The 3.6 Tick Bites Trail Recon at 31,000 Miles

[ShadowsPapa]

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[StevieY1]

I haven't checked online for solutions because I don't have any ticking issue with my 3.6 Pentastar in my 2021 JTM. 4 years young, and 66,000 miles so far. Mostly long-haul highway miles from CA to WI and AZ and such.

I have friends with 3.6 Pentastars in commercial RAM vans that get as much as 300,000 miles out of them.

I had ticking 2.5 and 4.0's in Tj's and YJ's but it was just noise. Piston slap, as they said. Not catastrophic failure. That's just what they do.

So, my question is: Are these 3.6 engines grenading, or just thowing engine lights? Or what? Leaving folks stranded on the highway at 3PM in the desert in the summer with mom and baby in arms because the Jeep just quit running? Seriously.

Or is it a ticking sound and someone thinks it sucks? "Dealer, fix it, it's under warranty."

Please enlighten me. Are we struggling with a nat, and swallowing a camel? To fix a non-issue?

Thousands of cams on back order? Can one of you Jeep employees verify that? Seriously.

I like"Brad" and have watched his TrailRecon YT channel a long time. I think that he is a good fellow and very similar to myself.

But shock videos sell. Just sayin.

Show me a 3.6 Pentastar complete failure because of cam or rocker issues. Seeing the supposed thousands of cams on backorder there must be at least 100's of videos or testimonies of complete engine failure due to 'ticking' cam or rockers in the 3.6.

I am serious and open minded about this.

Be Well. Jeep on.

Eric

In the spirit of the Scott Lawn Guy…”Feed your rockers - Feed em!” With Slick 50 (containing Cerflon, a modified Teflon additive - molecularily strengthened by Boric nitride). PS - make sure to buy the Supercharged Synthetic bottle for optimal results

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Anyone else recall the class action lawsuits thrown at Slick 50 and other chemical companies and other magic quick fix snake oils?
In addition to fines and things they were made to publish to the general public something to the effect , a statement like "this product can introduce harmful solid particles into your engine."

Additive marketers Dura Lube and Motor Up, and their principals, have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that performance claims for their engine treatments were deceptive and unsubstantiated in violation of federal law. The two proposed settlements will bar false and unsubstantiated claims about the performance, benefits, efficacy, or attributes of these products. In addition, Dura Lube will pay $2 million in consumer redress to be distributed by the FTC.
The FTC has previously halted allegedly deceptive ads for Prolong Engine Treatment, Valvoline Engine Treatment, Slick 50 Engine Treatment and STP Engine Treatment.

What is left out of all of this is that many additives can actually upset the chemistry of the oil, causing things to get worse.

LOL - straight 30 weight oil outlasted Slick 50 by 4 minutes! LOL

(unless he pulled the shroud and air directing shields off and cleaned the fins, the temp differences could have been simply one set of fins was cleaner than the other, and nothing more)

Man, don't put crap in your oil! If there was a magic pill, some oil company would be all over it, especially in today's climate of rules.

 

[StevieY1]

Hahahahahaha! I love the part when the "scientist" admits halfway that the Slick 50 provided a lower overall cooling of the engine when running with normal levels of oil...which is a logical, reasonable test.

hahahaha, then he goes to the "Ultimate TEST" hahahaha, where they're gonna derive their conclusions by running the engine's dry! WHAT! Run the engines dry and try to formulate a viable conclusion? What a concept! Hahaha, I'm CERTAIN that us Jeepsters do that all the time huh? Yup - we "run our engines bone dry" to make scientific conclusions.

Wow, Shadows...a little bitta logical disconnect goin on here. Hopefully you vaccinate your kids. Sincerely! I mean, what a test. Somehow reminds me of Bob Dylan's "Idiot Wind"

Also, for those lawsuits - can you pls enlighten us as to the year they were litigated? It's 2025 now and I'm still buyin Slick 50 - you would think they'd be outta business? Finally, the modern formula has modified the Dupont Teflon molecule with Boric Nitride to improve the formula. Snake Oil my ass.

 

[StevieY1]

No worries - did the research myself - the complaint was litigated in 1996. If you read the entire compaint it was primarily for over stating the improvement benefits. Wow, I wonder if any other advertizers do that?

Do you own research folks and beware Frankentests that make conclusions based on bizarre tenets. Run the engine dry....hahahahaha what a test. Let me guess! BOTH ENGINES FAILED SPECTACULARLY! haha, OMG

 

[JTGuy]

A better oil coating I would think would help the cams and lifters. A friend of mine says that BG oil additive works, I just don't know. Not doing any additive till I have some really good feelings about it.

 

[StevieY1]

Well, one thing the OP… Ha ha, eventually got to, is that this seems to be a bit of an issue with these 3.6L Pentastars - I think it ultimately comes down to whether you wanna roll the dice and hope you’re in the group that isn’t affected or perhaps do something proactively… I always put myself in the latter group period

I do think shadowpapa’s video is helpful if you go to the part where they measure the temperature of the engines during the normal part of the test and the guy goes “oh hey it looks like slick 50 is actually working” - and he says this with some surprises if he went into the test with an agenda… basically ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha… Everything after that is useless.

I feel compelled to add that I don’t think Papa watched the whole video because I know he’s smart enough to not enter that as evidence. Perhaps shadows got a little lazy on this one… Happens to the best of us. Like when RFK Junior went swimming with his grandkids ha ha ha ha ha.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Hahahahahaha! I love the part when the "scientist" admits halfway that the Slick 50 provided a lower overall cooling of the engine when running with normal levels of oil...which is a logical, reasonable test.

He got ahead of himself - apparently no real experience in air cooled engines. I can explain 50 degrees difference in many ways.
That difference in temperature on an AIR COOLED engine could be governed RPM, the load (what blade is on it, what RPM is it running), gas used, carburetor adjustment (lean in an air cooled engine makes it run hot, even 1/8 turn of the mixture screw, if a vacu-jet vs. a pulse-jet carb then the fuel level in the tank matters because it will run more lean as the tank empties, run rich on a full tank.

You can totally ignore the temperatures if you know anything at all about air cooled, governed, small engines.
So really, I saw nothing to support Slick 50 doing anything positive, but did see it for what it is - snake oil.

I watched the whole thing - DUH - it only proved what we already know - that shit about people running without oil is exactly that - a bunch of crap. You keep reading about people saying "I had a brother who........." and so on, yeah, ok, right.

That product does nothing - as proven by all sorts of FTC and other documents, court cases and more.
it's pure snake oil - but you keep believing if you want. Smarter folks with real engine experience will laugh and mock it for what it is.
This pretty much disproves the idea of running Slick 50 with no oil - it actually appears to have done more harm than good. So much for the Slick 50 marketing.

Obviously from your posts on it and a few other things, you don't have real mechanical experience? You rely on infomercials or internet lore?

You believe using slick 50 is proactive?

And what if it breaks down even with Slick 50? Then what?

If it never loses a cam, you've literally proven nothing at all because millions of them never lose a cam - MILLIONS.

Anyone with any real mechanical experience, and knowing oil chemistry, is laughing at such additives.
They can't even advertise like they used to because they can't prove it actually does anything at all.
Unreal there are still people who believe in such additives, the 100 mpg carburetor, the engine that runs on water and so on.
Laugh all you want - at least I've got some real background in such things - you are simply relying on infomercials.

 

[StevieY1]

Hey, you guys out there that have a concern… Note that Papa has no problem with the slick 50 engine… With proper fluid levels… Running at a lower temperature… What does a lower temperature mean? Less friction because of the additive. Also, very important to do your own research and Google the claims… Nowhere in the claims do they say that slick 50 will hurt your engine… They only take an issue with the advertising and as we all know…advertizers overstate across the board period - anyway, as I stated before… The one valid and scientific result from papa’s knee jerk video is that the engines… Side-by-side… Under the same load… Ran cooler with slick 50 - SIGNIFICANTLY COOLER! I rest my case and invite you to give it a try! It’s worked for me for over 19 years - I put in a full bottle every oil change and actually, I hand it to the Chrysler tech who puts it in during the oil change so that it doesn’t overfill the engine. (While under warranty - after that, I give it to The nice young man who does my oil changes with Amsoil at the local Lubex - after warranty changes are out - by the way I changed my oil at 2000 km, 4000 km, 7500 km, 11,000 km and that 5000 km intervals after that. I do subscribe to the belief that the engine needs more frequent fluid changes during the break-in period. Also, these are kilometres please do note that when comparing to miles.

Finally to quote a great American president…”The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”

 

[StevieY1]

Most motors have the filter located at the bottom of the motor and always full of oil.
Let your 3.6 sit over night.
Remove the oil filter cap.
Remove the oil filter.
What you will find is a completely empty oil filter housing and the oil filter isn't even dripping oil.
All the oil from the housing and the oil cooler have drained back to the pan.
Now all that air will have to be pushed though the system.

There is an aftermarket solution for above situation...I'm not quite sure of the concept that the "air will be pushed through the system" as if the air will be "mixed" into the oil. Don't think that'll happen but the issue is a valid one with respect to placement of the filter and startup.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Hey, you guys out there that have a concern… Note that Papa has no problem with the slick 50 engine… With proper fluid levels… Running at a lower temperature… What does a lower temperature mean? Less friction because of the additive. Also, very important to do your own research and Google the claims… Nowhere in the claims do they say that slick 50 will hurt your engine…

I've done the google work in the past - you will find issues with screwed up oil filters and more.

I guess you just can't understand plain English - Nowhere in that video does it show, claim or prove that the lower temps are due to the Slick 50.
I explained there are many possible explanations, and the differences in two used air cooled engine temperatures may well be RPM, load, dirt or paint on the cooling fins, A/F mixture and more. AC engines are very prone to temperature changes with RPM because the fan (the flywheel in this case) cools with air. More air flow or cleaner fins - lower temperature.
If one was lower on fuel than the other, it could be one had a leaner mixture, or perhaps they were adjusted differently - they are not float type carburetors and pull fuel out of the tank. Lower tank level, or a mixture screw in a bit more on one than the other - it runs hotter.
Anyone with sense would ignore that temperature difference. Just looking at the two lawn mowers - one had grass debris, the other did not. We were looking at two different engines in some respects.
So no, attributing the temperature differences of AIR COOLED engines to Slick 50 - wow, really? Sorry, can't conclude that at all.

ProjectFarm is otherwise a pretty reliable source of tests and comparisons. He does his work, he actually goes beyond comparing what most would compare. I'd bet if you took a poll here, over 95% of forum members would rely on his testing, likely closer to 99%.
I think with that one he was simply trying to prove or disprove some of the CLAIMS out there from users - even the company in the past - and did that brilliantly. It really does nothing to protect your engine, otherwise it would have left at least something to make that engine last at least as long as the other - even just by 5 seconds. Instead, one should go in and do a forensic analysis, sort of like what I have done for decades, to see what the heck happened, exactly WHAT seized, where and more.

If it really protected engine parts and left any sort of protective coating - you'd expect close to equal life - although perhaps his testing wasn't long enough...... who knows.

I stand behind everything I say and do with experience and training.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

There is an aftermarket solution for above situation...I'm not quite sure of the concept that the "air will be pushed through the system" as if the air will be "mixed" into the oil. Don't think that'll happen but the issue is a valid one with respect to placement of the filter and startup.

From the person who has ZIP, zero, none, not a lick - of engine experience........................
People, obviously some in this thread, focus on just one tiny piece of a whole system, while ignoring all of the others (because they only know what they are told to believe or see, totally ignoring all of the other factors. Gee, OVER 20 years, over 20 million engines, and all of a sudden that oil filter is a problem? Really? Ignore the oil pump volume, ignore the fact that many other engines over the years have had filters mid-mounted and so on. Ignore that high volume pump pushing out many times more oil volume than other pumps........
Man gotta really laugh at some of the stuff from those who have zip engine experience.

 

[StevieY1]

If you stand behind that video, that you, yourself attached as evidence, then so be it. I disagree and in fact, your video explains why. Now you're sayin that your "scientist" doesn't know basic concepts of air-cooled engines? That you did your research "in the past"? Well, its 2025 baby and when you changed your avatar to a Kitten with a gun I knew you had finally snapped Pops

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Irest my case and invite you to give it a try! It’s worked for me for over 19 years.

What's your proof? No engine failure? LOL OK
What about those with hundreds of thousands of miles on these, what about the millions with no failures - doesn't that prove that you don't need slick 50?
Worked for you for what? What's it really done?
I've never used ANY additive in any engine I've owned or any of the many dozens getting into over 100, I've built or rebult or modified. Doesn't that sort of indicate it's not needed? Never a failure in over 50 years with no additives!
that's basically what you are saying - no failures because you use it.
I'm saying no failures because I don't use it.

 

[StevieY1]

Ran it in a 2006 Charger Daytona, 5.7L Hemi with dual Nos Nitrous Kits and ran it very hard. Still running great today with 352,000 clicks on her. So sorry I don't have your vast experience as a mechanic as a crutch...just got my own experience and a clear fearless mind

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