03 5.7 down

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Pitmoco

Pitmoco

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Location
Columbus Grove, Ohio
To start off, I am looking for help from you guys to get my truck back on the road. I have posted about this in a couple Dodge truck sites also. But FABO is far better then any other site.

I have an 03 5.7 hemi 2500. 209k on the clock. I pulled into work a while back and it sounded like a panhandler cup asking for money... so I am putting money into it.


I started with plugs and coils. 6 out of 8 coils fell apart when I removed them, not a good start. Plugs were gapped to 100ish. I bought the truck with 206k, wasn't expecting it to be new, but was hoping maintained as it was a service truck for a grain company.


After this didn't work I had it towed home. Ordered some cheap valve springs off rock auto... (shh, I don't want to drop too much in it). I pulled the passenger valve cover and BAM, broken spring. Thought I was lucky to find it right away. Couldn't have been more wrong. One of the keepers was missing, the valve was dropped, I pulled it up with a pen magnet but it felt tight as it slid up to seal..... now this is where I am, most likely a bent valve stem. With the missing keeper, is it in my oil pan? Or somewhere worse?


Soo after this long story. Suggestions on moderately cheap parts to rebuild the heads, I am assuming that this is my next step. I have looked at most online sites ( summit, jegs, auto zone, advance, orylies. even ebay and amazon) all about the same, limited info and scattered prices. Seems they don't like early gen3 hemis.



So now I am all ears (eyes).


Thanks for the input in advance.


Pit
 
if i were in this exact situation, i would pull the head, replace the valve and all springs on that side..
 
Thanks, as of now I am planning on pulling that head and replacing the exhaust valve, new seals, springs and retainers on both heads. Pull the pan and look for the keeper.
 
Cut the oil filter apart and see what's in it. You could be in for a rude awakening. Sorry. :(


Also, pull the other valve cover and inspect the valves on that side of the motor. Early Gen III Hemis have a high failure rate for valve springs. I'd suggest 16 6.1L Hemi valve springs plus new keepers. Since one spring has failed.....

From the plug gaps it sounds like little to no maintenance was done on the motor. The plugs should be gapped around .040. Sounds like 16 new plugs are in your future. Select plugs carefully make sure you get the right ones.

Take a long good look at the coolant and look for any signs of over heating. If the Hemi is overheated it can lead to catastrophic head failure.

Regards,

Joe Dokes
 
Thanks for the offer rmchrgr, if I am going to rebuild heads, might as well be the ones I have.

Joe
The oil was clean when I bought it, I did change oil and filter anyway. Put new champions and coils in it before I found the broken spring. My budget is busted as is, I had bought a set of caged springs and valve seals already, knew that if I was pulling the valve cover I was going to change them regardless because of the weak springs.

Wasn't planning on the valve dropping and keeper going MIA.

Oil pan is pretty rotten, I ordered a replacement with fel-pro gaskets. Should I also get a guide for the replacement valve stem?

New to tearing into motors, but interwebs builds confidence.

Pit
 
Pitmoco said:
Thanks for the offer rmchrgr, if I am going to rebuild heads, might as well be the ones I have.
Pit
Click to expand...

No problem.

You might end up needing valve guides etc. Mine are in decent enough shape, much lower miles. Just figured rather than rebuilding parts with a lot of wear and tear you could clean mine up and run them, likely for less coin than rebuilt heads. Make an offer if you change your mind.
 
I had started tearing the top of the motor down and went to remove the exhaust manifold on the passenger side. Are they suppose to be tight against the frame? Seems impossible to remove the lower bolts without jacking the motor up.
 
Is yours 2WD or 4WD? I don't remember the manifolds being difficult to get to. Just a 12mm socket for the rear bolts, 13mm for the fronts and a 10mm for the center bolts.
 
pics of driver and passenger sides
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I have a good 3" on the passenger side of my '05 4wd. The heat shield is about parallel with the inside of the frame rail.

From just inside the UCA...............
 

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Dave, is yours a 1500 or 2500?

Wondering if the engine position is different on the two different chassis.
 
Pitmoco said:
4wd. Just seemed odd. Drivers side looks to be about 6" from frame. Passenger is about 1".
Click to expand...

What I used to do on most late Hemis (especially on the LX/LC models) is to leave the exhaust manifold on the head while I remove it from the engine.
 
Not sure if the truck has a removable panel or inner fender but if you move/take that out, then you should have much easier access to the manifold bolts.
 
The plug gap usually grows at a rate of .001 for every 2000 miles. Pulling the inner fender well makes it a lot easier to get at everything. The 03 head doesn't have a EGR provision. And leaving the manifold attached will also help. You will need gaskets and new head bolts for putting all back together.
 
As suggested pull the fender liner, made it much easier on my 04 4wd. Also don't be surprised if the manifold rear bolt is missing the head. Mine had two of them popped causing a leak. I would also be looking at the passenger side engine mount. I have some bolts for the manfolds with nuts for the heat shield which are new, and a brand new mopar pickup tube. If interested pay the shipping and they're yours. Also if your interested PM me your email as I have a complete digital factory service manual for the 04 I had. My oil pressure would dip now and then and I found some really nasty stuff on the pickup tube so I did timing chain, oil pump, oil pan and pickup. As for the keeper I would stick a magnet in the oil pan drain and see if it shows up. One other thing I remember is some early hemis had an issue with the valve seats popping out of the aluminum heads. Edit: deleted info on oil pan as mine was a 1500, 2500 is a different front axle setup.

Crap old thread. Sorry. Popped up and didn't read dates.
 
All good. Thanks for the info, I have had it running for a month or so now. Fired right up and didn't even have a crossed plug wire, :).

I pulled the head off with the manifold attached. Changed springs, valve seals and pushrods on both heads. Used 50ft of weed eater wire and a grease gun tube to feed it into the cylinder to keep the valves from dropping on the other head. With the long plug channels it was a pain to try to use nylon cord. The weed eater wire was one of my Ah Ha moments.
 
Pitmoco said:
All good. Thanks for the info, I have had it running for a month or so now. Fired right up and didn't even have a crossed plug wire, :).

I pulled the head off with the manifold attached. Changed springs, valve seals and pushrods on both heads. Used 50ft of weed eater wire and a grease gun tube to feed it into the cylinder to keep the valves from dropping on the other head. With the long plug channels it was a pain to try to use nylon cord. The weed eater wire was one of my Ah Ha moments.
Click to expand...

Good job! the weed eater wire was thinking on your feet. The old nylon robe trick is serious old school.......:prayer:
 
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