Towed back in! Something Very Bad Happened! Pentastar 3.6 Hole in Block! Chrysler Jeep Ram 3.6

Not long ago we looked at this engine to diagnose a misfire on cold start. Low compression was found on cylinder 3 and it had a light misfire. The van returned with broken connecting rod, holes in the engine block.as well as evidence that all four valves made contact with the piston which also broke in half in the cylinder. The head has to be removed to find out more!
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Customer Customer States Mechanic Fails Engine Transmission Gas Diesel off road race 4x4 street car daily driver scam dealership dealer technician how to

[@myc0p]

Fun fact: penta means five. This PentaSTAR engine has the correct configuration now.

[@chrisbowring4298]

✔️ 😉

[@deadstroke82]

After the fact checking is completed, it turns out you're correct.

[@ozemale6t928]

They designed it with a spare for just such an occasion.

[@MattExzy]

The new cylinder deactivation - piston deletion.

[@chrisbowring4298]

@@MattExzy ....the "abrupt/extreme" option...👀

[@markm734]

This is one of those moments where the customer shows up, Ray looks them straight in the eye, puts his stethoscope down around his neck, and just slowly shakes his head.

[@angelo_giachetti]

And says, he's not gonna make it.

[@shadetreemech290]

Very well put. LOL!

[@rickcreel9557]

Time of death, now

[@ryans413]

The cause of death I’m afraid to say is a broken connecting rod on cylinder 3. The loss of oil was too much to save the engine. I’m sorry for your loss.

[@shaunkelly9053]

It’s dead Jim.

[@xj31]

I love the 3.6, I work at a chrysler dealer and that engine paid off my house and it's buying me a new truck

[@nickmadsen4859]

what's not to love about that? lol

[@living4christ]

What kind of truck?

[@tuberNunya]

That bad eh? This is from the liberal deep state and their constant push for more and more mileage. This is what we call diminishing returns.

[@MrBailey-ng9kw]

Hemi...dropped valve seals bought my a lake front cottage!

[@MissionaryForMexico]

Junk engineering.

[@brendanmulhall9095]

Randomly came across this channel as a suggestion from watching Scotty, and now I have a new channel to keep me awake at night

[@richardstone5241]

How much you wanna bet the customer is going to say this is your fault?!

[@hotpuppy1]

No doubt about it.

[@jilbertb]

Yeah, but Ray did present the problem to the customer b4 they left the shop, so....

[@richardstone5241]

I understand that and hopefully he put it in writing because guess what, the customer could LIE. I have been here done this and had to learn the hard way.@@jilbertb

[@IR-nq4qv]

All the BG snake oil additives in the world wouldn't save the engine that was on the eve of destruction.

[@GuyWithASolderingIron]

well they came back so, no

[@keithclark1061]

It is a possibility that the engine had prior damage with a slightly bent rod and that is why the compression on that cylinder was lower. The weakened rod gave way under load. I had this happen to an older Jeep that was driven in the water and hydro locked. It lasted a few months after the repair until a rod snapped and went through the block.

[@flrpower5628]

Yes, metal fatigue does that.

[@91CavGT5]

I saw the same thing happen to an SRT4. The owner drove through deep water with an aftermarket cold air intake and it hydro locked the engine. I got the water out, turned it over easily by hand, turned it over by the starter, then we did a compression test. That one cylinder was 40 psi low. So we pulled the oil pan and checked the rod out, it was bent and twisted but it ran. So we replaced the rod on that cylinder, and I still have the bent and twisted one!

[@lorrinbarth1969]

Does it rain in Florida?

[@kenore4003]

Brother had a TR6 that did the slowest rollover in history ( Slid down an ice covered road sideways propelled by wind, no forward speed.) Hydro locked one cylinder and the piston failed at the oil ring. Being a glorified tractor engine it just pushed the piston top up and kept on running on 5 cylinders.

[@danwoods315]

That is exactly what crossed my mind when I saw the bent rod

[@kimberlyhall7610]

I am a car nut and so fascinated with channels like these! I can’t physically do the work, I don’t have the confidence in that way, but I love watch the videos and learning. Helps me take care of my own car!

[@buckdashe2571]

Okay. So if you watched the first video, you can see that Ray diagnosed low compression on #3 after documented misfires on that cylinder. The wet plug is a symptom of misfires. The odd coloration if the valves indicate fueling is *not efficient.* (That is key.) I noted that there wasn’t another compression check after the rather superficial brake-clean valve washing Ray did…but no big deal. In followup on Ray’s off duty channel, the misfire was still present and Ray’s suggestion to the customer was that further investigation would mean pulling the cylinder head which apparently the customer was mulling over when this failure occurred. BTW, I noticed Ray never checked the oil (at least on camera) in the first video. There may have been clues in the oil indicating ring or other issues (fuel washing into the oil, etc.) but whatever. The failure is an either/or guess (valve-suck or piston failure) and Ray cannot be blamed because he advised that further (expensive) investigation was required. That’s my arm-chair take.

[@willy19511]

decent arm chair take--this engine was on it's way out when he first got it---i hope ray gets to install the replacement

[@chubbysumo2230]

these engines have a habit of dropping valve seats. with the low compression, I would bet that a valve seat dropped and it threw the rod when the piston could not travel up anymore.

[@wendwllhickey6426]

Broken timing belt or chain

[@wendwllhickey6426]

Broken timing belt or chain

[@templeofdooom]

If it was a broken timing belt or chain he would not have been able to drive it into the shop. @@wendwllhickey6426

[@DirtyLilHobo]

The speed wrench used to be the MANUAL power tool of the day!

[@yogib37]

I have a couple of speed wrenches

[@johnchambers12]

After owning it for 40 years i still let one occupy space in my upper box.

[@theodorgiosan2570]

I have a half inch ultra long one. Keep it in the cargo area of my 79 Subaru because it's a perfect spark plug wrench for that engine. Just the perfect odd shape to remove the plugs quickly without using another tool besides a spark plug socket.

[@mlieser1230]

I have speed wrenches in 3/8' and 1/2". I still use them.

[@PeterAngles-jq7gr]

​@@theodorgiosan2570I generally prefer 1.5 inch and ultra long

[@michaeldepetris696]

Eric would be proud of that engine destruction.

[@boelensds]

rayman can send it in to tear down if not taken appart in vid as core trade in.😁

[@Kitkat5335]

Malice in the combustion palace for sure.

[@BarryTsGarage]

Forbidden glitter !

[@insomniareflection8569]

Scotty said I told you 😂😮😂

[@JonMadHatter]

Connecting Rod mcnuggets

[@jaredtate873]

On the newer pentastar engines I’ve found cyl 3 or 5 misfires on cold starts usually means coolant is leaking into the offending cylinder. My guess this happened from that cylinder trying to compress a liquid.

[@joseph73515]

I agree, probably compressed coolant on startup at some point and bent the rod which eventually broke.

[@eldoradoboy]

@@joseph73515 bent rod would also explain low compression.. I didnt see the first video .. of course theres many explanations for a bent rod here.. if the low compression was due to a crack already starting on the piston, then it failed on the bottom side, breaking the rod which of course flails around and bends then breaks another piece off of.. hard to really see what was going on without pulling the head and getting the piston out... kind of a moot point because the engine is too far gone to be repaired.. if a CJD dealer wants to pull the head and diagnose for a possible lifetime warranty claim then they could.. i can say its not the first time ove heard of a misfire due to a cracked piston on a 3.6

[@timbarry1424]

Head gasket

[@dnoneck01]

My thoughts exactly

[@SeeSaw72]

No coolant in oil that I can see.@@timbarry1424

[@FerralVideo]

Ray, I just want to let you know that your habit of saying "XYZ Gravity" when dropping stuff has given me a healthier way to respond to dropping/knocking stuff over than just getting angry at myself. Thank you for that. :)

[@FenrisianAle]

I would say the valve marks were caused post destruction. I suspect the piston was thrown higher than normal by the flailing rod, and the valves just hit it knocking it back down again. My guess is the initial low compression was caused by a crack in the side of the piston. eventually the piston failed temporarily seizing in the cylinder breaking the rod.

[@lilshawn2]

thinking same. could be 100 different things.... but not many present as... looking like it was building compression, but quickly bleeding off. broken ring land? valve seat failure? axial wear due to oil passage contamination or blockage?

[@DeeGee-mv6eq]

Thanks shade tree tommy!

[@heckelphon]

That piston crack looked kinda old ....

[@alexanderkupke920]

@@lilshawn2 I wonder what the pin connecting the piston to the rod looks like, or the missing part of the rod, if still attached to the piston.

[@donwest5387]

I agree; piston failure

[@trevorvanbremen4718]

I think Ray needs one of those borescopes with two cameras... (One axial, and the other on the side)

[@JasonW.]

I bought one with only front camera and an attachment mirror thingy to save money. Then I bought one with 2nd view rear camera to save sanity. Anxiety of mirror falling off is real.

[@gcrauwels941]

They're cheap now. Used one to 100% confirm my Volvo 2.5 had cracked the block up by the deck.

[@Vamk420]

@@gcrauwels941 NOOOOOOOOOOOO i drive a 2006 S60 2.5T daily i feel man that and the timing gives me anxiety. I already replaced a timing solenoid for the intake cam

[@crashoverride328]

@@JasonW. Even the ones with an articulating head are inexpensive now.

[@philipershler420]

@@crashoverride328I often wonder where the term Borescope came from. Now I know, it’s used for scoping cylinder BORES! 😁 I have used my scope for looking at many other locations, but never used it for inspecting cylinder bores.

[@DanniV8]

I suspect the rod was already bent when you were diagnosing this the first time. Probably due to being hydrolocked at some point. The valve impact marks on the piston are because the piston was pushed up and didn't come back down when the valves were opened, on the count of it not being connected to the connecting rod any longer.

[@GReaper]

That was my thought on the valve marks too.

[@JSLEnterprises]

the bent rod would also explain lower compression in the first vid with the misfires. the stroke apex was at a lower spot than it sould be at. but I would also not rule out burned valves either, and all probably from coolant leanking in over time.

[@nbk9372]

Don't know ownership history, but this has the hallmarks of a lemon lot buy here - pay here, where the backyard mechanic did a looky, and may have seen the issue, but the lot owner went with the; "as long as we keep it running, and add a little heavier oil, we're good to go". Once they sold it, they gave it the tail light warranty, and Ray ended up being the barrier of the bad news. Ray has become quite the auto mechanical pathologist, and an excellent detective.

[@ranmatardis4236]

What surprises me is the engine still runs!

[@rogeralbans4082]

With that knock at first I thought Troy had just trolled the master with the old two spanners prank hiding behind the car.

[@rajbeekie7124]

I can't help but think the customer will think Ray either misdiagnosed or did something that contributed to the failure.

[@ThePhoenix198]

Almost inevitably. The 'who touched it last' syndrome.

[@waldolemmer]

I had that same thought with this video, but also a video from three months ago where a transmission pump failed two weeks after Ray changed the ATF

[@craigquann]

Rays previous videos showing the low compression/misfire will cover his ass. Misfire cause the lean condition and the piston was damaged prior to rays repair. It would explain the low compression and eventual failure.

[@kenwillis8487]

I agree, Rays attention to detail and video detailing every step of the diagnostic process will show that the damage was done long before he touched it! I believe the fault lies with the manufacturer defects in the cylinder head and had the customer not driven it while waiting for dealer to replace the head it might not have self destructed!

[@davidnoyes3373]

The joys of having your own business everything great until it isn’t!

[@ocdetails]

Definitely one of the most interesting videos I've seen for a few weeks. I'm the kind of guy that likes watching the 'just rolled in' type videos. "The engine is making a funny sound" and then you find a hole in the engine. I love that you tear it apart to try and figure out what is going on. A lot of mechanics would just call and say 'There's a hole in your engine and it is junk." This guy is at least going to get a solid diagnosis of what happened.

[@huzudra]

These are known to drop valve seats, probably dropped a seat. They're also known to burn valves before the seat drops, burned valve overheats the seat because burning a/f mixture is torching past the seat, heats a spot which causes thermal shrink and then the seat no longer has the interference fit and eventually falls out while the engine is running.

[@chubbysumo2230]

yup, the damage to the top of the piston says that valve seats were holding the valves open. the piston hit the valves, they wouldn't close, and the connecting rod became a disconnecting rod, and a hammer.

[@thekingsilverado3266]

The older Pentastar's R junk. They improved the valve seats and guides circa 2019 or so they have true stainless seating now and guides. There is a notice a jeep dealer gave me here somewhere I could be wrong about the exact date in the change to the heads. Most engines today use a powder cast connecting rod which are total junk

[@paul-ef3gs]

what??never seen one and worked on many

[@markkmiecik5393]

Seems like a perfect time for Eric to travel to FL and collaborate on this tear down.

[@DeeGee-mv6eq]

Eric O lover

[@davidkranz9990]

@@DeeGee-mv6eqwrong Eric

[@Larry_Harvilla]

​@@DeeGee-mv6eq Eric O is the South Main Auto channel guy, from upstate New York. "I Do Cars" Eric is the Importapart guy from the suburbs of St. Louis.

[@alb12345672]

@@Larry_Harvilla What about Eric the Car guy 🤣🤣

[@Larry_Harvilla]

@@alb12345672 I think he's from California but I haven't watched his stuff in forever.

[@mineown1861]

I've watched a lot of Eric's autopsies , now I've finally heard the death rattles from one rolling into the ER . Having experienced things dying after I'd repaired them , i know what you mean about not a good look , but having the confidence to know I'd done everything correctly I managed to cope with the odd customer having a skeptical look on their face. What really blows my mind is the lack of error codes in the ECU !!!

[@DeepakKumar-lv4te]

default ecu mode : "nothing to see here, move along, move along....."

[@v12alpine]

The lack of error codes would imply the customer didn't drive it much after it blew up, probably just enough to get to safety.

[@DeeGee-mv6eq]

Eric O lover

[@douglasburnside]

Nothing wrong with that engine's electronics. The spark plugs were firing, the crank and cam position sensors were reading correctly, no overheat warning. The problem was purely mechanical, the ECU doesn't care about that as long as the camshafts remain in time.

[@davidclemens1578]

​@@douglasburnsideeven the crank position sensor would probably have not thrown a code in this situation.

[@croaton07]

Good ol' Chrysler, never fails to fail

[@williamstyers4264]

I agree that the Pentastar engines are basically breakdowns waiting to happen. I'm amazed that the company that gave us great iron like the 383, the 426 Hemi. the nearly indestructible 318 and slant sixes put out such a piece of crap. Love your channel. Keep up the good work

[@okgroomer1966]

I'm surprised the transmission outlasted the engine.

[@TOXIC-jq3ry]

the 3.6 pentastar is one of the best engines ever produced, from 2019 until now, anyways. I know the 2011-2017s had tons of issues, most of the bad ones being the earlier ones. I think most people just don't take care of their shit with regular maintenance. most people get over 200k when they actually take care of it, but i suppose that goes for most engines these days.

[@whalesong999]

Still running a 3.3 push-rod Plymouth engine in my 99 van. I keep the oil changed and hope it lasts for years. The complexity of these ohc engines is off-putting.

[@MichaelRobinson-up6fo]

currently got 235k miles on our 2011 3.6, its been fantastic @@TOXIC-jq3ry

[@almarkowbender]

It's not the same company that made those engines, it's Fiat, Stellantis

[@kampar82]

I personally like the 5 cylinder sound, that's an improvement.

[@dback68]

And it's nice of Chrysler to integrate those self-made inspection ports as well. Quality engineering.

[@kaafromoz]

😁😁😂😂🤣🤣😁😁

[@ThePhoenix198]

@@dback68 It's been a long time since I saw Chrysler and quality engineering (unironically) in the same sentence

[@GuyWithASolderingIron]

3.5 cilinder

[@michelleshaw337]

It’s very rhythmic sounding now, isn’t it?

[@dammitcarl1082]

I had a feeling that van's engine wasn't gonna last when you did the compression test last time, shame what happened

[@waldolemmer]

How did bad compression lead to this? Or was it the cause of the bad compression that led to this? I thought rods only break when doing money shifts

[@DigBipper188]

​@@waldolemmer the poor compression's more a symptom than a cause. It *looks* as Ray suggested like the engine dropped a valve or two which caused it to mince up the piston and connecting rod... Although there's nowhere near enough carnage in the cylinder to suggest that bar the marks on the piston top which elude to the valves colliding with the piston - Weird.

[@claytoncoolidge992]

​@@DigBipper188if I remember correctly this had overheated before but low compression/ bad rings can cause a piston to cock in the bore. It's certainly a possibility here as there's not much of any malice in the combustion palace

[@IR-nq4qv]

I don't know what everyone is getting excited about, the engine just needs a few BG snake oil additive rinse cycles, 3 good heat soaks by baking that puppy for 45 minute intervals at 2000 rpm's. This will increase compression and clean out all that nasty carbon.

[@Stanjara]

Where is the first video with that car?

[@killingtonsnowboarde]

Ray, if the customer is going to replace the engine, it would be cool to have Eric do the tear down. You have talked about him and his channel in the past it would give both of your channels more exposure highlighting both channels, keep us posted love your channel and greetings from Alaska......

[@1soupasaurus]

I wish it could work that way. The big issue is Ray is in south Florida and Eric is somewhere by St. Louis. The shipping expense would be enormous.

[@gregfrance1894]

I had a Kenworth T2000 With a 15L Cummins engine that I bought in Utah (I live in Wisconsin) that at 600,000 miles a piston turned sideways in the cyclones. The connecting rod broke off, but it just slid up and down in the cylinder. When they pulled the engine out, the blengine block was dissolved and we figured that the previous owner never changed the oil and is dissolved the block around the cylinder sleeves a d that 1 piston didn't get oil due to a blockage and so the wrist pin overheated and broke off. The company I was leased onto found an engine in Canada and shipped it down. But the connecting rod looked better than the one in this car. I cannot believe that rod got bent that much. Unreal.

[@valengreymoon5623]

If the old injector was stuck open, dumping too much fuel, that could have been just enough to cause slight hydro-lock, fracturing the piston, and it was just a matter of time before things went south. That could also have explained the misfire as well. Just a theory. I'll wait for the autopsy, if there is one.

[@renj6531]

sounds familiar this is exatly the bane of the 6.4 power stroke , a dirty injector would dump fuel and either hydrolock or torch a piston

[@xvdd1]

Glad I paged down before I posted as I was going to suggest the same thing.

[@Buster2058]

detonation is my guess. Kaboom!

[@valengreymoon5623]

We'll have to wait for the tear-down.

[@TairnKA]

I wasn't thinking about how it could have hydra-lock, but it hydra-locking was my first thought. It's a shame Rey had spent so much time on this vehicle, only for it to destroy itself. I don't remember Rey scoping cylinder three when he found the low compression and if he had, I wonder if the piston crack was there?

[@hot_wheelz]

Hi Ray, this video definitely had that "Customer States" feel to it..... All it was missing was, "Customer States that they were 50 ft from the vehicle, completely minding their own business and out of nowhere and completely without warning, the vehicle's engine decided to throw a rod and grenade itself" 😂😂😂😂

[@hot_wheelz]

@@ralphmbellamy6517 eh while I'm definitely glad that this wasn't my vehicle and I'm also glad that I wasn't the mechanic that worked on it a matter of a week or 2 before it grenaded itself, all of that said, sometimes all you can do in situations like this is awkwardly giggle and slowly back away from what is a situation that frankly noone wants to find themselves in. What makes "Customer States" so hilarious is that the customer pretty much always is clearly lying about how the unmitigated disaster in front of the camera came to be, if the customer just owned up to their moment of stupidity the the whole thing wouldn't be nearly as hilarious. In this case the fact that the customer reported seeing large quantities of smoke and / or water vapour (ie. Steam) coming from under the hood while driving is a bit of a give away that they almost certainly had an opportunity where the vehicle gave them clear signs to pull over and stop immediately but they nevertheless kept driving. Would that have prevented what now looks like a war crime having occurred in the engine bay? Who's to say but it's fair to say that they haven't helped their cause any.

[@michelleshaw337]

@@hot_wheelz The steam/smoke coming from under the hood was the “it’s too late” point - the inspection holes had already been created. Optimistically, if they had heard the engine make a sudden “clank” noise they might have been able to turn it off before the rod broke - but that’s a matter of seconds at most - and probably takes more time to safely pull off to the side for the road than that. Especially if they were travelling on a freeway when the grenade went off.

[@itiswhatitis4846]

The fact that there are 4 perfectly cut areas on the piston indicates that’s the way it comes from the factory. I’m willing to bet if you pulled the other spark plugs you’d see the same on other pistons. The crack could be explained by defective piston along with the con rod. I’m sure there’s dozens more scenarios but a bent con rod pulling the piston too far down could cause a break. Wet piston, over fuel… the owner could have been pulling a hill reviving the engine too hard too. I love the videos/channel & love poppinzee huud. Thanks for taking the time to entertain us Ray! Stay blessed!

[@dylanlindsay1993]

how is there 0 codes in the ECM when the engine is litterally blown?? that makes 0 sense!

[@oxygen454]

@@dylanlindsay1993the computer got overloaded and said, not worth my time computing, Im out... 😂

[@marcbordelon218]

What a nightmare!

[@cericat]

@@dylanlindsay1993 Situation is probably outside the sensors' registry range.

[@SunofYork]

Lets leave god out of it...

[@arrowem]

Watching your videos brings a smile to my face when I can jump past all the hard work because I've spent too much time under vehicles it activates PTSD to watch it all ;) Keep up the good work..

[@johnmezera2862]

Hi Ray, kitty litter works wonders on oil spills. Cover the oil spill with kitty litter, grind it in with your foot, sweep it up. The oil spill is gone.

[@frankheintzjr595]

It's good that you film everything

[@greenhouse3505]

Love all of your "exploratory" vids mate and this is right up there! This sort of thing why I hate interference engines & timing belts over chains. Boils down to a simple rebuild to junk that's thrown away.

[@jeffally9115]

Thanks Ray, it was fu. Watching see 👀 you do a total see threw engine block video. 😊😊😊

[@Kitkat5335]

Something tells me they weren't happy to find out it is blown.

[@Jay.Kellett]

That is the risk you take when you buy a Chrysler.

[@thes2kguy]

Ray, I went back to look at the previous video for this vehicle 2 weeks ago. I bet the head separated enough (was already beginning to happen during last video, thus low compression when you checked it) from the block to allow coolant to flood into cyl 3, hydro locked and kablooey!

[@Angl0sax0nknight]

Only problem with that is there is no evidence of coolant mixing.

[@acdii]

There would be evidence of coolant on the piston since it was no longer moving as well as coolant while running. The cylinder was wet from fuel, but a stuck injector could have caused this as well. There would not have been enough fuel sprayed from the short time it ran to leave fuel behind and any fuel that filled the cylinder would have been flushed out while they were driving it. I suspect the piston was failing, presenting low compression, then just gave up, cracked, wedged itself and snapped the rod. Without pulling the head and retrieving the piston, it is all speculation behind the failure.

[@Angl0sax0nknight]

@@acdii I agree that the piston was the issue. The injector was replaced in last video. Even if it wasn’t I doubt you could get enough fuel in the combustion chamber. Most of that fuel would go out the exhaust. I’ve seen engines (direct injection though) have an injector dump fuel. Pouring Right out the exhaust.

[@acdii]

@@Angl0sax0nknight True, but keep in mind they fire on the compression stroke where the valves are all closed, and if it can dump in enough fuel to fill the combustion chamber, that is essentially all it takes, and them the next stroke pushes the fuel out. Let me clarify something though, it would not be enough to hydrolock the engine, but enough to cause damage over time.

[@Lytning1000]

Is it possible that an injector stuck open could fill the combustion chamber when the engine is shut off and the fuel rail is still pressurized? The chamber is only 52cc’s(if a quick google search is accurate) of volume. That might prime things for the next startup and explain no coolant, bent/broken rod, lack of valve train damage, and cracked piston. Not “really” Ray’s fault, just bad parts lottery fail.

[@wolfguardian8312]

Yet another educational video Ray....thank you

[@mora103]

Keeping up with your oil changes every 3 to 6k miles, and the timing chain jobs every 150k miles...is the key 🗝️ I just put in a new timing chain kit for the second time and I'm at 238k miles on my 2006 dodge ram 1500 with a 3.7 V6 and still running strong 😁

[@outwiththem]

That is Toyota Quality mileage. Congrats. I have a 3.6 Jeep.

[@cheese6339]

my chevy 5.3 at 281k never been opened still runs like brand new

[@mora103]

@@cheese6339 Mine still ran fine, I just changed the timing chain just to be safe. After a hundred and fifty thousand miles it's risking it. When a timing chain breaks it can destroys most engines, unless it's a non-interference engine 😅

[@rocketrodlover]

You should never have to replace a timing chain. Just shows you what crap engines Chrysler makes

[@mora103]

@@rocketrodlover It's recommended that a timing Job is done on "ANY" engine... at 150 thousand miles. You'r no mechanic by far and don't know squat 🤣. You probably don't even know the difference between an interference and a non-interference motor 🫣

[@uraniumpenetrator3844]

It would be interesting to send the bore scope through the inspection port to see the devastation on the underside of the piston.

[@ralfie8801]

He could just zoom in with the regular camera, he already got the rod out of the way.

[@SportFury1966]

And why don't borescopes have 90 degree lens options as standard.

[@ralfie8801]

@@SportFury1966 Because some people just want a cheapie with a blurry picture

[@ocdetails]

@@SportFury1966 Because how are you going to get it down there if it has a 90 degree bend in it?

[@jjclarkson3261]

@@SportFury1966 They often include an attachable mirror to the end for 90 degree views

[@salvaged_title]

I'm shocked and amazed at the plethora of issues that relatively low mileage, late model vehicles are experiencing. I bought a used 2006 Chevy Express 2500 cargo van with 140k on it. I performed basic maintenance on it and installed a transmission cooler. I loaded it with all my earthly possessions and drove it 2,400 miles from San Diego to Charlotte towing a loaded Uhaul trailer and have had zero issues. The van now has 180k on it.

[@R_B62]

My 2001 tahoe has 252,000 and going strong. Yea 5.3!!!

[@tomhendricksen1805]

@@R_B62 Working in Livery service as a Towncar we put 400,000 miles on each of two 2004 GMC Denali's. They were replaced with 2010 Lincoln Navigators, which we were excited to get our hands on. After one day with one each of us wanted our Denali's back because they were heavier and had more luggage room. And there were a lot of miles left in the engines because there was no oil being burned after 400,000 miles with no major repairs.

[@davidsmith385]

My Wife and I purchased a Chrysler mini van, brand new drove it off the lot, 60,000 miles the transmission went out, destroyed, alot of carnage like this engine, fortunately it had a 100,000 mile warranty, when we traded the van years later we had over 200,000 miles and still going with a new transmission.

[@cheese6339]

@@R_B62my 04 tahoe at 281k and damn she rips that 5.3 baby!

[@nickjames9555]

@@tomhendricksen1805 When I'm buying a car, I rent one for a while to see how it compares. This minimises buyer remorse. I have rejected 3 big brands and bought the 4th.

[@ham4fun]

I have been driving a 2014 caravan for about 3 years and its already been in the shop at least 7-8 times and needs to go back again. got to love cars lol

[@TheBeer4me]

Hardest thing to tell a customer, you need a new engine.after you have worked on it 😢 not a fun part of your job. It’s good you video your work. You the man Ray!

[@chrissavage5966]

Dropped seat seems most likely given the previous issues & diagnosis steps taken. With my Hindsight-2000 20:20 specs on, I'd have advised 'don't drive it until the recall is done'

[@hondaman4423]

A dropped valve seat would have spalled up the top of the piston

[@JohnWilliams-wr3pc]

Hope you have a nice weekend Ray. Unfortunately the engine has blown up! Just so happens my sister has a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica with the same engine. She has always taken care of her vehicles over the last 60 years and her husband was an excellent mechanic. Hopefully she will get lots of miles on her Van.

[@averagedev7768]

Hydrolock was here an issue. I saw once this exact carnige on a Mercedes OM651 engine (yes the one that randomly deescides to blow up). They are known to overheat and made the collant get into a cylider. It also looked like ony diesel fuel was inside when i took off the head. The connecting rod snapped like in yours but thankfuly somehow more towards the bottom so there was literally no damage to the cylinder linings or any parts. Crankshaft looked brand new. The engine had 280 000km (~170 000 miles). Came from a Vito van. We replaced the connecting rod and did all the bearings preventably since its already opened. Currently the car has 450 000km and is running happy

[@greasee.monkey7224]

It's funny that you mention I Do Cars channel. I was bingeing Eric's teardown videos when I found your channel. I've come full circle.😊 That poor Pentastar. Such is the Chrysler, Daimler, Fiat, Stellantis way. Great video sir! 👍👍

[@jeffryblackmon4846]

You know there are troubles when something lets the smoke out.

[@dcfield21]

Only the MAGIC smoke😂

[@Columbus1152]

I hope your customer understood you tried to buy some time on an injured engine the first time around, or you had a solid disclaimer. I'm going with the hydro lock theory, that could definitely crack a piston.

[@willmo5746]

Love your channel good content all the time. Keeps me engaged!! This is a case of Hydro lock, All from the blown head gasket. The misfire was your warning, to replace head gasket. Them Pentas are fickle, and need high maintenance. If they are wet due to fuel light the spark plug with a match. If it does not burn Change the gasket. had it happen twice to my friends( after warranty replaced first engine due to misfire on cylinder 3 and 5 )she sold it after the second engine blew up.( a misfire on cylinder 3 ) The GM dealer told her the injector was gone, and the plug was fouled on 3, 5 and 4 shortly after it started to knock slightly. Took it back and they said it had a bent lifter. ( Hydro locked is more like it ). Love the car hate the engine.

[@user-jx7ur2nn7r]

I just started watching,can't stop. When did Ray go off on his own? I sit here for hours watching .Your a great guy.

[@brianspencer6397]

My borescope came with some clip-on accessories - a little (but powerful) magnet, a bendable wire hook, and - a little mirror that clips over the lens of the camera, and allows me to look sideways, or even slightly back up, if I bend the mirror's supporting wire a little. Ask your sales rep if such a thing is an option for your borescope. And since I am now invested in this engine, I vote for an 'I do cars' type autopsy......

[@aaronwilliams1249]

The boroscope I got has a side-view camera as well which is quite handy.

[@boelensds]

china borescope for phone mostly do not have that option.🤔

[@errolseager1292]

The damage was most likely done prior to Ray's first repair hence the low compression and misfire, once the replacement injector went in, the misfire was gone which increased the overall loading on the piston rod causing it to finally let go, the sealant and witness marks on the exhaust system tells me that someone stripped it to look for the original fault but didn't complete the diag process, in a sense Ray unwittingly caused the final failure by making the engine run correctly

[@craiglafosse8086]

I love Eric's channel. He'd be so proud

[@flipfloptanlines926]

Rod went 1st. Came back around and smacked piston into head causing outward crack. Checking the installed height on the valves will confirm the level of push thru.

[@Taylexwow]

Can we please get an update on customer reaction, did they flip out, try to blame your previous work etc.?

[@donw3912]

I do believe that a video with eric from I Do cars would be great...for both of you guys. The rig looks pretty clean inside and out...hopefully it will get a new heart and a renewed lease on life🙂 A great video as always Ray..keep us posted🙂

[@BrianWood74]

​​​@@SimrKherawhy Ohio? I Do Cars is based in St. Louis. He has said as much even. Hazelwood, Mo to be precise.

[@philippwickert2851]

The 3.6 liters were junk from roughly '11 or '12 going to '16 & '17. Some were lucky and others were not. They were in the minivans, jeeps, cars and some trucks. I have a '15 caravan that had lots of issues with the motor. I'm glad I got the unlimited mileage warranty they were offering at the time and used it very often. Cylinders, rocker arms , oil pump and more constantly being replaced.

[@ajwilson605]

Classic case of an engine Hydro-locking. The old injector was probably leaking and the cylinder got hydro-locked and bent the small end of the rod, along with the side bend in the rod. This lowered the piston in the bore resulting in low compression when you checked it. You replaced the injector and got the cylinder running again but stress on the bent rod ended up in the rod breaking after being driven for a while. The piston went up to the top of the bore and contacted the valves. The crack in the piston is from the side loading from the bent rod. You could fix this one...a head, piston w/rings, a rod w/new bearings, and an oil pan/windage tray would get it running again, Only problem might be that the bottom of the bore got chewed up....but you could check for that before tearing it down.

[@robertopenheimer1451]

Next time you get low compression do a pressure test, it would have identified rings, valves, or head gasket. If a valve it would identify which one, exhaust or intake.

[@danielquinn624]

He did

[@SpecialedSpellcaster]

Ray, that cylinder hydrolocked from fuel when driving. That cylinder was wet with fuel before you replaced the fuel injector in that cylinder, so we know it wasn't the injector, and since the other cylinders didn't have issues it would have to be a faulty ecu or a fault in the software. You might be able to tap the piston out the bottom and if you can look at the ring landings. There should be some distortion in the upper landings.

[@ronaldcooper7609]

With the engine running, excess fuel would exit out the exhaust valve and there would never be enough fuel to fill the combustion chamber.

[@tracemiller9924]

Or a fault occuring in the wiring harness. Hydrostatic lock, yep yep yepper, especially if the computer is firing individual negative to the injectors. That particular negative came on, holding the injector on. Or the new injector just decided I'm stuck open.

[@ranmatardis4236]

Thanks!

[@icanfixit7179]

My grandmas 2013 dodge grand caravan has the 3.6 and has over 237,000 miles on it and burns almost zero oil, it’s a great engine, only major issue she had with the van was the alternator went out but otherwise it’s never let her down

[@christopherbeason7435]

Love your channel man. You keep inspiring me to keep learning and get better at my job. Best to you Ray!

[@gibsonj5035]

Where I worked previously, we had a $20K borescope that had a motor driven head with 180° of rotation and several levels of lighting. It was sweet but just a bit out of the typical user's monetary reach. I know it would be out of mine. Ray, I don't remember seeing such a catastrophe in your shop since you have moved to your current shop. I do hope you can perform an "I DO CARS" video on this one. Great video....

[@jasonsong86]

They have some pretty affordable ones now that have a side camera on the head.

[@AntonioClaudioMichael]

Good video As always Raymond @Rainman Ray's Repairs

[@garynewell6947]

Good day to you Ray another most excellent video Ray but the most important thing is to have your self a great day Ray

[@YaksAttack]

Man these pentastars never fail to deliver. Work for Chrysler and you'll never go hungry, that's for sure

[@Werewolfmage]

def junk for sure. i cant stand them when they roll into my shop

[@HandyAndy1776]

@Rainman we had one come in our shop that died while driving such as this. I found that it dropped an intake valve bending a rod. Keep up the good work pal. I’m up in the Rust Belt in Philly

[@stuglenn1112]

When it comes to Stellantis I'm not surprised when an engine blows up, I am surprised when its doesn't.

[@nychold]

I'd like to see the wrist pin and the underside of the piston. If that somehow locked up, the crank could've broken the rod off then hammered the piston up into the valves.

[@litz13]

The wrist pin was in the pile of carnage. In perfect condition, naturally.

[@johncolaneri6488]

Hey ray, could definitely be a hydro lock.

[@davidclemens1578]

If it was hydrolocked, it would not allow the Piston to come up high enough to hit the valves even if they were all open and judging by this picture would have been at the same time which cannot happen. I think Ray is correct by concluding that the rod snapped and the two pieces contacted in a position that allowed the piston to be pushed too far up into the head. You could be right though that it did hydrolock the first time which bent the Rod. The only way to tell is to take the engine apart and see if the piston was rotating in the cylinder at an angle creating more stress on the rod before it snapped.

[@TheOzthewiz]

Bonus video, "rainman ray's repairs" AND "I do cars" combined into ONE video! GREAT!

[@matthewturgeon767]

Great content I have also fixed broken valve springs and the famous oil cooler housing underneath the intake manifolds.

[@kysersoze3767]

Welcome to "Car-topsy"...Dr.Rainman M.E. (Motor Examiner)

[@paulhampel8566]

Hello from UK Ray love ya channel,if it was my car wouldn’t have the engine repaired couldn’t trust it ,would replace with a salvaged engine , less hours less expense ,keep up the good work Ray look forward to seeing the outcome and more videos,all the best 🚗🛠️

[@ivoryjohnson4662]

Maybe he was doing the person a favor fixing it cheap to give them a few more weeks

[@brianmac1]

Had a couple of these experiences in my early days with British cars, I still have what's left of the pistons and rods on the wall as trophies. But having owned Japanese cars for the last 40 years, these sorts of failures are a fond memory. To be fair, knowing when to switch an engine off and not keep driving helps I guess.

[@Idrinklight44]

I love the oil mix!!

[@northpoint1039]

Customer: "Its your fault! It ran fine until you fixed the brakes". lol...

[@robertjones8225]

I hope you get the opportunity to do a complete exploratory on that motor and find out what happened cuz that's one heck of a catastrophic failure and I would love to know what happened

[@michaelmichalski4588]

The second i heard the noise I was thinking "I know that sound, he threw a rod through the block". I did that many years ago on a Hyundai Excel. (I initially said Geo, but I remembered it was a Hyundai) It punched three holes in the oil pan and busted a hole in the side of the block. The oil sprayed out of the engine and the mist ignited and there was a giant plume of flame behind me and the back of the car was covered in soot. The piston was sitting in the pan and when I pulled what was left of the rod out of the gaping hole in the side of the engine it resembled a bent pork chop bone and it took a second to realize what it was. A few hours later I came back and tried to start it. It was super loud, but ran real smooth and I drove it the last two blocks home with no oil. I actually considered disabling that valve, patching up the block and the pan and driving it like that.

[@AN-12345]

For checking pressure I fully support the usage of whatever you find in the leftovers. Nothing is going to be damaged by that, short of filling the block with gear oil.

[@yhird]

It would be interesting to see what the max engine rpm was recorded by engine computer before the failure. It may provide some evidence later.

[@frazzledude]

That was my thought, too. Apparently it was driving on the freeway when the engine let go. So, maybe the transmission disengaged or momentarily went into neutral for some reason and the engine over sped when the load was suddenly removed. And perhaps the rev limiter couldn’t catch it in time. But that cracked piston and disintegrated rod definitely looks like an over speed failure.

[@yhird]

@@frazzledude You make excellent points.

[@robertwillemsen368]

I really do not believe this failure happend on high rev's. Engine would have destroyed completely on high rev's. This was, in my opinion, a low rev or idle failure

[@ronaldbrown5745]

The engine can't over rev as the electronics prevent it.

[@larrybe2900]

IMO, the failure was in the works when Ray had it previously. It could have been a small piece of the valve break and be enough to offer the low compresion initially and then break free to cause the carnage.

[@jamram9924]

Those older 3.3 and 3.8 engines were actually well built. I’ve seen many of these engines with 200-300k miles.

[@PuuhisPete]

My 3.8 had 502000kms, only chain was replaced at 350k and there was nothing wrong with the engine, without rust problems, car would be still my daily..

[@TotMannsFete]

As someone who knows next to nothing about cars, seeing how fiddly and finicky working on vehicles can be made me appreciate the work car mechanics do so so much more.

[@michaelwilkening8542]

Glad to see I am not the only mechanic that watches I do cars to see the destruction. I worked at a local race sho and have seen much greater destruction than you see there. Like a nitro motor with the head totally blown off.

[@Avalanche2]

Red RTV is perfect for exhausts, the LS swap guys use it to seal headers as well. It's pretty common.

[@joshua_lee732]

Also was likely leaking right there and someone couldn't find a gasket.

[@patrickgoodwin3085]

I'm also curious to see what else is within the carnage to be found.

[@OKHotrodder-cg5gu]

My brother-in-laws dodge van had a shake at idle. It was slowly getting worse over the course of 6 months. I diag it different times. The first time I opened the valve cover, I was sure the lifters and rockers were the issue and ruined the cams. Completely grooved cams and locked up rollers. After replacing lifters/rockers, and cams the shake got better but was still there. 2 months later, shake came back 10 times worse. Engine would barely stay running. This time, pulled it down, did another compression check and #2 had 60 psi. It went from 90 to 130 after I replaced the lifters and cams. I replaced the head and every issue went away. Now, every chrysler/jeep that comes in with the 3.6 pentastar I automatically think it needs a new head. They had a recall on earlier models and supposedly fixed them but they didn't. I have four customers that I've told need a head and they all said they'll trade them in. Evertime I do a proce check at the dealer, the heads are on backorder. The last one took 4 months to get. Do not get an aftermarket rebuilt head. You'll have the same issue very soon if you do. I have a '23 Ram 3.6 sitting at the shop with a hole in the block. Thrown rod. 40k mile truck. Took to dealer, they claimed Chrysler said lack of maintenance and denied the repair. Has 60k mile drivetrian warranty and all but the last 10k miles the dealer did the oil changes. So don't use any oil change shop except the dealer or they can deny repairs. They quoted $14k to replace the engine. The owner is still paying the $980 a month payment and it's been sitting here for 5 months.

[@johnluszey1734]

Great content Ray👍

[@trailerpark187]

If I remember right, the compression was low on cylinder 3. So I'm guessing the old injector was probably leaking fuel or just failed filling cylinder 3 with fuel, causing a hydrolock situation, bending the rod, thus causing the rod to fail

[@johnsortino]

Came here to say basically the same thing.

[@steve5x565]

Except he replaced that injector in the last video on this car

[@thepubliceye]

@@steve5x565 New don't make it good.

[@mrmustangman]

no trouble codes

[@raidkoast]

But then how did the piston smash in to the head? The fluid locking it would have stopped that from happening. Unless, It locked, cracked, spun a lap and some how let go on TDC or something... But I feel like the rod would have snapped on "lock" then just left the piston a bit below TDC..

[@nemesismcc]

The fact that there are not ANY engine codes means there was no prewarning of the engine failure, had it been a fueling issue there would have been a misfire indicated on that cylinder, or a fueling fault idicated ie lean or over rich trouble codes, the fact that the ECU did not pick up on any issues is highly unsual in a total failure like this, it seems like it was an instantanious detonation in number three, where by the piston cracked and became wedged in the cylinder on the up stroke, bent the rod that then broke free, sending the piston up against the valve set and then destroying the block and oil sump

[@steve5x565]

Finally someone with some knowledge, so refreshing to see in a comment section that is full of internet ‘master techs’. DTCs won’t tell you what failed but would indicate misfires and incorrect exhaust gases if the injector was dumping enough fuel to lock the piston in the cylinder. Generally I don’t see cracked piston crowns from hydro locks, bent/snapped rods and smashed skirts but the crown is usually in one piece, but I haven’t worked on these engines. Whatever happened here seems to have happened extremely quickly, I would have checked to see if there were any pending codes and how long since the codes were reset, a lot of people try to hide stuff these days with their cheap Bluetooth OBD tools. Either way, I would want to take it apart to find out anyway, these days though people don’t want to pay for that extra time, they just want a new engine installed and not to know if it could just be fixed with a new short block.

[@theodorgiosan2570]

Possible that it had a cracked head or blown head gasket and hydrolocked on coolant, and that problem might have started previously when it had low compression on that cylinder. The rod may have already been bent contributing to the catastrophic failure later.

[@miketdavies]

Would be interesting to see when the codes were last cleared (eg if cleared by Ray, or after the fact) to see if some evidence was deleted.

[@gregadams558]

It's the new Pentistar 3.0 v5

[@jimdavis6833]

Back in the day, we called the windage tray a splash pan.

[@James_Hough]

Well, no matter what engine it is, mechanics generally only sees the broken ones, so it's skewed sample.

[@ednorton47]

Stellantis should have stuck with the 225 Slant-Six. You wouldn't be having these problems.

[@johncherish7610]

The slant six was indestructible, but couldn't meet pollution standards without being severely underpowered, that said modern Chrysler / Stellantis engines are all junk and known for their engine problems across all their product lines

[@genehanson573]

Great video and engine failure investigation Ray!!

[@suuperdwarf]

i've got an 01 grand caravan with the 3.3 v6 and 299k miles that recently did something similar. it developed a knock on the freeway between pickup and the first stop on my delivery route at 3AM over 100 miles from home, so i kept driving it, it survived the whole route then locked up on my way home. the wrist pin on cylinder 2 broke off, and the crank side of that connecting rod oblonged out until one side snapped. some of the other pistons have marks from hitting the crank also.

[@davidgherardi7414]

Now I'm not a mechanic with your knowledge Ray, but when that #3 combustion chamber had such low compression that was a red flag for something seriously wrong. Always look forward to your next video and keep up the great work!

[@larrybe2900]

The problem leading to this destruction was present when the low compression was detected. Most likely was a cracked valve that gave way and that piece of metal grenaded the cylinder. It wouldn't take much metal to block the travel at the top of the piston.

[@davidgherardi7414]

@@larrybe2900 That's a good analysis! 👍

[@TheStobyReport]

@@larrybe2900But you’d see multiple points of strike damage on the piston top, which we don’t. Hydro lock would look just like that.