The real problem is the factory Ram 6.7L grid heater hardware. As the post loosens and deteriorates, the bolt can fall through the intake runner and into the engine. That is not a drivability nuisance. It is a piston, valve, head, and cylinder-wall failure waiting to happen. The fix is to remove that failure point from the intake path. Our Banks Monster-Ram Intake and Killer Grid Heater Upgrade replaces the stock grid heater with a high-flow intake plate, so there is no factory bolt sitting in the airflow waiting to drop. At the same time, the intake tract is opened up for better engine breathing and stronger throttle response. If you see an intake-heater code and that 12-volt post has any wiggle, do not keep driving it. That loose post means the hardware may already be on its way out. This is exactly why we built the system the way we did: remove the stock restriction, remove the stock risk, and keep a small intake part from turning into a full engine bill.
The video begins with Steve's Ram being picked up from a Dodge dealership in Orange County and transported to Banks. The dealership had quoted a high price to perform the factory grid heater bolt repair, but Steve chose a different path. Rather than paying to reinstall the same stock-style system, he contacted Banks and asked to upgrade the truck with a Monster-Ram instead. The plan was to bring the truck into the shop, inspect the factory intake hardware, and replace the problematic grid heater arrangement with Banks components that eliminate that failure point.
Once the truck was in the shop, Robert began inspecting the factory setup. The first check was a simple movement test on the grid heater hardware, referred to in the video as the jiggle test. The result was immediately alarming. Even before disassembly, the looseness in the assembly was obvious, and the team reacted by noting that it was the worst example they had seen so far. That initial inspection strongly suggested that the factory bolt and post assembly was already at the point of imminent failure.
After removing the factory intake elbow, the team gained a clear view of the grid heater posts and repeated the movement test. With the stock intake parts out of the way, the severity of the problem became even more obvious. The bolt appeared intact at first glance, but the hardware was so loose that it looked ready to fall out of the bottom of the assembly at any moment. When the part was turned and handled, the post and attached hardware separated in Robert's hands. The team emphasized how close this truck had come to a catastrophic event, because the loose nut and bolt were on the verge of dropping directly into the engine.
The failed component shown in the video is the bottom side of the factory grid heater. In the center opening, daylight could be seen through the hole where the bolt had loosened out of place. That missing retention at the bottom is the core danger: once the nut and bolt back out, they can be ingested by the engine. In this case, the team stated plainly that the loose hardware could have led to the destruction of the engine, describing it as the kind of failure that could turn into a $30,000 engine replacement. Their conclusion was not that the truck might eventually have a problem, but that it was already on the edge of a disastrous failure.
To prevent that risk from ever returning, Banks replaced the factory grid heater arrangement with its high-flow Billet intake plate and Monster-Ram. The billet plate eliminates the factory grid heater entirely, removing the bolt-related failure point instead of simply replacing it with another stock-style part. Once the billet intake plate was installed, the fuel rail was reinstalled and the Monster-Ram was mounted on top. The video presents this combination as both a performance-oriented intake upgrade and a mechanical safeguard, because it removes the specific hardware that had nearly fallen into Steve's engine.
When Steve arrived at the shop, he explained how he discovered the issue. After researching the broken grid heater bolt problem on Ram trucks, he took the truck to the dealership and was told the grid heater needed to be replaced. The quoted price was $2,900. What bothered him most was that the dealer's repair would have installed another version of the same basic factory-style part, leaving him exposed to the same failure mode again later. His truck had 135,000 miles on it, and from his perspective, reinstalling the original design meant he could face the same problem again after another long stretch of use. That realization is what pushed him to look for a permanent solution instead of authorizing the dealer repair.
An important point raised in the discussion was that Steve lives in Southern California, in the Long Beach area. The team noted that this truck does not operate in an extreme cold-weather environment where a grid heater would be working constantly, such as Alaska. In Steve's area, temperatures are comparatively mild, with the coldest conditions he mentioned being around 50 degrees. That context made the failure even more frustrating to him, because the truck experienced this grid heater hardware problem despite not living in a climate where the system would be expected to see especially demanding cold-start use.
By the end of the visit, Steve's truck had received the Monster-Ram and the high-flow Billet intake plate that deletes the factory grid heater. He also mentioned other Banks parts already on the truck, including PedalMonster, Ram-Air, a 5-inch exhaust with a chrome tip, and boost tubes. With the new intake hardware installed, he expressed relief that the dangerous grid heater bolt issue had been completely eliminated. He also commented on the appearance of the new parts and said he was looking forward to driving the truck with the updated setup.
The recap closes with the truck ready to be started and returned to service. The central takeaway is that this was not a routine upgrade performed for appearance alone; it was a preventative repair carried out just before a severe engine-damaging failure could occur. The loose nut and bolt from the factory grid heater had nearly fallen into the engine, and the inspection showed that the assembly was already separating by hand. Instead of paying a dealership to reinstall another stock grid heater assembly, Steve chose a Banks solution that removes the original failure point altogether. In the sequence shown, that decision likely prevented a major engine loss while also upgrading the truck's intake system.