3.3 and 3.8 V6's, MUST READ FOR ALL!

krabysniper said

And as a tech for a dealership for 20 years, you have access to the tsb's. Like I said, you can look it up. Only repair for a broken camshaft in a 3.3 or 3.8 with any significant wear (I consider 88 thousand miles to be wear and a camshaft that has failed is damage) is to replace the short block. As per chryslers own documents. Correct?

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Not necessarily. Cam bearings typically wear very little in a properly maintained engine, that is why most engine overhaul kits do not include the cam bearings. There would be no reason to expect cam bearings at 88k miles to be worn anywhere near the service limit. Also, depending on how the cam broke there may not be any damage to the bearings or the block.

I have no knowledge of the compentence or business practices of the dealership you took your van to but if the TSB told them to look for wear and damage and a competent mechanic measured the bearings and they were with in their service limits and no damage was detected, replacing just the cam was exactly the right thing to do.

You have to remember if the dealer goes outside the limits of what the factory has authorized them to do they eat the additional cost. It's not resonable to expect them to make repairs based on what you think they should do if it's being done under warranty.