Turned Bearings

[fireball]

I've fallen out of love with my 04 SRT-10. 3 months ago it turned the rod bearings on #1 and #2 rods. How common is this failure? Is it likely to happen with the replacement motor? The dealer installed a new short block on warrantee and I'd like to know if I'm going to have the same nightmare again.

FWIW After 11 weeks and 4 days my dealer informed me that I could finally pick up the car. Less than 1 mile later smoke was billowing out of the interior vents. Apparantly the heavy rains this spring got into the heater / AC motor area and caused failure. Only 1 week to 10 days to get it repaired this time.... maybe....

It's sad to see your pride and joy sitting outside in the filth next to a dumpster. Rain, sun and all manner of flotsam including a broken old chair sitting next to it.

 

[Disturbed]

Sounds like you need to take it to a better dealer. If they are leaving it outside in the rain they are not taking care of the car. And if it if took them 3 months to get a new motor in, they need help. Take it to a new place.

 

[mynewviper]

I'd DEFINATELY get me another Dealer....or have a long serious chat with Chrysler

 

[Nader]

I'd definitely contact Dodge directly. That is crazy.

 

[fireball]

I'm done with this dealer. I think the techs are OK and the Service Writers seem good - I lay the fault at the Chrysler parts system and the service manager. Can I say the name of the dealer on this forum?

I'd still like to know if anyone has experience with this and is it likely to happen again with the replacement motor.

I've seriously considered selling the car and getting an Exige S. My hope is that one roll onto the throttle and I'll love the car again.... but will I trust that it won't fail again?

 

[fireball]

I finally got my car back after 12 weeks and 2 days. They installed a new short block from Chrysler.

I'd still like to know if anyone has knowledge on the replacement motors and if they are subject to the same failure that the original motor had. Perhaps they upgraded the bearings or the galleries, perhaps the oil pump of even the shape of the oil pan?

My motor turned the #1 and 2 rod bearings. I have no idea why.

Thanks for any opinions on the quality of my new motor - I'm a little nervous about it.

My car is a 2004 SRT-10

Greg

 

[CarDude]

In so far as the dealer is concerned, my SRT-10 Ram has been sitting inside the dealership the entire time it has been worked on (3 months, through no fault of Dodge). The Arrow rebuild is supposed to be a stronger engine than stock. Not sure about the short block?

 

[Viper Specialty]

Main Bearings changed in 2005 to help with this problem, went from 120 degree to 180 degree oil groves. with the 120's, some jornals do not recieve oil 100% of the time. They do with 180's. On the downside, once switched to 180's, the oil pressure drops like a rock (~55 PSI Hot Idle down to 20-25)as the pump is too small to do the correct job... though certainly better than the higher-pressure partial oiling system it is with the 120's.

The oiling system itself is an engineering failure at best. The Comp Coupe pan & pickup helps some, but the oiling system itself is a horrible design. They finally revised the system and fixed the issues in 2008, but it is not a direct carryover- thats where we come in. Please see my website below, I have just added the new oiling systems for 03-06 cars to the website, they are already in prototyping and will be available soon- now taking deposits and pre-orders.

 

[fireball]

I'm not sure which bearing I have in my new motor but your information on the oil pressure is a big clue. I did notice that the oil pressure was much lower at idle than on the old motor. I figure I have the 'improved' bearings.

Thank you so much for the info. Please post when you have your oiling kit done.

Thanks,
Greg

 

[CarDude]

I'm not sure which bearing I have in my new motor but your information on the oil pressure is a big clue. I did notice that the oil pressure was much lower at idle than on the old motor. I figure I have the 'improved' bearings.

Thank you so much for the info. Please post when you have your oiling kit done.

Thanks,
Greg

My new motor got the Comp Coupe bearings...does anyone know what the upgrade is good for? I heard it was a better, longer lasting bearing...anything else I should know (does it have better oiling properties?) Don't mean to hijack your thread...

 

[Viper Specialty]

My new motor got the Comp Coupe bearings...does anyone know what the upgrade is good for? I heard it was a better, longer lasting bearing...anything else I should know (does it have better oiling properties?) Don't mean to hijack your thread...

Comp Coupes should use the same main bearing design, although I believe they are "select fit"... basically, it just means that they are selected from a bunch of sizes for the one that fits best... thats all. They are still Mopar AL 120 or 180 degree mains... same bearings in all of the Vipers.

Only problem with Select Fitting is that certain bearings only come in 120, and certain ones in 180... so you never know what combination you ended up with.

 

[Viper Specialty]

Thank you so much for the info. Please post when you have your oiling kit done.

Check Supplier Specials/New Products Section... better move FAST.

 

[TBarrow]

I've fallen out of love with my 04 SRT-10. 3 months ago it turned the rod bearings on #1 and #2 rods. How common is this failure? Is it likely to happen with the replacement motor? The dealer installed a new short block on warrantee and I'd like to know if I'm going to have the same nightmare again.

FWIW After 11 weeks and 4 days my dealer informed me that I could finally pick up the car. Less than 1 mile later smoke was billowing out of the interior vents. Apparantly the heavy rains this spring got into the heater / AC motor area and caused failure. Only 1 week to 10 days to get it repaired this time.... maybe....

It's sad to see your pride and joy sitting outside in the filth next to a dumpster. Rain, sun and all manner of flotsam including a broken old chair sitting next to it.

The water leaks in through the fresh air intake under the hood. The factory foam compresses and allows it by. The water gets into the blower motor and rusts the bearings. I have pictures of mine after I took it out. The dealer would not warrant nor would SRT accept or return a call. These days it is customer service that sets companies apart.

 

[valentine_viper]

The water leaks in through the fresh air intake under the hood. The factory foam compresses and allows it by. The water gets into the blower motor and rusts the bearings. I have pictures of mine after I took it out. The dealer would not warrant nor would SRT accept or return a call. These days it is customer service that sets companies apart.

Were you still under warrantee? So far, I have had no problem with warrantee coverage. My trans was making a funny noise, they replaced it with no queations asked. My cooling fan cracked, they replaced the entire unit, again no questions asked.

Seems to be a huge variation in customer experiences. Some guys claim Dodge won't fix anything, others seem to have no problem.

 

[fireball]

I've been happy with Dodge in terms of their warranty. They've replaced everything that failed without question - including the blower motor and box (I was told it all melted). The problem I have is with the parts system. The dealer diagnosed my engine problem by listening to the engine. They ordered parts based on this listen. The timing cover took a long time to come in - more than 2 months. Once they took the engine apart it was worse than they had thought (well DUH!) and decided to use a new short block. The new engine arrived within a couple of weeks and the techs took a couple or 3 days to do the work. Then the blower motor failed immedaitely.... another week waiting for parts.

On a side note I needed a small part for the top on my 1991 Miata. I called the dealer Monday afternoon at 4:00pm and I had the part by 10:00 the next morning. There's about 100 parts to a Miata top and I had parts I required within hours. Impressive. I get similar service with AM General and my H1. It's a very low volume vehicle that's now out of production but I've never waited for more than a couple of days for parts.

I give Dodge kudo's for making all the repairs required under warranty without question. That's good but in my view their parts system is broken.

Since I've picked up my car it's smelled like burned electrics (from the blower motor) but one roll into the throttle and I've fallen in love again.... Maybe that new 600 horse Viper is for me after all....

 

[ILLSMOQ]

Yes the parts system *****. I broke a transmission last year...took a month and a half to get the car back on the road.

 

[FE 065]

I got into a Viper conversation with a guy today who put in a few years at Arrow Racing until recently.

From what he says, there may be something other than what DC claims is the actual cause of G3 rod or bearing problems. Or there may not be. Meaning is it a design problem or owner problem? No real answer.

But, he did comment that all the G3 engines being rebuilt under warranty for rod bearing troubles were low on oil when turned into the dealer for repair. 'Low' being an oil level at least less than the Fill line on the dipstick I think he said. Or maybe somewhere in between Full and Add. The message seemed to be, "Watch the oil level religiously !"

He also said a very recent warranty work upsurge was the result of G3 oil pan gasket leaks over Winter storage, or at least when the engine was last shut off, reducing the level of oil in the pan. When the owners started and/or throttled the car w/o seeing the oil on the garage floor (?) in the Spring, a rod bearing problem resulted. Sounds bizarre, but that was basics of the story(!).

Sorry the info is vague, I'll have to press him for more info next week when I'll probably see him again. Oil level seems to be critical on G3s if nothing else. He did mention all Arrow rebuilds are sent out with Wiks oil filters for max filtration.

PM me if you have any questions for him. But I don't think he'll open up any cans of DC worms, so keep the questions general in nature.

 

[Viper Specialty]

*cough* design problem *cough*

There are actually multiple flaws... its just that they dont come to light unless the right chain of events causes a domino effect and they all fail at once.

 

[GR8_ASP]

Recent oil pan leaks ??? I have replaced my gasket twice so far. The next one is in the garage waiting.

But that results in massive wetting and very little leak to ground. It would have to be much worse than that to result in low oil levels. Need to find something else to blame. Ring sealing and PCV are both bigger players.