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19+ Lifter Failures

mbarber84 said:
He said he’s actually seen more trucks with failed lifters running 5w40 than 10w30. And we’re in PA so it’s not really “cold” here. We rarely see subzero temp and for the past five years or so, our winters have been generally mild in comparison to what they were 20-30 years ago. I’d say generally our average winter lows for the past 3-5 years have been in the 20’s. Maybe an occasion dip into the teens, single digits, or rarely a sub zero.

Personally I think a lot of these lifter failures are attributable to several factors. Maybe some of which combine to make matters even worse.

1. The use of poor quality aftermarket oil and air filters. Some of the filters are so poorly manufactured you can tear the media out with your hands with very little effort. The cheap filters are absolutely letting more contaminants past, especially when they’re pushed to long intervals like 15k miles.

2. Using mediocre, subpar, or incorrect engine oils (like 15w40) and running them beyond their useful life. (There’s a common misconception among owners that these truck can always go to 15,000 miles without an issue. That isn’t the case, and regular oil analysis can prove that.

3. Owners failing to monitor their active regeneration cycle frequency and not noticing that their trucks are regenerating more frequently than they should be. This can significantly increase fuel dilution in the oil and reduce its lubrication. Lifters and cam would be very susceptible to increased wear from a drop in oil viscosity. (Also a reason for regular oil analysis and more frequent changes when called for.)

4. Long periods of idle time at lower oil pressure.

5. Metallurgical or physical imperfections in lifters and cams as parts are sourced from various suppliers
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#5 is the only one that makes any sense. Roller lifters/cam design should REDUCE wear to the point of almost negating points 1-4.

My bet is another bad run of parts from Chinese steel that doesn't stand up to ICE requirements, not to mention work truck ICE requirements.
 
gimmie11s said:
#5 is the only one that makes any sense. Roller lifters/cam design should REDUCE wear to the point of almost negating points 1-4.

My bet is another bad run of parts from Chinese steel that doesn't stand up to ICE requirements, not to mention work truck ICE requirements.
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I totally agree. I think its the same issue with the Hemi. People tout oiling issues but seeing that all parts of the lifter are constantly bathed in oil via a pressurized passage in the block I seriously doubt it....
 
jetrinka said:
I totally agree. I think its the same issue with the Hemi. People tout oiling issues but seeing that all parts of the lifter are constantly bathed in oil via a pressurized passage in the block I seriously doubt it....
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100%
 
gimmie11s said:
#5 is the only one that makes any sense. Roller lifters/cam design should REDUCE wear to the point of almost negating points 1-4.

My bet is another bad run of parts from Chinese steel that doesn't stand up to ICE requirements, not to mention work truck ICE requirements.
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Substandard parts wouldn’t surprise me at all. Look what happened with the Aisin K1 snap rings…doesn’t take much of a part to cause a major catastrophe.
 
elephantrider said:
my guess would be a run of less quality materials. it's happened before.
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My only counter thought to the substandard parts would be, given the sheer number of these trucks, if substandard lifters or cams were being installed, wouldn’t we expect to see high numbers of failures? I know there have been failures, but it seems they’re not all too common, and are spread over four model years.
 
mbarber84 said:
My only counter thought to the substandard parts would be, given the sheer number of these trucks, if substandard lifters or cams were being installed, wouldn’t we expect to see high numbers of failures? I know there have been failures, but it seems they’re not all too common, and are spread over four model years.
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Don't manufacturers generally source from multiple suppliers? I'm thinking that could be a contributing factor here.
 
Brutal_HO said:
Don't manufacturers generally source from multiple suppliers? I'm thinking that could be a contributing factor here.
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Certainly could be.
That would track with the real world experience of only certain lifters within the same engine being the ones that failed. Especially in situations where the lifters themselves were all slightly different within the same engine
 
mbarber84 said:
Certainly could be.
That would track with the real world experience of only certain lifters within the same engine being the ones that failed. Especially in situations where the lifters themselves were all slightly different within the same engine
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Agreed and some that i have seen it was only one style of lifter that had failed in an engine that used 2 different styles
 
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