Article: Possible fix for 3.6

[Deleted User 38384]

Please be aware of the excessive amount of cursing if you do watch the tic-toc video listed inside this article.

I've been reading a lot of 3.6 threads lately with heads going bad, camshafts going to ****, along with a plethora of other issues that seem to plague them.

This article identifies one specific part that affects all of those parts beneath it, which might be the cause of a lot of the issues the 3.6 owners are having.

https://www.dailydot.com/news/dodge-pentastar-engines-misfiring/?amp

At minimum it's definitely something worth keeping an eye on. Especially if you are early into your years with your 3.6.

I'm not sure if there are any better quality aftermarket parts available for this piece, but if there are, it might be something worth looking into.

(Admins, if this is in the wrong forum, feel free to move it. Thank you)

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[kah.mun.rah]

I have always had trust issues with rockers

 

[Spank]

Finally. After all this time. Some answers.

 

[2nd 392]

Does Crane or other aftermarket valve train suppliers make them ? I have run Crane roller rockers on SB, BB Chevys and my V10 Dodge. Far superior to OEM.
Why am I thinking of Mel Gibson ?

 

[Jeep Wick]

So they are blaming bad rockers??
Seems like a simplified answer to what's going on. Are they made out of spec, bent? Are the 'revised' rockers supposed to be better? What's the difference? We didn't get many answers out of that article.

 

[58Willys]

Does Crane or other aftermarket valve train suppliers make them ? I have run Crane roller rockers on SB, BB Chevys and my V10 Dodge. Far superior to OEM.

I haven’t found anyone that is making aftermarket rockers for the 3.6.

The more I look into this, the more I think it’s an oiling issue; not an oil viscosity issue, but lack of pressure oiling to the rocker assembly. The rocker is oiled from pressurized oil from the lash adjuster. However once oil leaves the lash adjuster it’s just splash oiling. Probably need an oil jet squirting right at the cam lobe/high lift finger. A roller rocker arm would help. I spoke with Melling, “no plans currently, possibly in the future”. Hopefully someone will come out with an aftermarket roller before all our motors grenade.

 

[mwilk012]

Is this another AI written article about nothing?

 

[2nd 392]

I haven’t found anyone that is making aftermarket rockers for the 3.6.

The more I look into this, the more I think it’s an oiling issue; not an oil viscosity issue, but lack of pressure oiling to the rocker assembly. The rocker is oiled from pressurized oil from the lash adjuster. However once oil leaves the lash adjuster it’s just splash oiling. Probably need an oil jet squirting right at the cam lobe/high lift finger. A roller rocker arm would help. I spoke with Melling, “no plans currently, possibly in the future”. Hopefully someone will come out with an aftermarket roller before all our motors grenade.

Should have known— Performance engines get massive aftermarket support. Minivan etc engines not so much.
But if they see a market— perhaps

 

[Remorseless]

Is this another AI written article about nothing?

Pretty much. Everyone knows it's the rocker bearings that fail and allow the rollers to dip below the ears and the ears eat into the cam. Nobody knows whether it's lack of oil or debris in the bearings that causes them to fail, if they did they'd have done revisions like they did with the Hemis. Article just basically says it's the rockers that fail, which is known...

 

[embedded rock]

Guess I'm not clear as to why the rockers at number one are a problem. Least amount of lube at that location?

If this is definitive, maybe this guy could recommend a replacement frequency for the number one rockers. Then, if those two rockers can be replaced without dissembling the front of the motor, the expense could be worth preventing the failure mess.

 

[58Willys]

Pretty much. Everyone knows it's the rocker bearings that fail and allow the rollers to dip below the ears and the ears eat into the cam. Nobody knows whether it's lack of oil or debris in the bearings that causes them to fail, if they did they'd have done revisions like they did with the Hemis. Article just basically says it's the rockers that fail, which is known...

It’s not the ears, in the VVL’s it’s the high lift rub block.

 

[mwilk012]

It’s not the ears, in the VVL’s it’s the high lift rub block.

This article is pretty clearly about the old version.

 

[alphawolff]

So they are blaming bad rockers??
Seems like a simplified answer to what's going on. Are they made out of spec, bent? Are the 'revised' rockers supposed to be better? What's the difference? We didn't get many answers out of that article.

I mean the rockers have been the known failure point for nearly a decade now. They overheat and the bearings fail, causing the rocker's sides to slam and eat into the camshaft (the ticking you hear) until it begins to eat the inside resulting in a lack of proper valve clearance, which leads to the misfire.

Oil is directly responsible for cooling and lubricating these rockers. The upgraded 3.6L in our JLs slightly enlarged the oil feed port for the rockers, but it obviously wasn't enough. The VVL specific rockers also have their own unique rocker failure as well.

Most of the time this failure happens outside of the powertrain warranty so Stellantis doesn't really care to fix it. At the end of the day it comes down to their choice to thin the oil for CAFE standards putting the rockers are increased risk of deterioration.

 

[JJMalone]

It's the high lift follower on the intake cam. It is the black coated inside follower. The low lift followers are the two outside rollers. The hard face sometimes wear through on the high lift follower which is the failure. I had a failure on the #5 high lift follower and the rest of them still looked brand new. The easy way to tell if they have failed is to look at the follower face. If it looks unblemished shiny black it is good. The cam shaft lifting the failed follower will have obvious scoring and wear. It is a crap shoot which engines will have these failures. Mine failed on my '20 JLR at 151 thousand miles. Some of these motors have gone over half a million miles without a failure. These forums magnify everything. The 3.6 is an excellent engine and very reliable and still one of the few production engines with variable valve lift. It also has variable valve timing which most everything has but variable valve lift; not so much. It should be noted that the low lift lobe followers are rollers but the high lift followers are not, they just depend on an oil wedge. I consider this motor giving me over 150,000 miles of reliable service before any failure as acceptable. After replacing the intake cam, the six hydraulic pivots, and the six follower assemblies, it runs like new and seems ready for another 150,000 miles. With cam damage it is wise to also replace the followers that mate to them even though you'll have a bunch of followers that look indistinguishable from new.

 

[Erievon]

I posted this in another thread recently, but here's a repost as it's relevant. I'd say Jeep has some kind of idea what's going on:

I bought my 23 JTR in September of 23, but the build date on it is very early 23. When I took it in for it's very first wave oil change, they called me while it was in and said they had to perform a service bulletin on it, replacing the intake lifters. Mind you, I didn't complain of noise or any issues, I was quite shocked to get the call that they were doing this. This 3.6 was just as quiet and smooth as the one in my 20 JTO was. And after the repair, still sounded quiet and smooth.

On the invoice it says RRT 23-131 was performed. Here's a copy of the work order if it's helpful to anyone. No idea why my truck got this, and my friends JTR, same spec, bought the same day, from the same dealer, did not. But the dealer said my truck was flagged for this in the system, even they weren't sure why, first time they had seen it.

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