squirt a LOT of penetrating oil down in there on a regular basis and let it soak for a day or two. leave that one until last, but eventually - i'd remove it one way or the other before i put any money in that engine.

 

I'd say it's a lost cause if it has been doing this since 07.

 

its been good up until the last two months. It did run well.

It seems like if someone forced the SP into the head. It does un-tighten but it jams again toward the middle.

So does this engine have hope?

 

a compression test will tell.

if all 6 cylinders have good compression, then you just need to identify and fix the valve train problem, clean it up, and drive it another 100k. if you have a cylinder in a V6 with no compression, it becomes questionable.

if it runs really really ****ty, its possible that it jumped timed and bent a pushrod.

this is a question - any way to tell if its jumped timed w/o pulling the timing cover off ???

 

There must be a reason for that pushrod to have escaped. It could be that the lifter totally collapsed, or that the valve got stuck. If the push rod is bent you've probably got a bent or stuck valve, otherwise it's probably a collapsed lifter or a broken valve spring. In either case, pluck that lifter out and bleed test it.

To be on the safe side, you should remove the valve cover and inspect the rocker, valve spring, etc. above that push rod. And before you put everything back together, with the problem possibly fixed, crank the engine over to check that the lifter, pushrod, rocker arm, and valve all move when they're supposed to.

 

ill remove the valve cover tomorrow and take some more pictures of it. Ill keep you guys posted.
Again, thank you soo much for all your help. Very much appriciated. I really want to get this RAM ramming again.

 

Once you have it up and running again, tell them to go someplace else for their oil changes........

 

i think just doing an oil change about once a year will be a big improvement

 

lol. I think the previous owners didnt take care of it either.
On another note, I wasnt able to work on it today cause I went
fishing the whole morning lol. Pics will be up tomorrow.

 

here are the pics when I removed the valve gasket