The valve guides are worn out and this happened at 55,000 miles.
My 1998 Dodge Ram is the last Dodge product I will ever own.
The valve guides are worn out at 55,000 miles. It won't pass the smog test next year here in California because of this. I would love to sell it, but I am stuck with it until I cough up the 1,000 dollars or so to fix it. I am still glad I did not fall for the "Extended Service Contract"! It would have cost me a whole lot more than this repair!
This worn out engine tells me that Chrysler won't warranty their vehicles to last more than 36,000 miles... and they want YOU to pay for defects by buying the expensive service contract. If you do not... they act like it was all your fault for not knowing the vehicle would be defective!
Well. I, like thousands of others felt I needed no expensive "Extended Warranty" for my Dodge. After all, it was a great product, right? Wrong. I will fix my truck and trade it for a Chevy truck next month.
My family was raised on Dodges. They were all we ever drove. Things have now changed. I sure hope a Chevy will be a good choice!
I would like to take into question the service you had done on the vehicle yourself. the heat of california will cause the oil to wear out faster as a result of thermal break down, the oil starts hotter and never fully cools off. plus have to consider the grade and quality of the oil that was used, quaker state is a very poor oil. you might as well just shoot the engine if you give it quaker state. in my experience with the 360 v-8 it is a tough engine that doesn't know when to die, the camshaft on our 85 ramcharger went and the 360 still went plowing with 5 cylinders firing, and occasionally a 6th.
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