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Dodge Durango 5.7 Hemi Engine Failure

387 messages,  Last post on May 16, 2013 at 3:23 PM

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What is this discussion about? Dodge Durango, SUV

Messages Page 31 of 40

#296 of 387 I just called Dodge again: by wuzziern

Nov 27, 2012 (2:47 pm)

And asked about why 2012 vehicles were recalled for the same problem as the many 2004,etc. 5.7L hemi engine. Call dodge and complain, then go ro your states A.G.'s office and file a complaint.

#298 of 387 Chrysler won't recall their junk HEMI's because by danfrommass

Nov 27, 2012 (7:02 pm)

It will cost them tens of millions of dollars to do the right thing. I see these vehicles for sale on EBay and wish I could warn the bidders offering thousands of dollars for a low mileage 04-05 Durango. Ticking time-bombs are what they are.

#299 of 387 1955HemiPower by 1955hemipower

Dec 01, 2012 (9:04 am)

I've been following this line for some time now. I'm sure glad I decided to build an old Ind. 331 and NOT go with the Gen3 for my current Hot-Rod. I looked at a blown-up 5.7 with it's internals spread on a bench all neat and clean. Total carnage. Rods are made from WHAT? They look like powdered metal. Piston skirts have cracks near the pin boss. Top ring groove almost gone. Crank "BENT"??? What I have seen is possibly NOT internal failure but maybe, MAYBE, a fuel/air ratio problem. It looks for all I can tell that the engine grew metal-mites from a lean burn, took out the top ring on 6 of 8 pistons, then devoured the piston down to the pin and decided it had overstuffed and puked. Total feed time, maybe 10-15 seconds. I saw this in the early '70's with a 426. THAT engine was a pro-built by a shop with a color in its name, and needless to say these guys knew what they were doing. The problem arose when a piece of road debris got stuck under the secondary's linkage and leaned the engine out to the point of destruction. a lean-burn diet did $12,000 damage to a perfect engine. Just something to consider b-4 you go dropping the trap door on an engine line. It may be the fault of the computer code writer or just a faulty fuel delivery system. I hope someone has been checking the computer ground wire, the source of MANY problems. Just some points to ponder, I know I have missed some of these things in 50 years of Hot-Rodding, I hope it helps.

#300 of 387 Click link below by danfrommass

Dec 01, 2012 (3:15 pm)

This guy broke down a defective HEMI, I am sure this relates to all of us and the reasons why we had a connecting rod failure resulting in a hole in the engine block.
 
https://sites.google.com/site/blownuphemi/

#301 of 387 Re: 1955HemiPower [1955hemipower] by drrighteous

Dec 03, 2012 (7:03 am)

Replying to: 1955hemipower (Dec 01, 2012 9:04 am)
" I saw this in the early '70's with a 426. THAT engine was a pro-built by a shop with a color in its name, and needless to say these guys knew what they were doing. "
 
Lemme guess; Keith Black?
 
Had a buddy that raced Chevys with 409s in the old days. Keith Black built his engines; made over 500hp.
 
Yeah, I did the same exploration since I have been building MoPar engines for over 20 years. I was shocked at the cheap internals of the 3rd gen Hemi.
Before the 3rd gen hit the market I did a lot of reading on it's design aspects and on paper it was a win-win. A real game changer. Until they decided to stuff it full of cracker jack prize internal parts. There are several theories why these fail. Keep it mind it is mainly DURANGOs that suffer from this which makes it all the more mysterious. Why since this same engine went in trucks and cars is a mystery. One theory is concerning an issue with the design of the '04 cowl that can allow water to leak on top of the engine and somehow this water is getting inside the intake.
I noticed this issue with mine. And I would get a "ignition misfire" code sometimes. But if water gets on the ignition coil or wires that could easy ground the spark, or cause an arc that would register as a misfire.
As far as water getting into the engine it would have operating with a massive vacuum leak in the intake track. This would mean very poor running and a code for a lean condition. I never hear of this happening so water getting into the engine while running sounds pretty far fetched if it is leaking form the cowl.
The conclusion I came to was just bad metallurgy. Very poor quality control when they produced the powered metal rods.
All manufactures use these now with low failure rates; so you can't really claim this technique of making rods is inferior. I just think there are some batches of rods made that didn't get checked for quality.
Are they as good as old fashion forged rods?? Not by a long shot. But powered steel rods are much lighter and cheaper to make. A must for smaller displacement engines since it is important they reach the high "power band" quickly. This new generation of small displacement high power (greater than 1HP per cubic inch) likely could not make the same power number without the lightweight powered steel rods. Example. My current project is a '02 Chrysler Sebring with a 2.7L v6. It measures 165 cu.in. in displacement at makes 200hp AT THE WHEELS. That is amazing.
 
You touched on an issues I think might have something to do with these failures.
There are several recalls on '04 Durango for transmission controller firmware updates. One of the main problems is engine lugging because the transmission controller does not downshift when it should in certain situations. For instance where you encounter a steep hill and you are going less than 30 mph. Engine lugging is very hard on connecting rods.

#305 of 387 Which cylinders are most common to fail? by troutautoserv

Dec 07, 2012 (6:24 pm)

I have recently dealt with two of these blown 5.7l Hemi engines in Durangos at my shop. One was an early 2005, the other a 2004. On the 2005, the engine ran fine the night before. The next morning it was tight. The customer took it to another garage where it was diagnosed as a starter. When the tech put a new starter in it proceeded to throw #7 rod through the block and pan. The 2004 also bent a rod after sitting overnight. Again the #7 rod. However, this one did not break the rod completely. I did not investigate further on the 2005 Durango as the engine was sent back as a core. After pulling the head on the 2004 it appears as if there was some "steam cleaning" of the combustion chamber. Are these problems possibly due to leaking head gaskets causing hydrolocking? I would like to hear from anyone who knows which cylinder failed on their Hemi. Have they all been on the rear 2 cylinders? A Toyota tech friend informed me that they have a similar issue on some of their V6's in the 4Runners. "Weeping" of coolant into the rear two cylinders. I would like to somehow pin point a cause of all this. Maybe it is just bad metallurgy.

Messages Page 31 of 40

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