I can see the start up rattle being irritating and mine was louder than it had been when the tic showed up but after seeing the lifter/rocker arm setup I understand where it was coming from. Oil pressure supports the lifter when its running, taking out any backlash between the roller and the cam lobe. When the oil drains back out of the whole system, especially after a couple of days, it has to pump the lines, cam phasers, timing chain tensioners and other oil passages back up and build pressure to remove any backlash in the valve train. Sounds nasty for a couple of seconds and some say it is a "dry" start every time. I fiddled around taking my time for two afternoons and part of Saturday morning before I pulled the first cam out to get to the rockers and lifters. They were anything but dry, even after 2-3 days of engine off. Every cam journal had visible oil in it and every lobe surface still had a film. Rockers come off as fast as you can pick them up with the cam out of the way, lifters do too, drippy mess coming out of the needle bearings and lifter bores. They were still wet with oil on removal as I suspect they are every time I start it. Point is the start up is with max clearance and no pressure, not no lubrication, and I can't see where that will be a problem. I did soak my new parts in a can as well as oil the cams at reassembly with a squirt bottle. If the cams had been new going in old journals it would have got assembly lube.

 

I don't know if Melling is supposed to be better than OEM or if they are the tier 1 supplier to the OEM. When I was looking for parts I considered OEM parts but OEM parts sourced from who knows where are the ones that failed, prematurely in my opinion.

Melling is made in Michigan, USA. Their manufacturing facilities are extensive. I noticed each individual box listed Nov/21 as the manufacture date, $6.50 for rockers, $5.92 for lifters at rock auto. I am curious if the current AH revision Mopar rocker has a fixed or rotating pin.

 

I just purchased the AH versions to have on hand in case I start having a bad ticker. This is the 1st time I have heard about a defect with the OEM rockers themselves.

 

Your AH version pins look like the ones on the Melling part, do they spin in the carrier? The worst OEM one I took out are in the photos below. You can see on the pin end where they crimped the end of the pin to lock it stationary in the carrier. Not sure of the rev level on mine but the AH is the 8th revision down the line. You can also see in the second pic where this one just started touching the cam

You don't have to look very much with google to find early pentastar rocker arm failures these. The 2014 Star case service bulletin in this link:

Redirect Notice

says it occurs after 15k miles. Not just Jeeps, same engine is used in a variety of vehicles, many with failures under 50k miles. That's not normal wear, that's a defective design.

If you are under warranty it's not a huge cost, just an irritation. If you do your own engine work then the cost is more, and a weekend. It took $406.00 in parts to do mine, but no cams needed replacement at $280 each. If you pay a dealer out of warranty $2-4k, maybe more if they think they can get it, depending on how long it was let go and if it needs cams.

 

I spoke with a friend at our Chrysler dealership. He said Chrysler has updated the rocker arms, to try to prevent this issue. The needle bearings inside the roller, start to fail and slowly come apart. The resulting damage is caused by the roller no longer able to roll smoothly and starts bouncing (ticking sound) on the cam.
I was not able to drop my oil pan after my repair, as the pan in sealed with some really strong sealant. I would have destroyed it trying to get it off, and I needed to use the Jeep. So I did multiple oil change, luckily virtually no additional metal flakes came out. We just got home from a 1500 mile trip, with no issues. So we’ll see if any more flake show up at the next oil change.
I work for a Ford dealership and have seen the same type of failure on the 6.0 diesel. On the 6.0 if it goes too long the rocker arm needle bearings, will fall out and go into the pan. The nasty part is the oil pump intake tube screen, isn’t small enough to stop them from being sucked up into the oil pump. Once they get there they damage the oil pump and front cover. A lot of DYI mechanics , don’t know to pull the pan and check for debris in the pan. They replace the cam, rockers, oil pump and front cover. Then they fire it up, and usually a short time later, they come in asking for a defective part warranty for the oil pump and cover. Unfortunately, when asked if they cleaned the pan, and they say “why or no” we sell them another $600-700 in parts.

 

A lot of DYI mechanics , don’t know to pull the pan and check for debris in the pan. They replace the cam, rockers, oil pump and front cover. Then they fire it up, and usually a short time later, they come in asking for a defective part warranty for the oil pump and cover. Unfortunately, when asked if they cleaned the pan, and they say “why or no” we sell them another $600-700 in parts.

Now we do.

 

94k miles my 2014 when it started to tick. Replaced all 24 rockers and lifters no damage to the camshafts. Passenger side closest to the firewall was the culprit. I change my oil every 3k miles with synthetic I wasn’t expecting a problem like this before 100k

 

Yep. Better to do them all since you already did all the work to get to them and the parts are pretty cheap.

 

I lost a lobe to a bad rocker as well. Summitracing had mopar rockers and lifters at a very low price. Partsgeek had the cam at a decent price as well.

All lifters and rockers got replaced.
Then 5 oil flushes to remove the forbidden glitter.
Still paranoid so pulled the two rearward main bearing caps two weeks later.
They looked decent, so buttoned everything back up and vroom.

 

Are Melling rockers and lifters supposed to be superior over OEM?

 

Interesting. I am following this thread. I've already had my valve covers off to reseal them after a terrible mechanic fixed one leak and caused three others. I didn't see any evidence on my 2017 of any scoring on the cam lobes and don't have a tick except for initial start up.

I wonder how much the lack of a drain back in our filter housings contribute to the wear issues in our engines. A company called Baxter designed a "fix" for it.

hopefully you upgraded to the new aluminum oil filter housing by Dorman while you were in there.

 

I had a slight random ticking on my Jeep. Turns out one rocker arm on left head was bad. I had the the dealership replace all the rocker arms and lifters. It turns out the left hand exhaust cam was worn as well, and needed replaced. The tick was so slight, two techs couldn’t here it at first. I got the Jeep home and noticed they hadn’t changed the oil and filter. So I changed it, and found metal flakes in the filter. Now I’m wondering how it get any more of it out.
I called the dealership and asked why they didn’t change the oil. The tech said unless the head comes off they don’t change it.
So weather permitting I’m probably dropping the lower oil pan this weekend and seeing if anymore metal is hidden inside.
BTW,
Jeep is 2015 JKU 75,000 miles
I’m the second owner, so previous maintenance is unknow.

 

Anyone have any idea on what could have caused this damage on the rocker? Cylinder 1, pass side, intake. Replacing both cams and all the rockers and lifters under that valve cover.

 

I would like to add some questions here if I may.. Got 2012 jku sport, well well maintained.. Ticking noise is driving me nuts.. Is it common to replace ALL rocker arms? I saw a lot of people searching for the one that is loose and they replace only one, but if you already have everything open why not replacing all? They are inexpensive and if I already spent 5 hours on the thing i would rather replace all so the ticking doesn't occur again in 6 months, right?
Do you guys change all of them or? Thanks!

 

I have a 2015 JKU, and I had a tick going, went ahead and replaced all 24 rocker arms. Found the one that was bad, but as soon as I fired it up after the repair, I’ve been having low idle issues ever since And now a check engine for a cylinder two misfire which I didn’t have prior to the repair. I keep troubleshooting the check engine light, but I feel like it has to be something related to the repair because it wasn’t an issue prior to the work being done. Anyone else have issues after completing the repair?

 

Tough to say for positive since we weren't there to help you with the repair. Could be something wasn't tightened correctly or possibly a cam sprocket moved a bit. lots of things would get touched in the repair so it's tough to figure out from here.

 

I believe melling is the manufacturer for Chrysler. There was a revision to the OEM part (probably the difference that you mentioned), but even the revised part seems to have high failure rate.

 

I wonder if sucking the oil out of the honey pot will give you a better chance of removing the nasties?

 

Might help with small particulates, unfortunately the magnet in pan with collect most of metal floating, only dropping the oil pan & cleaning/ checking oil pump pickup screen can tell you if metal has gotten into oil channels of block. Very labor intensive & dealership doesn't even do even if camshafts are replaced (that's their policy anyway). Miss old days when mechanics wouldn't take the risk.
PS dealership does have 2 years warranty on repair, unfortunately it's a +-$4,000 cost.

 

I always drain the last bit from the honey pot after I extract most of it through the dipstick.

 

I pulled the lower pan twice, and the upper pan twice. Multiple magnets placed in the pan during the flushings. Didn't pick up much as most of the debris was non-ferrous. The filter got most of the cast iron bits. Two weeks after the job the upper pan was pulled to inspect bearings. Nothing in the pan at all.

 

Have some questions about rocker arms in 3.6 and I thought I would ask to see if anyone had info.

2013 jku, 115k miles

I noticed the engine ticking really slightly about a month ago, couldn't really hear it out in the open at idle but next to a wall at a drive through I could hear it. Over the next 100 miles or so it got a little louder and was coming from the passenger side towards the firewall. I knew where this was heading so I ordered a full set of 24 Melling rockers and lifters, along with all the gaskets on the valve covers and intake. Got the chain release tools and cam sprocket blocks off amazon. 12 hours of under hood work spread over 2 evenings and a rainy Saturday and it's all done and quiet again. It's not a bad job if you have tools and some patience. 1 rocker bad enough so that the roller carrier had just touched the cam lobe. 3 more that had a little bit of extra clearance but not bad enough yet to make noise that I heard.

So a few questions to see if anyone here knows.

Who made/makes the rockers for Chrysler in 2013 and mopar spares now?

The rockers I took out had the pins pressed or crimped into the carrier with the roller spinning on needle bearings, load is always on same side of pin. The new Melling ones are almost identical externally except the pin is free to rotate in the carrier. Do current revision Mopar replacements still have a stationary pin or is it free to rotate?

Anybody know the steel type used on the roller and pin? Precision bearing races are usually 52100 steel but a variety of lower cost steels will reach appropriate hardness levels. I have made custom rocker pins for racing engines from S7 with excellent results in both wear and break strength but I doubt production pins are this good.

From what I have read this has been going on for a while with pentastar engines. It is an obvious design failure in either material selection, component design, or quality control. Possibly a combination of the three. For those who would say it is "normal wear", no, rocker failure of this type in a maintained engine is not even close to normal. The Chrysler engineers know for sure by now what the cause is, anybody know their official answer?

Less than $500 worth of parts and some garage time took care of it for now. I also got a chance to see just how clean the inside of my engine was and it was cleaner than I expected.

Would be interested to know how many of you guys have had to do this repair or have it done and at what miles.

My 2015 sport started ticking at 107k. I thought it was an exhaust leak at first, but I am hard of hearing and my wife is the one that told me it was the motor ticking. I told the stealer I was an old mechanic and just couldn’t do the work myself anymore because of my back. So I requested all the take off parts to inspect myself after the work was done.
$3350.00 was charged and they told me I had 5 bad rockers all on the right side and both cams on that side. I asked since they were in there how much to change the left side rockers too and they quoted me $1800 more for what at this point would have been $250 in parts and at most another 2 Hours labor!

I declined and they did the right side only. Now they told me the parts would be in on the following Monday and they would be done either late Monday or sometime Tuesday. They called me at 11:30 on Monday to say it was ready. Less than half a day…okay.
I got the take off parts and went through them. They lied. Go figure. I had 1 bad rocker and one bad cam. Now I wanted all rockers changed out anyway, but I didn’t need that second $550 cam! I called them several time and left messages, but they have never returned my call. Had they not padded the bill with a cam I didn’t need I would have probably had both sides done even though they were gouging me. They would have actually made more money in the long run had they been honest. Guess next time I will go to a different dealer as I do have options. I might add my warranty expired at 100k.

 

I really feel for you, not being in a position to do the work yourself anymore.
Especially when a new cam was only $265 from Partsgeek.
When i lost a rocker/lobe at 105k, doing it myself was a no-brainer, simply because there is nobody to trust.
Engine is burning oil now (1 quart on a 2k mile cross country trip, with the vehicle being supercharged) and i think the low tension oil rings are carboned up. I got an inspection cam for the next time the intake is off.
Im planning on major work next summer, and your comment just reinforces biting the bullet and doing it myself.

 

Have some questions about rocker arms in 3.6 and I thought I would ask to see if anyone had info.

2013 jku, 115k miles

I noticed the engine ticking really slightly about a month ago, couldn't really hear it out in the open at idle but next to a wall at a drive through I could hear it. Over the next 100 miles or so it got a little louder and was coming from the passenger side towards the firewall. I knew where this was heading so I ordered a full set of 24 Melling rockers and lifters, along with all the gaskets on the valve covers and intake. Got the chain release tools and cam sprocket blocks off amazon. 12 hours of under hood work spread over 2 evenings and a rainy Saturday and it's all done and quiet again. It's not a bad job if you have tools and some patience. 1 rocker bad enough so that the roller carrier had just touched the cam lobe. 3 more that had a little bit of extra clearance but not bad enough yet to make noise that I heard.

So a few questions to see if anyone here knows.

Who made/makes the rockers for Chrysler in 2013 and mopar spares now?

The rockers I took out had the pins pressed or crimped into the carrier with the roller spinning on needle bearings, load is always on same side of pin. The new Melling ones are almost identical externally except the pin is free to rotate in the carrier. Do current revision Mopar replacements still have a stationary pin or is it free to rotate?

Anybody know the steel type used on the roller and pin? Precision bearing races are usually 52100 steel but a variety of lower cost steels will reach appropriate hardness levels. I have made custom rocker pins for racing engines from S7 with excellent results in both wear and break strength but I doubt production pins are this good.

From what I have read this has been going on for a while with pentastar engines. It is an obvious design failure in either material selection, component design, or quality control. Possibly a combination of the three. For those who would say it is "normal wear", no, rocker failure of this type in a maintained engine is not even close to normal. The Chrysler engineers know for sure by now what the cause is, anybody know their official answer?

Less than $500 worth of parts and some garage time took care of it for now. I also got a chance to see just how clean the inside of my engine was and it was cleaner than I expected.

Would be interested to know how many of you guys have had to do this repair or have it done and at what miles.

 

70ishK miles. 2012 JK3.6L we did replace our cam b/c like you, it was scored. Ours was sounding off from the right side. We did all rockers and lifters as sourced from Melling. Mopar oEM as sourced manufacturer for their parts as for quality is crap.
So we should have another 70k miles before this happens again. Not sure I trust it was a Rocker arm design issue only.
And we’ll trade this Jeep long before we do this again.