Another RAM Bites the Bolt

“It happened to a customer’s truck,” explains Hatcher Mobile Service diesel technician Brett Dufoe. “He was driving down the road and noticed what he assumed was an injector knock. As Frankie, our shop foreman pulled it into the shop, it was rattling and banging and making all kinds of noise. Frankie surmised it was far more than an injector issue, so we pulled off the head. As soon as we lifted it off, we could see a piece of the grid heater bolt stuck in the piston.” The RAM 3500 chassis-cab had 186,411 miles on the odometer when it ate the bolt and died.

“Jason, who owns the shop, warned me about a year ago. He said we’d eventually see one of these failures. He said to me, ‘Have you ever seen one of these where the bolt on the bottom of the grid heater falls off and rolls down into the motor?’ I said no, to which he responded, ‘You will.’ This is the first one I’ve seen personally. But I’ve heard about it happening to quite a few trucks.”

Brett explains that the customer is looking at a bill north of $15,000 for a new long block and labor. “If you own a RAM, I recommend you do the jiggle test every couple of months to make sure that bolt isn’t coming loose because when it does, it’s gonna be expensive.”

A Banks authorized installation center located in Omaha, Nebraska, Hatcher Mobile Service recommends installing a Monster-Ram to prevent the grid heater failure and improve throttle response. “We like the Monster-Ram ’cause you’re killing two birds with one stone—before that bolt kills your engine,” says Brett with a chuckle.