3.6 Penstar Poll!

[Gl4dy8r]

Damn, that's a lot of trouble.

I mean, it is, but it's not at the same time. It's got 15 years worth of miles on it already. And a lot of them have been hard miles. 3 trips to Johnson Valley. Moab twice. PeeWees crossing in Missouri. Turkey Bay in KY. Trails all over Vermont. Crisscrossed all over the state of Nevada. It's seen some really hard hits. It's seen -20° and 120°. So for what I've done to it, I don't think the repairs are out of bounds. Knowing everything is under warranty I really push it. I know I do because of the looks I get from people as I go flying by(sometimes literally). I don't regret my purchase not one iota. FWIW, once the factory warranty is out and the motor dies, I plan to swap for a 6.4 or an LS and turn it into a full time off road rig.

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[Gl4dy8r]

I doubt more than a handful of our Pentastars will reach 250k miles. But as a Gladiator engine, it does the job and at this point its as perfected as it will get.

I'm doing my best to get there

 

[Banned]

It's a nice truck, hopefully, Direct Connection will find out if a Hurricane will fit in there soon.
New Hurricane I-6 Now Available as HurriCrate Crate ...MotorTrendhttps://www.motortrend.com › ... › SEMA Show

 

[piroman683]

I like it - thanks again for sharing. The big advantage I can see from this approach is weight. How is it when slow off roading / rock crawling? Is the power delivery smooth or peaky?

the power curve is very smooth and consistent, you dont have to rev it to 4k just to start generating boost. at 2500 rpms I had about 60 ft. lbs more than stock on my dyno chart. It was tough for the dyno to get lower rpm data when running my truck in 4th (1:1 ratio)

 

[johnchabin]

What's the upcharge between a 3.6L Dodge Ram and a 5.7L Dodge Ram? Should be a similar difference. Glancing at their vehicle builder, I'm seeing a $3,000 upcharge between the 3.6L and the 5.7L.

You can't really compare the 392 (a much more expensive engine, in a very limited run that they're charging a premium for) to just a basic "mid tier" power upgrade.

Luis

Thanks... that makes a lot of sense.

 

[PuddleJumper]

392 is a 6.4L, the block is the same. the 6.2L is a different engine, and as far as I know, doesn't suffer from the 5.7/6.4 aka 392 valve train failures.

I know it’s the same block but it’s better built. It’s like a corvette motor vs a Silverado. Same block drastically different power and supporting parts for those numbers

 

[Banned]

I know it’s the same block but it’s better built. It’s like a corvette motor vs a Silverado. Same block drastically different power and supporting parts for those numbers

Yes, there's different performance levels, you're right. They call it 6.4L in the HD Ram trucks and 392 in the Charger/Challenger with different components and tuning for street performance, but all are susceptible to the same semi tick failure. The service manager I talked to said things got really bad when all the police and highway patrol dept. Chargers started coming in for ticking engines.

 

[DanW]

I have a 22 and with 30k miles it’s been at the dealership for 2 weeks for a camshaft /lifter rocker failure. I’m convinced a good portion of the 3.6 engines have or are going to have this failure and the newer years happening a lot sooner, unsure if it’s shitty factory parts there using or what but it should be a recall, with it being a 6 hour job I’m sure it would be a loss for the company.

Very, very small percentage. But a very, very small percentage of 14 million seems like a lot to service departments and independent shops.

I hate that it happened to yours.

 

[DanW]

I doubt more than a handful of our Pentastars will reach 250k miles. But as a Gladiator engine, it does the job and at this point its as perfected as it will get.

More than a handful will make it just in the Jeep clubs I'm in. Probably 200 Jeeps, probably 85% with the 3.6. So 170 or so. At least 10 and probably closer to 15 have over 200k, some pushing way past it. Again, the only dude who has blown a 3.6 did it by ingesting water. Not a single person has worn one out, to my knowledge.

Look at the video of the one with 625k. Typically 7k oil changes with either Mobil 1 or Valvoline. Nothing special there. Just good maintenance, by the book.

They can actually be neglected and still do pretty well. Referencing my friend who did not change spark plugs until long after they were due. His engine runs great well past 200k.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Look at the video of the one with 625k. Typically 7k oil changes with either Mobil 1 or Valvoline. Nothing special there. Just good maintenance, by the book.

They can actually be neglected and still do pretty well. Referencing my friend who did not change spark plugs until long after they were due.

That's the point - just "decent" or good maintenance.
As far as spark plugs - if the thing runs fine, no misfires, mpg hasn't dropped appreciably...... it won't hurt the engine, that's just a starting and/or drivability thing.
Correct heat range plug, modern plug materials and designs, cleaner burning chambers, all mean longer plug life.

 

[4S50]

I maintained my excellently, and at 125k miles or so it has failed me. I am very disappointed in what I thought was going to be a long running, reliable platform and I will no longer recommend it to others.

 

[Rubicon Runnin' Bob]

While I've only had my 2023 Gladiator a couple of months, I traded in a 2013 JKU that I had bought new in Dec of 2012, on it.

It (2013 JKU) had 11 years and over 175,000 miles on it and never needed anything other than routine maintenance.

So as for me, I think it's a good engine.

 

[DiehardTory]

Good report on the 3.6l Pentastar..
www.thedrive.com/news/34672/check-out-how-surprisingly-durable-this-chrysler-pentastar-v6-is-after-626000-miles

 

[MattK]

I'm probably on the lighter usage side with my 3.6L as I've had mine since May 2020 but as of today it's only got 27k and change. That Covid life turned into working from home so it never had to commute.

But most of it's running time these days is either 4-low, couple hour trips each way to get into 4-low, and mostly short drives around town. So it's not got an easy life. I can't believe the batteries are still going coming up on 4 years this May. I should probably look into getting new ones to have on standby.

I run it on 37s with stock 4.10 gears and it does everything I want it to. Could it scream less trying to maintain speed up grades? Sure...definitely envious of the 3.0L diesel! However, it's doing right by me and I think I had one recall for PCM software update for misfire stuff.

It's okay by me.

 

[PuddleJumper]

Yes, there's different performance levels, you're right. They call it 6.4L in the HD Ram trucks and 392 in the Charger/Challenger with different components and tuning for street performance, but all are susceptible to the same semi tick failure. The service manager I talked to said things got really bad when all the police and highway patrol dept. Chargers started coming in for ticking engines.

AMW did say Hemi's in general dont fair well with excessive idle time, and why they consider it a "extreme duty cycle". which makes sense for Police vehicles. The main difference to me being, you can limp it on a semi tick. A bad left bank intake cam on a 3.6? probably not.

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