylinder.
Customer not going to fix it so I bought it from him.
I am getting a low mile used engine for $3000. Since I am a mechanic I don't have a labor expense.
So for a total of $6000 and some change I will have a very nice pickup with a lot of stuff already rebuilt or replaced.
I priced similar ones in running condition and found they get $8000-$12000 depending on mileage and condition.
I would recommend unplugging the fuel injector on the dead cylinder if they're gonna continue to drive it.
The dead cylinder is probably a bad lifter and the cam is wiped.Possibly glitter in the oil pan.Lack of oil changes and idling is the culprit. Even on mine, if Im sitting, Ill rev it a bit to keep the cam oiled.
@@dougfisher1813 YES. The intake valve is no longer opening and fuel is just just building up in the intake port until it overflows back into the manifold.
my 2010 ram 1500 was the best vehicle I ever owned. I didn't lose a lifter until 235,000 mi. I had the engine rebuild for four grand. sold it to another guy and he's still driving the truck. it's got like 325 on it now with the original transmission. when my lifter failure happened, I had probably 12,000 hours on the engine because I let it sit in idle constantly all summer long in Florida and I didn't run synthetic oil either. I ran conventional oil the entire time. the lifter problem happened suddenly and I wasn't even mad about it at the time. I would absolutely buy another ram truck from that era. they were the best ones ever from 2009 to 2012.
I have 218k on my 2010 and counting, I love the simplicity of these year trucks, center console shifter and not that stupid electric knob junk.
@seandp85 they are perfect or about as close as possible. I really miss that truck
Am I the only one unimpressed with this half baked diag? Why not use the endoscope to look at the valves while you’re there. Maybe connect the fancy scan tool and get a misfire count, O2 sensor graphs, fuel trims, egr function, which is on the passenger side bank. Timing check for the cylinders on that bank? Exhaust gas in the cooling system? My guess is MDS or VVT failure which requires new VVT solenoid. New lifters, reman head on that bank and you’re good to go.
Yeah, all we know there’s oil on the plugs and low compression, a leak down test would have been worth a go, having said that the customer indicated he didn’t want to spend 2-3k on it. So really not worth digging any deeper
Commodification crap by him
I had an 03 ram with that hemi motor. It broke a valve spring at 68,000 miles, it was still under warranty. Was repaired at the dealer I purchased from. Was undrivable under that condition, couldn't understand why more damage didn't occur. Kept it another 50,00 miles and sold it but never forgot that spring.
Love the 59 two door hdtp in the background. Loved those cars
Fix it and move on. Once fixed it will go another 100k plus miles!
Yeah, not a big ram fan but that's a solid truck... If it were mine I'd fix it. You can't replace a truck like that for the money an engine swap would cost.
You'd be looking at rusty beat up trucks, or trucks needing expensive repairs that are hidden.
Just get away from the thing. Engines are not good, transmissions are not good, and then there’s the electrical and suspension issues. I learned my lesson many years ago with Dodge/Ram products. If I have to dump money into a truck every 100k miles….fill in the blank
@@hokie9910 despite what people think or say, the Rams are pretty solid trucks. As far as the suspension goes. Only the air suspension trucks have issues, and with that, only a handful.
If I had to guess, this engine wasn’t maintained. Never seen a Hemi with low compression. Cam/lifter issues! And I’m guessing if you pulled the head and the lifters for those cylinders, he’ll find the issue.
Low oil pressure issue at idle has been known for years and years and years, yet people keep buying them and Ram Dodge Stellantis keeps making the same engine. Unbelievable.
@
Same with the stock LS engines!
I absolutely disagree with you. That is a Rust free truck with some small cosmetic issues and the major mechanical problem although your pricing is always Retail and just not realistic. That truck can be PROPERLY fixed and made roadworthy for about $4,500 cash. Just remember the cost of a new Ram truck. Maybe $55,000 so im keeping that Ram on the Road.
It's dogshit. Get a diesel loser
Yes ill rememeber the orwellian scam cost of current trucks and compare that to the cost of fixing just the one particular current major malfunction of the old truck.
The problem with the hemi is eventually you’re gonna get the hemi tick and it cost five grand repair. If you do maintenance the engine can last a long time but it’s 100% failure rate.
Every engine has a 100 % failure rate.
@ you know exactly what I’m talking about don’t be an asshole.
I found this out the hard way. Maintained my 2016 RAM religiously and it still failed at 85k miles. Cam/lifter failure will happen at some point with so many of these FCA/GM V8s that have cylinder Deactivation.
@@TPowell12 I feel for ya. I warned my brother not to buy a Jeep Grand Cherokee with the Hemi 5.7L V8 and he did it anyway. His Hemi tick started around 80,000 miles and he dropped $5,000'ish to repair it and that was $5K in 2020!
His problem now the Jeep is 150K miles now and is absolutely nickel and diming him to death. I told him to get a Lexus GX 460 like I have and he refused. He tells me all the time he wishes he had gotten the 460. My Lexus is a 2012 with nearly the same miles and outside of maintenance haven't dropped a dime into it.
@@fersaccon Typical Chrysler bullshit. These camshaft lifter issues date back to the very beginning in 2003. The way I understand it is the V on the engine block is too steep and oil pan is too low, and it struggles to get oil to the top of the camshaft to lubricate it properly specifically when the engine is idling. Once the camshaft goes the lifters, bearings, o-rings all go bad. The Hemi is a powerful engine but lets be honest these type of catastrophic are unacceptable.
The problem I have with the straight-Six Hurricane engine that replaced the Hemi is you cannot even check your own damn oil! To me that is a non-buy for me, because we all know that OW-20 engines especially in hot weather and as the vehicle ages can burn up to quart of oil per 1000 miles and still be considered normal.
Are they now saying their engine will never burn oil? How can you know? You cannot find out BECAUSE THERE IS NO DAMN DIP STICK!
Wizard!! How can you not charge the customer for your time spent checking this truck?? Your time is so valuable.... I'm sure they'd understand.
My 2011 Ram with 216k is just like this, misfiring, running rough, really really bad tapping sound on startup. We decided to just run it until it's undriveable, and evaluate if it's worth putting an engine in later
13:54 thats a great comment!!