Hi, this is Eddie with Powertrain Products Incorporated. We get a lot of questions from our customers about 4.7, 5.7, 3.7 dodge engines. What exactly happens to them, and what can they do to prevent a problem after installation. One of the biggest issues that we’re seeing in these engines is the valve seats dropping. Powered metal seats that Chrysler used from the factory have a tendency to fall out of the bottom of the cylinder head, anywhere from 60,000 miles and upwards to 300,000 miles. It’s a random occurrence, and unfortunately, as best as we can tell, there’s really no way to prevent it. It is accelerated by heat. In the event that the engines are on hot, this is a little more prone to happen.
One of the things that we run into when this occurs, metal from the seats is broken up on top of the cylinders and is ejected throughout the engine. Usually, the engine gets shut down or stops. When this happens, it throws the metal back into the intake manifold. In some cases, this metal’s so hot, because it’s coming out of the combustion chamber, that it actually will adhere to the inside of these plastic manifolds. If the mechanic doesn’t take the necessary precautions to clean the intake, or in the event that the intake is not cleanable, replace the intake manifold, this old metal from the engine could find its way back into the new engine. Upon ingestion, will destroy the brand new engine.
It’s imperative that these manifolds are cleaned properly, hot-tanked, high pressure-washed, scrubbed down, shake-tested, cut in half, a bomb set off in them, whatever it is that you can do to get them correct, but you’ve got to get all the metal out of them to prevent these failures.