Hemi Camshaft Failure Mystery Explained

Lots of You Tube videos on this.. All the previous You Tubes that I have watched pointed to roller lifter failures. Seems like this guy may have found an underlying issue. I know this has been a problem on the 5.7 but not sure about the 6.4

I've built a few engines in my time and this guy makes a whole lot of sense. Ain't no way I'd ever have a modern Hemi, which, BTW needs to be recalled and replaced. The original 426 Hemi was bullet proof. I don't know why Dodge didn't just repeat that design in a smaller engine.

Being a Chrysler tech. We have a lot of Hemis come through the shop. We only do about a handful of cam failures a year. I do agree that it’s bad design. I haven’t watched the video but I will. I think it’s about Physics and the angles between the cam and lifters.

I’ll watch the video and post what I see that he sees and what I see.

Like that guy !

This is exactly why we always had the interns and new, young hires teamed with an old time physicist...and coined green light/red light designers. This guy will know much more and/or be able to figure things out a super computer won't find...until they reload a new DB that has 'that' metric...but then the other stuff will have to come as they figure it out

Wonder if there is enough room for a spray system to shoot oil up there. Of course an electric pump with enough PSI & GPH to do the job. That used to be something racers who had the money would do...to both cool the piston bottoms and provide extra lube to those components. That is what Ford has done with the Eco gassers...wonder if the other OEM are likewise with their small displacement with huge amounts of boost do

Also, why I love Molybdenum Disuflide in all my ICE's. Even lawn mowers, chain saws, line trimmers, etc. It naturally plates a layer or more of Molyb on surfaces and if/when it goes dry...the coefficient of friction is still very low..pretty near what a dino oil film would provide

It appears idling is what accelerates the failure. If so police applications must be experiencing high failure rates.

hvac wrote:
It appears idling is what accelerates the failure. If so police applications must be experiencing high failure rates.

That is true, incredible failure rates here locally. The 2011-2014 seem to be the worst. The local pd has auctioned off the majority of Chargers. The City mechanics are continually pulling these apart, repairing them only to have to do it again. Really something not right with this engine.

I visited a Ram dealer back in early March to look at some Jeep Wranglers and couldn't help notice that 50% of RAM HD trucks on the lot were powered by Hemi engines. I've never seen this many in HD trucks and this area is surrounded by farmers and ranchers who historically purchased diesels for the most part.

ksss wrote:

hvac wrote:
It appears idling is what accelerates the failure. If so police applications must be experiencing high failure rates.

That is true, incredible failure rates here locally. The 2011-2014 seem to be the worst. The local pd has auctioned off the majority of Chargers. The City mechanics are continually pulling these apart, repairing them only to have to do it again. Really something not right with this engine.

We do work for a couple of towns around us. It’s not idling. It’s the geometry of the cam and lifters in relation to the pushrod/rocket arm. Also the poor quality roller bearings in the lifter. With the amount of Hemis on the road the failure rate is very minimal.

FishOnOne wrote:
I visited a Ram dealer back in early March to look at some Jeep Wranglers and couldn't help notice that 50% of RAM HD trucks on the lot were powered by Hemi engines. I've never seen this many in HD trucks and this area is surrounded by farmers and ranchers who historically purchased diesels for the most part.

Prolly because they sold all the diesels and were sitting on the last 9 months of Hemi trucks! Lol.

I have 2012 300c awd. My favorite car ever, but at 95k miles I'm concerned. She is noisy on cold starts. Hemi tick and it lasts for a couple of miles.