[bigtom12]

Hi all, sad to say I'm joining the one of what looks like many who have experienced engine failures with their EcoDiesel trucks. I purchased mine used (from a Dodge dealership), had 68000km on it at the time of purchase. I've owned the truck for two years and at 129000km I now need a new engine. Not sure exactly how or why, so maybe I could get some insight here. I was driving home when I got an alert on the dash saying oil pressure was low. I checked the oil pressure gauge and it was bottomed out. The engine turned off shortly after. I pulled over, checked under the truck to see if anything was leaking and could not find anything. Couldn't see anything out of the ordinary under the hood, mind you I'm no mechanic and don't know a whole lot about engines and the like. I started the truck back up, the oil pressure gauge returned to normal and there didn't seem to be anything else out of the ordinary. No message on the dash, no check engine light, everything seemed normal. Chalked it up to maybe the electrical glitching out. I put it in drive and after about 200-300m I started hearing a knocking coming from the engine. Pulled over again and checked under the hood again, and the knocking just seemed to get worse. Shut it off and got it towed back to my place. I brought it to a local diesel repair shop where they told me it needed a new engine, and said it was likely related to needing a new EGR valve, which I had an outstanding recall for (I was not made aware of this at the time of purchase) and that it should be covered by Dodge, even being 30k km past warranty. I took it to the nearest Ram dealership and they told me it had nothing to do with EGR valve, and that the connecting rods were blown. I found it odd that they had complete different opinion so I took it to a different dealership and they confirmed what the previous had said.

So here I am, 2 years after purchasing the truck and needing a new engine. I contacted FCA Canada and they basically told me I'm shit out of luck because I'm so far past warranty and there was nothing they could do for me. I guess my question for you all would be what could have lead to this? Truck is mostly highway driven, all oil changes and maintenance was done on time. I was very easy on the truck, have never towed anything and was always very easy on the gas. Dealership tech told me they couldn't tell me why it happened without taking the engine apart and that would just add even more to an already expensive fix - I was quoted $21k CAD, 15k for the engine and 6k for labor. Not very enthusiastic on adding to that. Any insight would be greatly appreciated and if anyone has an avenue to maybe get some help from Dodge on the repairs I would super appreciate that too.

Cheers

 

[97hmcs]

Sorry to hear this. It's way more common with these engines than it should be. I think there are some better prices for new engines out there. Wait for others to reply.

 

[bigtom12]

Sorry to hear this. It's way more common with these engines than it should be. I think there are some better prices for new engines out there. Wait for others to reply.

Thank you. I saw that there might be better prices from the threads I've been looking through. Checked the mopar website and it was listed at $8k USD but was on backorder. Although that's the same issue with the dealership, they told me it might be 2-6 months before they'll be able to get one. I'll definitely wait to see what others say, if I can bring down the cost a bit it would help.

 

[Ecosparky]

I was told by another Ecodiesel owner that lost his 2018 motor about a month ago that he is number 345 on a waiting list for a motor in Canada. Are you in Ontario? If yes try the One Stop Goat Shop in Breslau near Guelph.

 

[VernDiesel]

Search Results

Sorry to hear. This is the salvage yard locator showing used engines. You can have one shipped to your shop but include shipping prices into your comparisons.

 

[bigtom12]

I was told by another Ecodiesel owner that lost his 2018 motor about a month ago that he is number 345 on a waiting list for a motor in Canada. Are you in Ontario? If yes try the One Stop Goat Shop in Breslau near Guelph.

I'm in BC Canada, was told it's a 2-6 month wait, probably closer to 6. Thanks though!

Search Results

Sorry to hear. This is the salvage yard locator showing used engines. You can have one shipped to your shop but include shipping prices into your comparisons.

Much appreciated, I'll take a look through there. Do you think it's worth going with a used engine? Don't want to be running into problems shortly after, much less having another one fail on me

 

[r3gill]

Rodents can chew the wiring and cause a fire. Joking.. Last time I was at a dealer I inquired about a new engine. Same story of long wait times... I would inquire direct from vm metori and get it shipped on your coin if they do sell em like that.
If it were to be a used engine, I would install the engine and trade it for something else asap.

 

[Augiedoggy]

Seriously @biodiesel There should be a poll here to find out just how rare these failures over 70k still are. There seems to still be a lot of reported failures on these regardless of mileage.

OP at this point I think some Dealerships are throwing outrageous estimates out there because they dont want to deal with the headache and likelyhood that they could end up having to deal with more issues from this truck down the road.. I thnk FCA is just buying time until they can really make keeping these trucks ridiculously expensive to maintain and repair so they can just make them disappear like a bad dream.
Hopefully folks here arent going to try to pick apart your maintenance to find and justify to themselves some reason why you had the failure and they wont... After joining 4 different forums and watching countless you tube videos on ecodiesels its left me feeling like im gambling every time I turn the key on mine at this point. Never In my life have I ever seen so many reported main bearing failures on such an uncommon engine (or any engine for that matter).

It sucks because I otherwise love my truck but the thought of possibly having to replace it with another flawed engine with the same odds of failing really frustrates me. FCA made efforts to correct the flaws on the newer gen ecodiesels but likely due to not wanting acknowledge these flaws and take on the financial liability that would follow, they wont offer the improved engine as replacements for the older trucks.

I really really wish someone would offer an improved shortblock or even just an improved stiffer crank but there apparently just isnt enough of a market for us. BTW my money is on the bet that your engine wiped the #2 or 3 main bearing.

 

[Captainmal]

BigTom... Welcome to the forum.

Your plight is very common and related mega times since the very introduction of the Ecodiesel back in 2014. Some owners have had their engines blown apart and replaced a couple of times. Some fortunate ones have not had major problems at all. Luck of the draw.

As for your situation, you will need a new motor. You seem to recognize that. Recognize that even a new motor could be flawed or you could get one that will work fine. You need that crystal ball or devine intervention. A used engine is just like buying a new engine for the odds of it coming apart. It is just that the used engine would either be closer to the destruction point or proving to be one of the good ones. Now we are back to that crystal ball to predict the future.

From 2020 to present the re-designed Ecodiesel engine is pretty reliable and what you would want. Only thing is it does not readily work in the older models prior to 2020 so that is not an option. You either, new or used, buy the old model Ecodiesel engine and have it installed or .......?

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Lynne]

Your story sounds exactly like our almost to a T. Ours had been in and out of the shop for 1-1/2 years the last time they had it for 7 weeks and within less than a month of getting it back everything that you described happened. Mind you the head service guy at the dealership exhausted everything he could think of and wanted to replace the engine but that never happened. The dealership has had the truck since January 3rd and they just now received the engine. So now we are on the hook for 10k for a new engine that the head of the service department wanted to replace but never got the approval to replace. Seems to me that Dodge may have more insight to the issues of the EcoDiesel.

 

[Lynne]

BigTom... Welcome to the forum.

Your plight is very common and related mega times since the very introduction of the Ecodiesel back in 2014. Some owners have had their engines blown apart and replaced a couple of times. Some fortunate ones have not had major problems at all. Luck of the draw.

As for your situation, you will need a new motor. You seem to recognize that. Recognize that even a new motor could be flawed or you could get one that will work fine. You need that crystal ball or devine intervention. A used engine is just like buying a new engine for the odds of it coming apart. It is just that the used engine would either be closer to the destruction point or proving to be one of the good ones. Now we are back to that crystal ball to predict the future.

From 2020 to present the re-designed Ecodiesel engine is pretty reliable and what you would want. Only thing is it does not readily work in the older models prior to 2020 so that is not an option. You either, new or used, buy the old model Ecodiesel engine and have it installed or .......?

Good luck with your decision.

So your last paragraph if I am understanding it correctly we have a 2015 and are getting a new engine (after 5 months the engine finally arrived at the dealer) , the engine is new but still the design for engines prior to 2020.

 

[Ecosparky]

So your last paragraph if I am understanding it correctly we have a 2015 and are getting a new engine (after 5 months the engine finally arrived at the dealer) , the engine is new but still the design for engines prior to 2020.

You are correct.

 

[biodiesel]

Seriously @biodiesel There should be a poll here to find out just how rare these failures over 70k still are. There seems to still be a lot of reported failures on these regardless of mileage.

The OP just joined the forum to report the failure. We've seen other one-hit wonders come to the forum, post their engine failure, then leave. It's hard to get a good poll sample when that happens. To keep the conversation on topic, we're looking for engine failures due to spun bearings. It would be interesting to know what caused this particular engine failure. Was it a spun bearing or another issue?

@bigtom12, I would encourage you to get a new engine. According to GDE, there have been 15 production engine part numbers. The latest engine production number should have the updated bearing (added half a mm in the bearings).

 

[Vmax999999]

Be sure it isn't just the crank shaft position sensor tone wheel. My truck looked like it blew up. No oil pressure and dealership found it was just the tone wheel magnet had come apart. And best of all... My VIN wasn't included in either recall for it.

 

[shaggn85]

Seriously @biodiesel There should be a poll here to find out just how rare these failures over 70k still are. There seems to still be a lot of reported failures on these regardless of mileage.

OP at this point I think some Dealerships are throwing outrageous estimates out there because they dont want to deal with the headache and likelyhood that they could end up having to deal with more issues from this truck down the road.. I thnk FCA is just buying time until they can really make keeping these trucks ridiculously expensive to maintain and repair so they can just make them disappear like a bad dream.
Hopefully folks here arent going to try to pick apart your maintenance to find and justify to themselves some reason why you had the failure and they wont... After joining 4 different forums and watching countless you tube videos on ecodiesels its left me feeling like im gambling every time I turn the key on mine at this point. Never In my life have I ever seen so many reported main bearing failures on such an uncommon engine (or any engine for that matter).

It sucks because I otherwise love my truck but the thought of possibly having to replace it with another flawed engine with the same odds of failing really frustrates me. FCA made efforts to correct the flaws on the newer gen ecodiesels but likely due to not wanting acknowledge these flaws and take on the financial liability that would follow, they wont offer the improved engine as replacements for the older trucks.

I really really wish someone would offer an improved shortblock or even just an improved stiffer crank but there apparently just isnt enough of a market for us. BTW my money is on the bet that your engine wiped the #2 or 3 main bearing.

you won't get accurate numbers from a poll. There will be too many sample issues and bias.

 

[Augiedoggy]

you won't get accurate numbers from a poll. There will be too many sample issues and bias.

Im not looking for numbers.. im looking for actual evidence of trends vs assumptions.

 

[sourdo]

I have a question, since you said you bought the truck used 2 years ago from a Ram dealer. Did they sell you a truck with a known recall? This EGR cooler recall is well over two years I believe.

I would check your purchase date, you might have a lawsuit on your hands.

I had a 2017, and all I got was BS about getting the EGR cooler done. For over a year.

So I sold the truck and bought a 2500 CTD last year. Why do I feel like I just dodged a bullet?

I also wanted to ask about your current engine, did the shop drain oil and see metal? IF not how did they come to that conclusion? Did they check the oil filter? It would be full of metal if the engine did lose a bearing.

 

[SlowRoller]

.......
I really really wish someone would offer an improved shortblock or even just an improved stiffer crank but there apparently just isnt enough of a market for us. BTW my money is on the bet that your engine wiped the #2 or 3 main bearing.

I think the best solution would be for Stellantis to develop a kit to substitute the Gen3 engine for the Gen2. That sounds like a nightmare for a private owner, but doable for the company, and it might save them money in the long run on warranty repairs. I wonder if Gen3 engines are badly backordered like Gen2 for the (hopefully) rare failures that have occurred.

 

[Augiedoggy]

I think the best solution would be for Stellantis to develop a kit to substitute the Gen3 engine for the Gen2. That sounds like a nightmare for a private owner, but doable for the company, and it might save them money in the long run on warranty repairs. I wonder if Gen3 engines are badly backordered like Gen2 for the (hopefully) rare failures that have occurred.

from what I can tell the gen3 engines are reliable I looked through the 2020 and up ecodiesel sections on the 2 devoted ecodiesel forums and only saw a report of one failure and that was in the first fe thousand miles.

 

[Augiedoggy]

The OP just joined the forum to report the failure. We've seen other one-hit wonders come to the forum, post their engine failure, then leave. It's hard to get a good poll sample when that happens. To keep the conversation on topic, we're looking for engine failures due to spun bearings. It would be interesting to know what caused this particular engine failure. Was it a spun bearing or another issue?

@bigtom12, I would encourage you to get a new engine. According to GDE, there have been 15 production engine part numbers. The latest engine production number should have the updated bearing (added half a mm in the bearings).

I believe the 2020 and up bearings are quite a bit wider than half a mm wider than the gen 2 crank journals and bearings. This is the first ive heard of fca having multiple different designs for the same generation engine crank and bearings this would make engine repairs a logistical nightmare if they actually changed the design 15 times in 6 years... Ive heard others like GDE mention the bearings are wider on the 2020+ gen engines but thats it.the type of iron used on the gen 3 is different and supposedly stiffer according the the comments made about 7.55mins into this video.