..... so I hear there were lifter? Issues with the mid teens years motors .... and the 5? Speed trannies almost in the same year mix ??? ... school me on which years to avoid ... thx

I have a 3.6 in my 16 Durango. It's got about 55k on it, and we've had it for about 2 years. We've replaced 3 coil packs, but that's it.

Guide issues on the early 3.6 - the 5 speed NAG trans is a pretty good unit.


Sorry - wrong engine. 3.6 had issues early on with misfire due to cracked heads and a cam passer issue.

Warranty was extended on early models for the engine I think to 150K miles.

Someone told me the early ones had valve seats the fell out. We had a 13 durango with 5 speed and never had a problem, my sister inlaw has it with over 100,000 still good. We have a 15 300 and its been great also.

I think the lifter problems were with the earlier (2006-10) 3.5. Valve seat dropping was the pre-'09 5.7 Hemi.

I always avoided them because the you get better power and similar milage with a 318. I will not think twice about a slant 6 powered truck though- I had a few 225s that were great.

If the price was right I wouldn’t hesitate to daily drive a mopar v6 but it’d have to be a drive it till the wheels fall off beater.

I pulled a 3.6 out of a dakota I used as a donor for IFS & rack & pinion steering- had it for sale for months complete throttle body to pan with a trans attached. It started at $400, then $100, then free. Turns out I literally couldn’t give it away. It got disassembled and scrapped. I kept the starter and hardware.

3.6L too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5GlHp2qlDE (it's worth it to tolerate the annoying commentary in the beginning, so stick with it.......)

Also, there is an oil filter housing issue: https://youtu.be/jjGnEI1HmNY

Definitely issues up to I believe 2015. Here's a link on the left cylinder head failure and extended warranty https://www.motortrend.com/news/chrysler-extends-pentastar-v-6-warranties/

I've never heard of it on the 3.5's and I can tell you they have been absolute workhorses in our fleet Chargers! Other than the standard wear items, the 3.5's keep on going and going and going. Less power and refinement of course than the 3.6, but we have some 3.6's with very loud lifters. Granted, they haven't been treated the best and I'm not even certain they have been getting the right viscosity oil, but that goes for both our 3.5's and 3.6's.

Our NAG1's have been durable.

A Dakota engine would be a 3.9 Magnum/LA derivative.

Different (considerably older) engine family than the 3.6L Phoenix/Pentastar.

I researched until I couldn't stand it anymore and threw down for a 2017.
To me it seems newer=better when it comes to that particular hunk of plastic and aluminum....

I work on city fleet vehicles and just replaced the cams and all rockers in a 2014 3.6 pentastar Charger. The bearings on the rockers failed and it ate the cam lobes. The fact the dealer stocked cams and rockers tells me something.

Our 14 3.6 Charger has over 80,000 miles with no issues and will get 26 mpg on the interstate.

I've got a 2014 300 with the Pentastar motor, & it is noisy on cold start & for about 2 miles, but then it quiets down. It runs well. I took it over to my Dodge dealer last fall with about 90,000 miles & had them listen to it, & they wanted to do surgery, but I do not trust the mechanics at that dealer for serious stuff like this. A few weeks later, I took it to a different local Chrysler dealer with heavy mechanics I trust a lot more, & their head tech said the motor sounded fine so no valve train problems.

The way these lifters are made, seems like they ALL will go bad. Not even a matter of IF, but WHEN. I'm looking for a newer one right now that is certified. Time to trade this one in since it's out of drivetrain warranty & it's AWD.

That sounds like my '13 300S, 85,000 miles. Kinda sounded like exhaust leak. Took it in and they found 5 bad rocker arms, they replaced all 24 with an updated part, all under warranty. I had them change the plugs and PCV since they were already in there and saved a few bucks on the maintenance. I traded it off shortly afterwards not because of any engine concern but found a smoking deal on the '16 300 I have now.

Robert

I have an idea if they cracked my motor open, most if not all rocker arms would be bad. They said they were all good when I was still under warranty. Time to just sell it. I'm due trans service & tune-up right now.

I wonder if the later 3.6's still have this issue?