I have an 04 hemi Quad 4x4, 20K on the odometer and yesterday I was driving down the freeway at about 70 MPH and all of a sudden it started to shake like the road was bumpy...I moved around the road trying to find a smoother spot and it did not mak a difference...Then I thought I had a flat..So I pulled off the road and the engine was running so rough that it eventually died. It would restart but it ran rough and had no power there were no unsunal noises, ticking or backfiring...In park I reved it to around 2500 RPM it did smooth out but it was hard to keep there and at 3000 rpm it cut out...I did notice the voltage meter was moving around like the generator was not keeping up the charge??? Not sure of the problem...I had it towed to the local dealer and they said they will look at it on Monday...Any ideas? This is the first problem I have had with this truck

 

From what I've seen on other posts I would believe your Hemi broke a valve spring. There is a service bulletin for defective valve springs, mostly in 03 Hemi's and early 04 Hemi's. When was your vehicle built. Also from other posts you might have to force the dealer to replace the entire motor, since damage to the pistons is a possibility...please keep the site informed of your repairs and status.....I also have an 04 Hemi, but I only have 9,000 miles...

 

If it was a valve spring you'd hear something banging around like a lifter/rocker arm, or valve hitting a piston.

It's possible that an eletrical problem was interferring with the PCM enough to cause the engine have problems.

 

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As it turns out is was a broken valve spring..The dealer says that the hemi's are having a problem with the springs. Dodge is on their third version of valve springs. They said the springs bulge out when compressed so they put a sleeves around them. The dealer replace alll of the springs even though only one broke.. They had the truck about two weeks becasue it took a while for them to figure out the problem and parts took about a week to get.

Then when I got it back on Wed there was a big puddle of oil on the driveway and a lot of oil under the truck. They towed it back to the shop and said the oil filter was loose and there was another leak but he did not know where. The tow truck driver pinched a break line and now they need to wait for a part to fix that...So now I'm back to a loaner until Monday or Tues.[:@]

Dodge is aware of this problem and there is a recall out on this..Not sure if I want to keep the truck now...I might take a look at the cummins or even the Nissan truck...

 

Wow, sorry to hear your woes....

Your dealer should be BENDING OVER BACKWARDS to make you very, very, happy at this time. If not, I would be shopping for another brand of truck as well. I would be sure to parade by that dealer every now and then so they could see that they lost a once very loyal customer. I say you must be very loyal because I don't think I could have lasted as long (3 weeks!!!?) as you have without either taking a flame thrower to their building or kicking someone's a@#! This is unsatisfactory and you should let them know it! I love my Dodge Hemi, but if it were giving me the problems you've had I would seriously reconsider the competition.

Good luck - keep your head up - and keep us posted as to how this turns out!!

 

Yeah, and if you were to get a GM product you would never be dissappointed. You know it's goin to be a POS from the beginning, so when it breaks and is in the shop for three weeks, NO BIG DEAL. You knew it was gonna happen!
Not to mention that the lack of quality and tasteless interiors would lull you into a numb state in which quality was no longer appreciated.

I think if I have one problem (that is fixed for free, under warranty), I'm gonna jump ship too!
It's just too easy!

 

Not call BS on anyone here, but I still can't find anything about a recall for valve springs on the Hemi. My brother works at the dealer and is checking on it now.

 

Todd, there is not a "recall" out on this.... yet. But there is a tsb out on it, but I don't know the number. I do know it has not been made public yet. A dealer has to call chrystar (dealer assistance), to find out about it because it is still not finished yet.

Joe

 

Keep us posted on any developments on this one, as there are a lot of Hemi Ram owners here! I'm nearing 25K miles on mine, and although I've had no engine problems yet, this one is always in the back of my mind!