2007 Dodge Ram 1500 with V6 and 200k miles on it.
For a while I thought I was having valve lifter noise, It would start early but tend to die down after running for 5 minutes.
I was thinking about replacing lifters but before I could, my truck start running bad and then a loud clunk and clanking happened and engine stopped.
Towed truck home and looked at engine and there was hole in rocker cover with push rod sticking thru it.
So far one mechanic said he had seen this before when a valve seat would fail causing the push rod to go off the rocker arm.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Thanks for any help[

 

Welcome to DF!

I've see it on other engines before.... but, those were generally solid-lifter motors, and folks neglected valve adjustments..... Dropping a seat could hold the valve open far enough for the push rod to escape (at high velocity....) Pull the valve cover, see what you find. Renting a bore scope would be a good idea as well, and see what things look like inside the affected cylinder.

 

Damn, nice answer.
I will do it and post what I found.
I was expecting my engine to last longer than 200k but I put some hard miles on that little V6.
Thank you

 

So tell me again how a single overhead cam engine had a pushrod to push through the cover........?

 

Like Magnoom says, you need a new mechanic!