It finally happened. After all the reading I have done on the problems with the valve springs and thinking it would never happen to me, I dropped one yesterday evening. I have 123,000 on my truck. I was driving home yesterday evening and the truck started shuddering and I pulled over on the interstate. The engine was running very rough and eventually died. I cranked it up and the check engine light started flashing so I shut it off again. I flashed the computer and got two codes, p0300 and p0306, for multiple cylinder misfire and cylinder #6 misfire. I called a known dealer in Baton Rouge to ask what it could be. They said it sounded like bad gas. I cranked the truck up and drove another 6 miles to a dealer in Amite. They were closed so I locked the truck and left it there overnight since my wife had met me there. I went back this morning and told them about it. When I drove the truck around one of the techs yelled at me to turn it off "NOW"! He said without looking at it that I had a broken valve spring and I could ruin the motor. I left it with them and sure enough, they calle dme back about an hour ago and said the #6 spring was broken but the valve did not drop out. I was lucky in that sense because if it had I could have major internal problems. They told me it would be around $300 to repair and will be running tomorrow evening.
What I need now is acouple of things:
1. Where is this recall I have been reading about on the '03 problems?
2. What is the number to Dodge customer service?
3. Should they be replacing all the springs or just the one that broke?
They said all they can do is replace the one that broke, but I am worried now that another could go and maybe cost me an engine! What do you think I should do at this point?

cdover73

 

check the driver side door. it will say the month the trruck was built. my 03 was built in march of 03 and the problem was supposed to be fixed by i believe december 02 or january 03. not positive though. i dont have any clue on the recall as my local dealer looked at me like i was dumb when i last asked about it. i would invest in a set of new valve springs for a few hundred bucks if where you to help add more protection due to your high milage

 

Hate to bring this subject up again, but, cdover, did your hemi make that ticking noise? I'm just curious. For the few of us here that have had a spring fail I am wonderng if they all had the tick. Also, you mention cylinder 6 which is on the passenger side. Iremember a few people here (including myself) mentioned that their tick is louder on the passeger side. Now I know that correlation is a reach, but I tend to put more faith in factual evidence than the "cover up" or shoulder shrug answers we get from the dealers and DCX.
As far as your current dilemma I would tell them to replace all the springs. They already havesome of the top end opened up. Might as well do it all and just pay for the extra labor and parts. OR at 123k miles just have them get it running and sell/trade the truck. You could also do an entire top end rebuild and turn it into a 6.1L if that is your thing.

Dean, my truck was built in 6/03. Do you think it is possible that engines/parts manufactured prior to 12/02 could have gone into assembly in early to mid 03?If so, then we could have a problem as well despite DCX's claim to solve the problem early in 03.

 

I'd also like to find out more about the ticking. A buddy of mine has an '03 Hemi and I have noticed that his ticks.

 

yah, mine ticks as well and the ticking is coming from the left side as well.....maybe if i beat it enough it'll go bad and can get it fixed under warranty lol

 

Is this all valve springs, or just the exhaust? Mine was built in June 03, and it ticks once in a while, but I've been using fram filters. https://dodgeforum.com/m_742533/mpag.../tm.htm#742533
Now, thanks to this forum, I have that to worry about and my factorylimited slip diff.clips https://dodgeforum.com/m_658337/tm.htm
If this is the case, if I'm changing valve springs, it would be a good time to change the cam too.

 

damn these hemis!! i guess i heard wrong then. there was a guy on this site a while back that was checking peoples vin for them to see the exact build date to tell if they should have the springs looked at/repalced. he worked for dodge etc... and was saying that late 02 and really early 03's had issues to watch out for. mines at 62000 miles and no problem. the only tick i really get is when the hood is popped and i put my head by the cylinder heads. then its a tickticktickticktick really fast. its louder on the passenger side but i cant hear it in cab or out side of it unless i put my head next to the gap of the hood and fenders.
this the tick ya'll are gettin or was/is ya'lls louder?

cordoba man i already blew a rear end at 52 thousand and caught it early enough errr managed to not let it destroy anything but the lsd...somehow. when it goes again hopefully i can be as lucky and slap an auburn in there!

doing just the springs is a simple pull the valve covers and not much else i think (correct me if im wrong please) you can use the 6.1L exhaust springs for all the springs on our 5.7 and they cost like $1.50 a piece!

 

the tick i have is way loud, couldnt hear it inside the cab untill after i put the CAI on it and now it's a no-brainer to hear....not too worried about it, if it breaks then it breaks.....yah if the rearend in my truck goes to hell, i'm buyin a detroit locker...aint gonna mess around with all the crap.....

i had the rearend in my 02 ram replaced twice in 80,000 miles and it the 4.7 with 3.55 gears, no LSD

 

odd i thought the clips in the lsd broke off and caused the damage? what oil do you use? i guess my hemi isnt ticking like others then

 

in my 02 the side bearings failed, but they never told me why and i guess i never asked...at the time i didnt really care lol.....i use Mobil1 5W-30 and have been since i bought the truck...the tick has always been there