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Lifter Failure? Report it here!

@mbarber84 ,
Do you have an updated number of the how many trucks have had the lifter/cam failures ? Do you think there is a significant number of trucks having the problem ?
 
OLEJOE said:
@mbarber84 ,
Do you have an updated number of the how many trucks have had the lifter/cam failures ? Do you think there is a significant number of trucks having the problem ?
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I haven’t had the free time to keep up with it but I just looked at the submission form responses. There are 76 reported on it. Not nearly enough to make any conclusions. The problem is it’s difficult to “reach” all of the people with the failures and get them to provide info. Far more than 76 people out there with failed lifters. And Ram isn’t going to divulge that information. Is it a “significant number”?….to me, “significant” is a pretty malleable word. I think anytime you have a fair number of trucks presenting the same style failure on a part that previously was never a mechanical issue, that should be classified as “significant”. We never had lifter failure with the flat tappet arrangement.
 
mbarber84 said:
I haven’t had the free time to keep up with it but I just looked at the submission form responses. There are 76 reported on it. Not nearly enough to make any conclusions. The problem is it’s difficult to “reach” all of the people with the failures and get them to provide info. Far more than 76 people out there with failed lifters. And Ram isn’t going to divulge that information. Is it a “significant number”?….to me, “significant” is a pretty malleable word. I think anytime you have a fair number of trucks presenting the same style failure on a part that previously was never a mechanical issue, that should be classified as “significant”. We never had lifter failure with the flat tappet arrangement.
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Wow! 76 sounds pretty significant to me. Thanks for the info. I agree about the flat tappets. It’s a shame as nice as these trucks are and as expensive as they are that it is expensive to upgrade them to reliable. Thanks again for the update.
 
mbarber84 said:
I haven’t had the free time to keep up with it but I just looked at the submission form responses. There are 76 reported on it. Not nearly enough to make any conclusions. The problem is it’s difficult to “reach” all of the people with the failures and get them to provide info. Far more than 76 people out there with failed lifters. And Ram isn’t going to divulge that information. Is it a “significant number”?….to me, “significant” is a pretty malleable word. I think anytime you have a fair number of trucks presenting the same style failure on a part that previously was never a mechanical issue, that should be classified as “significant”. We never had lifter failure with the flat tappet arrangement.
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I'm on that list, lifters/cam replaced @44k, tick immediately returned, short block replaced @48k, now at 83k and light tick now present... Flat tappet conversion going on Monday. Also doing coolant bypass since cab will be off.
 
Ostracize said:
I'm on that list, lifters/cam replaced @44k, tick immediately returned, short block replaced @48k, now at 83k and light tick now present... Flat tappet conversion going on Monday. Also doing coolant bypass since cab will be off.
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Do you have an idea what the total cost will be for the conversion and are you going with the Hamilton conversion ?
 
OLEJOE said:
Do you have an idea what the total cost will be for the conversion and are you going with the Hamilton conversion ?
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Fortunately for me but unfortunately I'm not a great use-case for cost. Dealer is doing cam/lifters labor under warranty since they'd have to anyway but just installing the Hamilton kit. I am paying a bit for the "extra" labor for setting lash and the bypass but it won't be much. So cost of parts kits + ~hr of labor.
 
Ostracize said:
Fortunately for me but unfortunately I'm not a great use-case for cost. Dealer is doing cam/lifters labor under warranty since they'd have to anyway but just installing the Hamilton kit. I am paying a bit for the "extra" labor for setting lash and the bypass but it won't be much. So cost of parts kits + ~hr of labor.
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Sounds like a good deal and plan. Im not having any problems yet but that is the route I will be going also. Even if I have to pay for it out of pocket, its cheaper than trading and I would have to trade down to get a reliable vehicle.
 
OLEJOE said:
Sounds like a good deal and plan. Im not having any problems yet but that is the route I will be going also. Even if I have to pay for it out of pocket, its cheaper than trading and I would have to trade down to get a reliable vehicle.
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100% agreed.... My 21 vs 25 limited trim configured the same would be over 30k more than what I payed for mine.... For the exact same power, some new features I'd like but most I don't care enough about and the same reliability concerns. Makes for an obvious choice.
 
I'm now on the list at 12k miles ...rockers rocker arm and lifters and pushrods...happened after dealer oil change . They told me I was hearing things at first. Never got a definite answer if they checked the cam for wear marks from failed lifter. Dealership is gonna do bare minimum. I was a powerstoke guy for years never new cummins changed to this high failure system..never would have bought one... I have an attorney working on making them buy it back or lemon it out.
 
Flat tappet conversion is complete and running great. Better yet, it sounds like a real cummins again lol. The 178/208 cam builds boost early and power comes on smooth and linear. I can't complain. Mileage is low right now but I suspect it will improve once the ecu finds its new balance. Bonus I can now run 15/40 which I've always preferred for diesels. :D
 
Kracka-Jax said:
I'm now on the list at 12k miles ...rockers rocker arm and lifters and pushrods...happened after dealer oil change . They told me I was hearing things at first. Never got a definite answer if they checked the cam for wear marks from failed lifter. Dealership is gonna do bare minimum. I was a powerstoke guy for years never new cummins changed to this high failure system..never would have bought one... I have an attorney working on making them buy it back or lemon it out.
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Let us know how the lawsuit goes please.
 
RAM is going to have to put something out soon. It might be that everything is OK, but it is going to have to be on record. Dealers are undoubtedly tired of dealing with this too.
 
BlueOx2500 said:
RAM is going to have to put something out soon. It might be that everything is OK, but it is going to have to be on record. Dealers are undoubtedly tired of dealing with this too.
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They have. They came out with a TSB that says to put an oil additive in the motor oil to quieten down the ticking and run until it’s out of warranty.
 
OLEJOE said:
They have. They came out with a TSB that says to put an oil additive in the motor oil to quieten down the ticking.
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Ok, true and it currently only applies to South America. Just had the truck at the dealer 2 days ago for routine stuff and we talked about this briefly. Service advisor mentioned this and said for some reason unknown to them the additive is restricted to South America only. They think it's a lubrication problem with the lifters. The two service advisors there said that when they have torn trucks apart they aren't seeing damage, but that they even tried replacing lifters/cam etc and in one case they claim they gave a guy a whole new engine and the sound was even worse with the whole new engine.

So, it's just my opinion that there is going to be something even more than the additive coming to North America. This might only include a statement that the noise is normal - and I get people wouldn't agree with that, but it would be on record that it is and that has legal implications.

I could tell these dealer reps are tired of dealing with this problem and I suspect many are and are pushing Stelantis to come out with something more on the record.
 
BlueOx2500 said:
Ok, true and it currently only applies to South America. Just had the truck at the dealer 2 days ago for routine stuff and we talked about this briefly. Service advisor mentioned this and said for some reason unknown to them the additive is restricted to South America only. They think it's a lubrication problem with the lifters. The two service advisors there said that when they have torn trucks apart they aren't seeing damage, but that they even tried replacing lifters/cam etc and in one case they claim they gave a guy a whole new engine and the sound was even worse with the whole new engine.

So, it's just my opinion that there is going to be something even more than the additive coming to North America. This might only include a statement that the noise is normal - and I get people wouldn't agree with that, but it would be on record that it is and that has legal implications.

I could tell these dealer reps are tired of dealing with this problem and I suspect many are and are pushing Stelantis to come out with something more on the record.
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I hope you are correct. This one problem is why my truck hasn’t been put on a diet plan.
 
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