The problem here is not theoretical. When the factory grid heater hardware fails, the engine can ingest the pieces. That turns an intake-side failure into piston damage, cylinder damage, and a very expensive engine. In this case, fragments made it through the intake runner and into cylinder #6, with debris lodged in the piston. Our Banks Monster-Ram Intake and Killer Grid Heater Upgrade is built to remove that stock grid-heater failure point from the engine’s air path. It replaces the factory layout with a high-flow intake plate and coil-heater approach, so you’re not relying on the stock bolt-in-grid design that can come apart. You also get a less restricted intake path and stronger throttle response, but the big story is simple: get the failure-prone hardware out of the intake before it gets swallowed by the engine.
Brad from Protech Diesel Center presents a 2017 Ram 3500 with another failed factory grid heater. He says this is the sixth or seventh truck his shop has seen that year with the same problem, suggesting the issue is not isolated.
In this case, the failure occurred during summer conditions, with ambient temperatures around 25 to 30 degrees, when the grid heater would not be expected to see heavy use.
The immediate evidence is a completely melted retaining nut from the grid heater assembly. Brad shows the damaged hardware along with fragments recovered from the intake runner.
The concern extends beyond damage to the heater itself. Once pieces of the hardware break free, they can travel through the intake and enter the engine.
Using a camera to inspect cylinder number six, Brad identifies fragments that traveled through the intake and reached the combustion chamber.
The inspection shows debris lodged in and around the piston. At this point, the failure has progressed beyond an intake-system problem and become an internal engine-damage event.
Brad warns that continuing to operate the truck with the factory grid heater exposes the engine to the possibility of catastrophic damage.
If pieces of the heater hardware enter a cylinder, they can damage the piston, cylinder head, valves, and other internal components, potentially resulting in complete engine failure.
Brad estimates that an engine failure of this type can cost approximately $20,000 to $30,000.
In this example, the truck is already paid off and out of warranty, but the engine is described as effectively ruined. That leaves the owner facing a major repair expense on a truck they may otherwise have expected to keep operating for years.
One notable aspect of this failure is that it occurred during warm weather. Despite summer temperatures and little apparent need for intake heating, the retaining nut still melted and released debris into the engine.
Brad's point is that owners should not assume grid heater failures are limited to cold-weather operation.
Brad concludes that replacing the factory grid heater arrangement with a Banks Monster-Ram could have prevented this particular failure.
The Monster-Ram removes the factory grid heater hardware from the intake path, eliminating the associated fastener-ingestion failure mode. In the context of this truck, the argument is simple: addressing the factory setup before it failed would have cost substantially less than replacing or rebuilding a damaged Cummins engine.
