bad rings and tranys, THAT common?

turbominivan

turbominivan

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May 5, 2013
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im looking at buying an 06 long box quad cab auto. i hear stories of the rings breaking and super weak tranys. the truck im looking at has 187,000 miles and is 100% bone stock. it has no excessive blow by from the oil cap and no evident issues from the trany (48-RE)
are these such common issues that i should expect to have some broken rings and a cooked trany in the near future if i buy it? or are these more of an issue when you start powering the motor up?
i dont plan to do ANY power mods as this would be a work truck that would only tow a 14' cube trailer 'once in a blue moon'. otherwise will just be hauling your standard carpentry tools and dump runs.

im looking for some reply's from those with experience, not just the "your screwed, start saving for a billet trany" type of answers. :lolly:
for those who have had these issues, when did they happen? what kind of power levels/how many miles on the clock?
 
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The 48re is the "best" version of the 727 variant thats been offered by dodge. However it has its shortcomings. Based on what you say you'll use it for it should be fine till it dies. Then add a nice converter, a good vb or put a transgo kit in the vb, and make sure your cooler is clean and the bypass is working properly or if you can eliminate it, and you'll be fine with a stock ish rebuild. Autos require maintenance, that's life.

Rings, they tend to break often. I have seen bone stock trucks and modified trucks break em. Put a pyro in and keep egts down. Other than that personally I think the ring gap on 3rd gens its just a bit too tight and thats why they tend to beak. Usually #1 or #6. Hottest cylinders. Usually they seem to break on higher mileage trucks I believe. I only say that because I haven't seen too many low mileage trucks, even built, that break rings. I do believe its tied more to engine temp that egts. My opinion.........

I'm sure there is plenty of additional experience on this board that will chime in to help ya out.
 
From what I've seen, rings tend to break more on 04.5 and up trucks that idle a lot, and/or aren't worked hard. Mine had cracked rings when I bought it, 140K miles and over 5000 hours on the engine. Redid the engine and it has about 30K on the rebuild and it gets hotter now than it ever did before, and no problems with oil consumption.
 
i can not tell you that if you keep the 48re stock it will be fine, because it wont. everything has its time frame. Of course towing heavy and a teenagers lead foot will make it worse.

I have some guys with little 50 hp economy tunes... never a problem in 100k then one morning it wont go into gear.... tear it down and it needs a full rebuild.

its the nature of the beast. to many moving parts and heat ruins them.

as far as rings go ive only seen them go personally on trucks that get the teenager style skinny pedal and no cool down time. ive never broken a ring out if 3 trucks but i always had a turbo timer never shut the truck down before 400* on the pryo. i think warm up and cool down time is imperative for a 5.9
 
How does one tell if the rings have gone?
When i feel a hand over the open oil cap it feel a slight breeze as if inwere to blow lightly on my palm. Is this bad? Should i feel ANY air from the oil cap?
Any other ways to tell about poor rings?
It sounds like the truck has been conservitively driven and the interior and exterior are prestine and inwould hope give a bit of a hint to support that.
If the trany gets weak its less of an issue for me. If i buy a truck that needs new rings right away, thats a bit difforent.
My current 24v 2000 truck has NO blow by at all, nor does my built 12v cummins hot rod... So im not sure what to expect for the common rail. Should it have NO blow by from the oil cap? Or is a little bit standard with a healthy common rail?

IF it needed rings, can anyone toss out a general estimated cost to have it done? Or how long it would take to do it yourself?
 
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Little is normal. With 185,000miles and if idles smooth and smokeless it's probably had injectors done already, which is good for you. I wouldn't be afraid
 
Taken care of they are good for a while. The dually I have now has original injectors and trans with 245k miles on everything.
 
i had him make a video of the oil cap fully loosened and the truck running to see if it floated under the crank case pressure. it stays nice and still so id say im in business.
thanks youtube!

he says he has run fuel conditioner on every single fill since hes owned it. i plan to add a dual in line fuel filter if i get it.

anything else i should do for it if i get it to keep it alive and going for as long as possible?
 
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lift pump (airdog) is my #1 install on any truck, even stock.

put a gauge on the stock one and see why
 
turbominivan said:
im looking at buying an 06 long box quad cab auto. i hear stories of the rings breaking and super weak tranys. the truck im looking at has 187,000 miles and is 100% bone stock. it has no excessive blow by from the oil cap and no evident issues from the trany (48-RE)
are these such common issues that i should expect to have some broken rings and a cooked trany in the near future if i buy it? or are these more of an issue when you start powering the motor up?
i dont plan to do ANY power mods as this would be a work truck that would only tow a 14' cube trailer 'once in a blue moon'. otherwise will just be hauling your standard carpentry tools and dump runs.

im looking for some reply's from those with experience, not just the "your screwed, start saving for a billet trany" type of answers. :lolly:
for those who have had these issues, when did they happen? what kind of power levels/how many miles on the clock?
Click to expand...

we lost a motor in an 05

my dads at 150K miles (I think) lost a motor... only symptoms a slight stutter that gave it away and about a gallon and a half low on oil... next day looking at the truck, it would fire up but it would sound like it would grind, and when warmed up did the oil cap trick and it would blow the cap right off.. on a 40 mile drive, the truck burned a gallon of oil, well.. not so much burned but it was all over the undercarriage, and rear bumper of the truck... the truck did not lose a lot of power.. but fuel mileage went to hell really quickly...

rebuilt it, sleeved all six, and was in it a little under 5K we got a good shop here.., 10K miles later on a rebuilt motor.. alls well.. and mileage is right up to par.. truck runs well so far.. we are happy... truck is a work truck, had a ton of weight (literally) in the bed with the welder, tools, etc, and tows light on occasion.. mostly a ranch truck that does ranch work... with mainly highway mileage.. truck is not worked hard, but does tow, and see highway rpms a lot...

in 04.5s, it was also luck of the draw, some came with bad rings.. Ours was one.. my brother has an 05.. as do I, and knock on wood neither have issues.. with mine having 250K and no noticeable blowby, or oil consumption.. I Burn a quart and a half at 5000 miles.. which does not concern me too badly.. we all drive them conservatively, but mine does tow the most and seems to be holding well...dads sees mainly highway mileage, and my bros is a mixture of both...

unfortunately, now the welder and tools have been removed from dads, and are on a little trailer now.. but still no complaints on rebuilt engine.. and no excessive idle time..

trust me.. you will know what blowby is, and broken rings... this truck when torn down had broken rings in a couple of pistons and a hole in one of the pistons... I have pics of the carnage.. and a video. please pm me if you want them sent to you
 
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