I heard it from the dealer when they pulled my engine out. The #6 cylinder is always the one to go when it happens. on mine, it happened in two cylinders. they said they have done several of them, although it is not a huge common problem. I personally spoke to the mechanic also, so it wasn't bs from the service writer or anything. just something to look out for. It was only for those 2 years. I posted a thread on it a while back...it happened on new years eve to me. blew a whole in 2 pistons. I'll even post up the invoice on replaced parts if I can find it and you guys would like to see it...

 

oh, I don't doubt you at all, it's just I've been on various Dodge and Hemi related forums for going on 3 years now. Hang with a Mopar performance shop owner and play golf with the sales and service managers of my local dealership. I've done mod work on at least a dozen in those years for friends and people I've met on the forum who are local to me, and I've not heard of it before. To say it's any type of common problem at all just kinda blew my mind. You'd think a search across half a dozen forums woulda picked something up. I mean I found threads where cyl 6 blew, for sure, but just as many for 2 and 4. And none mentioned anything about it being a common issue...

 

mine blew cylinder #4 and #6...let me re-phrase this. its not a common problem, the dealer did not say that. they said they have had to pull engines due to this before, and it was a flaw in the block/head design that makes #6 always the one to go. They had a procedure for repairing it, and knew exactly what needed to be done. So I guess what I was trying to say is that the particular dealership I took mine to recognized it as a design flaw, admitted to seeing it happen before, and happily covered it all under warranty. I would not hold off a purchase because of this, I would just pay closer attention to running 89 octane ALL the time and keep a close eye on the plug change intervals. one of those things to keep in the back of your mind in case you get a cylinder misfire code on #6 especially.

 

I was going to ask you if you had a habit of running 87 octane fuel in it, since under octane fuel is the chief cause of pre-detonation.
So I guess basically what you are saying is that if you have a pre-detonation issue and a cylinder is gonna go, #6 appears to be the weaker one due to a poor design?

 

yep, thats basically it in a nutshell. I admit, (but not to the dealer) that a couple of months over the summer after I lost my job i was running 87 in it most of the time. Was that what made it happen? i dunno, cant say. But i will religiously put in and preach to everyone else that 89 is the way to go lol. I never towed or did any hauling with it in that period, and never drove long distances either. either way, it sucked. buy an 04 if you find a good deal and it has what you want on it. I dont regret buying mine, its been the best vehicle i have ever owned.

 

you think the hemi runs better on mid grade? ive never tried anything other then regular.

 

mine runs better and gets better mileage on 89 octane. plus, it says straight from dodge to only run 89 in my 2004. I swear by it now, and would highly recommend it...just my opinion.

 

When an engine states "for best performance use 89 octane fuel" I wouldn't even go close to putting 87 in it.

Must be a reason all the canned tuner companies have come out with tunes that detune the engine to "safely" run 87 octane.

Straight from Superchips: "87 Octane Tune: Allows you to run regular unleaded fuel safely for improved drivability and reduced fuel expense"

My Grand Cherokee Overland recommends 91 Octane but states that knock sensors and retarders in the engine allow for the use of 87 Octane with reduced performance. My local performance shop guru looked me dead in the eye and told me he's pulled fuel trims off the 4.7 H.O., and said "Don't ever run 87 octane in that engine, or 89 either, for that matter."

Makes you want to say, "hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"...