rgberg
Active Member
I wanted to share my story with a potential reoccurring manufacturing defect to spread awareness to current 5th gen 3.6L Ram owners or prospective buyers.
I bought my 3.6L back in 2019 brand new from the dealership. The truck came with a 5 year or 75k mile warranty, expiring at whichever would come first. I’ve babied my truck ever since driving it off the lot. Never missing an oil change or routine maintenance. I work remotely so I’ve put modest mileage on it averaging just under 10k per year. Most of the mileage coming from road trips visiting national parks across the west coast.
6 years, 59k miles and a recently expired warranty later, the check engine light comes on and the truck began idling and driving choppy. This came at a bit of a surprise because the truck is not “old” by any stretch of the imagination.
The service department ran the diagnostic code that read cylinder 2 misfire. Coolant was leaking into the cylinder and causing the misfire. They suggested opening the cylinder head to fully diagnose the issue ($3k). Removing the cylinder head revealed a defective short block. Now they do not do short block replacements, so they will replace the long block instead ($13k) and of course the part is back ordered. Essentially a full engine replacement at 59k miles costing $16k.
I opened a Ram customer care case number for my situation and fortunately the dealership is working with me to cover 80% of the cost under good will warranty. However, I still see this as a huge concern for current owners and prospective buyers. My hope is by sharing this, others may know what could be ahead of them if their 3.6L begins to start, idle and run choppy. Even the dealership told me they are currently working on two other 3.6L’s with the same issue, one with 80k miles and the other with 90k miles.
Has anyone else experienced this issue with their 3.6L and have suggestions what else I can do other than opening a Ram customer care case?
I bought my 3.6L back in 2019 brand new from the dealership. The truck came with a 5 year or 75k mile warranty, expiring at whichever would come first. I’ve babied my truck ever since driving it off the lot. Never missing an oil change or routine maintenance. I work remotely so I’ve put modest mileage on it averaging just under 10k per year. Most of the mileage coming from road trips visiting national parks across the west coast.
6 years, 59k miles and a recently expired warranty later, the check engine light comes on and the truck began idling and driving choppy. This came at a bit of a surprise because the truck is not “old” by any stretch of the imagination.
The service department ran the diagnostic code that read cylinder 2 misfire. Coolant was leaking into the cylinder and causing the misfire. They suggested opening the cylinder head to fully diagnose the issue ($3k). Removing the cylinder head revealed a defective short block. Now they do not do short block replacements, so they will replace the long block instead ($13k) and of course the part is back ordered. Essentially a full engine replacement at 59k miles costing $16k.
I opened a Ram customer care case number for my situation and fortunately the dealership is working with me to cover 80% of the cost under good will warranty. However, I still see this as a huge concern for current owners and prospective buyers. My hope is by sharing this, others may know what could be ahead of them if their 3.6L begins to start, idle and run choppy. Even the dealership told me they are currently working on two other 3.6L’s with the same issue, one with 80k miles and the other with 90k miles.
Has anyone else experienced this issue with their 3.6L and have suggestions what else I can do other than opening a Ram customer care case?
