Having watched the whole video now, I think it's pretty clear the cause of the failure is an oiling issue caused by the oil probably never getting changed.

To be fair, ZERO of those plastic pulleys failed before the METAL cam shaft did. 🤣

I was surprise that the pistons were not in plastic too…

I had a 2015 JK with the 3.6L. I changed my oil every 3000 mile s with full synthetic. In 113,000 I never had an issue with the engine. It ran tip top. Maintenance is key!

Great video and explanation - you obviously really know your stuff! Well, FWIW... I'm @ 233,000 miles on my '12 Rubicon, driving on and off-road in the mountains & dez, towing a large enclosed trailer often, so lots of load and hard work. I do drive it as gently as i can and think that really helps, along with all scheduled maintenance plus extra PM love... Have had minimal problems other than the first #2 cylinder valve seat failure my dealer had seen @22k miles. Covered by warranty and all good since. Failures since include oil cooler cracking, cam phaser wearing out, clutch, 1st gear synchro, transfer case b/c Chrysler didn't make the one part in there that failed. Oil changes every 5,000 miles with Mopar's semi-synthetic oil, change f&r different fluids, manual tranny fluid and transfer case fluid all on factory schedule. Have done lots of PM to keep reliability as high as possible so can be off-road with confidence. @200,000 miles replaced water pump, serpentine belt, plugs & coils, PCV, all hoses, etc. Basically all consumables except alternator. Runs great, like new. Given that it's a Jeep, owned by Chrysler, owned by Fiat, I bought the lifetime warranty when new. That was money well-spent and gives me confidence to keep going. The whole vehicle really is amazing. Great everywhere, crawling, off-road, dunes, snow, towing, hauling, highway. I love it.

Just hit 183k on the Pentastar 6. I change the oil often. 5w-30 is the oil I use. Mobil 1. every 4k filter and oil. No ticking, good oil pressure. No oil burning. Great engine.

I have this same engine in my wife’s van since 2011. The key is changing your oil and for me that is full synthetic every 5000 miles.

Dude outside in the snow, detailed explanation and good no shake footage.

I have never seen one of these go less than 150,000 miles if the oil was changed.

The problem with the Pentastar 3.6 is there very sensitive with oil type and gas octane, if you are lazy with oil changes and use cheap oil you can kiss your rockers and lifters and cams goodbye, if you use low octane gas you can kiss your number two cylinder valve seats goodbye, Chrysler said that they fixed the problem in mid 2013 with hardened valve seats and improved cooling, but there still blowing up, the best way to combat this is to use 91 octane to stop preignition which over heats the valve seats. And a quality full synthetic oil changed often will keep the engine from eating itself. I am a mechanic and machinist for 40 years so I figured I would help the people that have this engine, if taken care of properly it will give you good service. Good oil good fuel.

Thanks SK99 for your expert teardown and explanation of the finer points of automotive engines of all kinds. I appreciate your point that more plastic parts means less recyclable steel and aluminium, and more junk in the landfill. I also concur that no-one designs for maintainability; arbitrarily different bolt sizes, service items buried under wiring harnesses, plastic clips prone to breakage, etc. Thanks again!

These engines drain oil down into the oil pan when not running because it has no check valve. The result? Dry starts with 3-4 seconds of oil less wear and tear. It may be that the side with the damage gets oil last after a dry start. There are aftermarket devices that provide the check valve to keep oil in the upper end of the engine (I think Baxter makes one that install just under the oil filter). Everyone with a Pentastar engine needs to get one of these. They’re easy to install using basic tools.

I once worked for a man who had been a Studebaker dealer. He told of visiting the factory and seeing the cam shafts being heat treated. They were turning over blue flames, slowly. He noticed a couple of flames were not working. He pointed it out to the tour guide, who told him not to worry about it!

Every large project I ever worked on involved dozens of engineers designing subsystems with whatever fastener they like, management never cares enough to force anyone to use common fasteners so you find up with as many fastener types and sizes as there are people working in that project. This also applies to wire sizes, connectors, sheet metal thickness and whatever else the engineer has leeway with selecting.

I had to disassemble and reassemble these engines in automotive class at tech school. I found them to be robust engines in several ways but at the same time there were cheap components. Plastic oil cooler assembly is one of the worst. I believe these are more sensitive to lack of maintenance. Oil pressure is critical in controlling timing and if you run it low or too long on poor oil then it will cause too much slack in the valve train which affects VVT and timing. It's definitely not like the old 3.3 and 3.8l pushrod engines

Thanks Speedkar for going through this exercise on a cold, snowy day. As for the engine....all that plastic!! I guess that's the era we are in though.

I've used 4 Grand Caravan with the 3.6L Pentastar engine. They all worked great because I took care of them. Combined I've done over 300,000 km in these vehicles. They have never let me down.

My 13 Charger has the Pentastar with 176,000 and still runs like new. I've kept it well maintained and only have had to replace a couple sensors. I think it's a great engine just has too many plastic parts

Got 2014 GC with 171K... no major engine issues yet. I'm impressed with the Pentastar.

it is so sad to see that modern engines are designed to have multiple fragile plastic parts that will eventually break and be nearly impossible to source. I can't imagine any of the engines presently made surviving longer than 2 decades.

I've seen this happen in probably six of these pentastar engine. Usually caused by an oil change done and failure to use synthetic oil then the engine was driving 20k, 30k, 40k etc till the oil lost all viscosity and the cam and lobes ate themselves to pieces.... Once they get eaten to a point that the intake valve will not hardly open the engine will no longer start, especially if it happens to multiple cylinders on the same bank 👍

I've seen these engines fail, but it was almost always from lack of maintenance. You have to remember these come in 300's, chargers, challengers, grand caravans, wranglers, etc. 90% of the owners of these vehicles don't even know what an oil change is...so I don't blame the engine

Thank you very much for doing this, just bought a dodge 2011 journey and as a new immigrant in a country where I have limited resources and have to start over, it is essential for me to keep this vehicle roadworthy. I was looking for a video covering this engine so I will know what to look out for, and how to disassemble if needed. your video was spot on....much appreciated.

Chrysler can build reliable engines if they want to. They don't because it makes them money.

Thanks for the video! Nice tear down! We have a 2012 JKU, with the first year Pentastar. No major problems yet at 137k miles. We just changed to full synthetic oil and man it made a difference in the feel and sound of the engine. “Spike” runs smooth now and seems a bit peppier. I wish I changed to full synthetic oil earlier. Now that his engine doesn’t sound quite as noisy… it makes me wonder why it sounded that way before…. I think you might have explained this out for us. We’ll just keep maintaining him and looking and listening for any signs and symptoms of trouble. I hope to get another 100k out of him before we rebuild his engine. Stay Safe Folks!!!

Well done! What a great video! I’ve only torn into my Jeeps 3.6 to change plugs and the oil cooler (of course). It’s really interesting to see the entire engine broken down! Thanks for having the patience to film it all, I really enjoyed this. 🙌

Had one side of lifters, rocker arms, cam changed in a used 15 grand Cherokee limited. Pentastar tick is very real😢. Seeing you tear it down, I can understand the cost. Thank you for your content and thorough explanation of the process.

Great explanation of the worn cam and components!

This is a fantastic video! Lots of good information! I have this engine in my 2013 200. Put 75k miles in about 7 years and absolutely no issues so far related to the drive train (fingers crossed). It is designed well but the cutting of corners with too much plastic leads to the downfall of this engine.

There is an aftermarket all aluminum oil filter/cooler housing available for these engines. And the reason for the 6 bolts is because the pentastar engines were originally designed for a boosted application.

Wow, that is the fastest and most comprehensive Pentastar engine breakdown I have seen on KZfaq. So much plastic.

I’ve gained so much interest in automotive mechanics by watching your videos. I’m enlisting in summer and the job I chose was wheeled vehicle mechanic cuz Man, this shit looks so interesting and fun. The Science behind all this is amazing and you are showing it to everyone for free. Thank you

This is absolutely the best in-depth explanation of a 3.6 motor. You have totally educated me on how every component in the motor functions in my jeep and I couldn’t be more thankful. Awesome video very well done.!!

I love the video buddy, thank you for all the great info you shared with us! Keep it coming, can’t wait for the next adventure!

Wow, thank you for showing us what actually fails in this engine. A lot of video did not show the actual reason why engines fail.

I'm so glad that I stumbled across your channel to see your teardown of this engine. I see many comments about the oil, the pan residue was horrible, but generally I notice bearing damage when oiling was the primary cause. I don't think that I would buy anything with that engine in it.

Great content, very informative and very interesting to watch. I have a wrangler with pentstar engine. I have it for 13k milage for now and it has been good, fingers cross it will always be good. Also I have already decided to change oil every 5k miles, so hopefully frequent oil change can help the engine to hold better.

Great video as always, and we'll timed, just bought a jeep with this engine in it, I think I'm going to cut the oil change interval in half what the factory recomends.

Like your informative videos. Could you please make a video about what engines are built well and reliable?

I have a 2017 Wrangler. Two years ago I bought the metal Dorman oil cooler. No troubles after 40k miles since replaced. Original plastic one had 48k miles on it and it shattered when I dropped from less than two feet onto garage floor. I change oil every 4k on the dot.

Well done video. Good efficient editing.

Bought my 2012 wrangler new and still going strong at with a little over 118,000 on it. Nothing has been done then the driver side head recall and this is probably due to my strict maintenance schedules I practice on everything I’ve ever owned

Great teardown narration and editing... makes the old slant 6 seem like a marvel of simplicity... in and out of the car and all new parts rebuilt in an afternoon. I wonder how the parts count and points of failure would compare.

Having just changed exhaust camshaft and one failed rocker arm and follower on a 150K motor I was fascinated to see the whole motor pulled. Thank you so much. I can't believe that we accept such inbuilt obsolescence. Great video though!

I expected the oil filter housing to make a mess, also... but having owned one for 10+ years now it *never* drips at all. It drains back down far enough that the lid comes off with no mess. The filter/cooler assembly is prone to leaks and Dorman makes an all-metal replacement. But again... 130k miles on mine and no issues. I'm always super careful not to torque it around too much when replacing the filter. These engines have turned out to be real workhorses. Not glamorous, but after a few early problems (2011-2013) they've been rock solid. There's a teardown video out there of a 600,000 mile example from a Promaster van. It actually looks a heck of a lot better than the one in this video- I'd have to guess this one never had an oil change.

I'd like to see you do a video on general car maintenance. Fluid changes, direct injection servicing etc.

Great video. I appreciate your knowledge of the 3.6. Well done sir, thank you for thank. I have a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee with that 3.6. Your identification of parts and explanation of purpose is phenomenal. Thank you

Amazing video! I learned so much. Unfortunately my 2015 penta died a few days ago while taking a corner, I almost crashed though a fence. 148km on it. I did all recommended maintenance, including oil changes, 20% early. Needed to be towed in to a trusted mechanic....I await their call, scared for what I will hear....😫

Great video! I have nearly 174,000 miles on mine with the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Other than replacing a couple oxygen sensors, it's held up great. I use PennGrade oil for the oil changes along with some Lucas Oil High Mileage Stabilizer every 5,000 miles.

With these engines you have to keep up with the oil changes. Sure, there are some plastic parts that need replacement, but if you do, engine lasts a long time. The first gen pentastars suffered of roller rocker arm failure, but I mainly think this is due to poor oil changes. I bought a 2016 GC with the PUG engine and up to now, I havent had issues. Lets hope it keeps that way.

GREAT explanation and analysis Keep up the detailed work.

Great breakdown and video, the knowledge one can gain from your videos is useful and extremely helpful. Thanks. Subscribed..

The Reverse Mount Alternator Bracket was primarily used for Wranglers, so they can raise it above the Engine for water fording purposes. That way the Alternator doesn’t get immersed in water. This unfortunately was the way to go to relocate the Alternator for that purpose. Most Pentastar powered passenger cars have the Alternator mounted low, somewhere below the Cylinder Heads.

Another good one. Sometimes I watch your videos on 1.25 or 1.5x speed. Its still easy to understand you and it makes it even funnier for me.

Over a period of time because of the location of the cartridge filter on top of the engine, after 30 minutes the oil drains out of the filter, so at startups, the top of the engine is not getting oil for a couple of seconds. This can lead to upper engine wear (cams, lifters etc.) over time. I just installed a Baxter Performance kit for my 2021 3.6 etorque RAM 1500 which replaces the cartridge with a spin on filter and has a check valve to keep oil in the filter so no more dry starts.

My 2007 jeep grand Cherokee Laredo v6 3.7 4wd just surpassed 222K miles and she still runs like a champ no funny noises no funny smell no ticking no tacking no vibrations just a work horse riding it till the wheels falls off!

This was both educational and entertaining. Thank you for posting this video! I'm going to carefully disconnect this wire... clip. great!😀

Also, I totally agree with your comments about the oil cooler/oil filter housing. Without getting into detail, it was the downfall of my Avenger (although she did make it to 216k miles). Thankfully, Dorman developed an aluminum replacement, although availability is scarce.

I have the old 2007 3.3L engine. Had the same engine on my 1995 caravan too. Got 450,000 Km on the 95, and so far 300,000 km on my 07. The MAIN THING IS to change the oil every 3,000 Km and you too can have a long-lasting engine. Kept both for 17 years each. No real complaints. 1 water pump failed on the 95 due to abuse climbing mountains in California, then driving 200 miles in 105 F heat. WTF? But the old gal hung in there for me. It was wobbling but it didn't let go. Amazing! Praise the Lord. Other than the carbonization of the upper intake plenum I really can't complain. Am waiting this week after 13 months for my brand new Toyota Corolla Cross M20A engine. No more crusty caravans for me! They gave me pretty good service/ fixed 90% myself.

You’re so knowledgeable, love these videos

Thank you for this. I would love to see a teardown video on the 3.3/3.8 family of engines to compare.

The Pentastar 3.6L engines are widely considered great.

Your knowledge far exceeds your comedy! amazing job, I learned a lot!

Absolutely loved the video, thank you for creating it. I have a pentastar in my Grand Caravan.

Great! video. I have one of these little engines in a 14 ram 1500 4x4. Handy little truck for running around to pick up electrical supplies. I usually use a 3500 cummins dually and recently an eco diesel. I like my little V-6 gasser. Truck does light duty as I knew that when I bought it. Bought it with 230kms (143k miles). Truck now has 265kms (165k miles) and runs like a top. Wanna know why..cause I change the f'ing oil when it needs to be. Duh!! Tough little engine, btw I only use K&N filters on all my trucks, dually (6.7) spoiled with royal purple oil. Bottom line change your oil. That's why this little V-6 is on youtube for all the wrong reasons. TOG out!!

speedkar dialog so funny!! Love his channel. My 2cents, owner never changed oil....

I replaced the oil cooler/filter assembly on one of those recently. Was leaking oil really bad. Happens to all of them. This vehicle was well maintained but it still melted the oil cooler housing.

Your edits improved, nice bro.

Very good video. I watched it twice. Perhaps one of your best. Thanks for the very detailed description of the valve train. I have one of these in a 2017 Grand Cherokee (120,000 km) so I was particularly interested to see if there was anything, other than frequent oil changes, to help it last longer. I did let the oil change monitor/reminder do its thing only once. At 10,000 km it said I had 40% oil life left. Do what does that mean. It's 40% oil and 60% mystery fluid? Not for me. Usually change it around 7,500 km instead and wonder if I should be doing it sooner. Aside from trying to get a miniscule amount of better fuel mileage I think there is the perception that the 0-20 oil is necessary for proper operation of the chain tensioners and valve phasers. I wonder if this is really so. Seeing the extreme wear on the cam and rockers I am very tempted to go to a heavier oil but also afraid that it would be detrimental for proper tensioner and phaser operation, mostly in very cold temperatures. How does anybody know. Darned if you do darned if you don't! If the cam and rocker heat treat is inadequate heavier oil would be the only thing that might prolong their life. I have not yet replaced the serpentine belt. Glancing at it I thought it would be a simple job because of all the room in front. Was a shocker to see an engine mount and tensioner had to be removed to do the otherwise simple job. Made my spirit sink. Very disappointing to see how so many manufactures are using so many plastic parts but a fuel rail is shocking. Thanks for the detailed video. Soaking in a little bit of vinegar and the toothbrush will be fine. Your wife will never know. The coolant passage did look like that .

-My son had this engine in his Jeep Rubicon. -Cam failed -Sold ! -Owns Lexus now !!

You have some interesting thoughts and theory's. Thanks for sharing them.

Great job on explaining the issue, sad when people don't maintain there oil interval changes!!!

Great video as usual and another reason to lease & release these wonder's of modern technology. Wow, bummer about that tooth brush & bed situation.

Was almost sure the damage would be related to the issues with oil coolers failing on those engines. Crazy how only 1 cam got chewed up

GREAT VIDEO EDITING! My 18' WK2 has worn lobes on the intake. :(

Awesome work, I wonder how old that oil is, and if it was the right spec. I only use Ravenol on my Jeep, and it loves it.

I love how you allow your family to participate in these projects!!❤️

Teardown in the snow. Absolute legend.

Feel like I was back in the shop , excellent autopsy.

I recently rented a Pentastar equipped Charger for a week, I surprised myself by actually liking the car and the engine. On the other hand, liking it as a rental doesn't translate into being willing to own one. I think this one died by an extreme lack of maintenance.

The pentastar is a brilliant engine and it’s very sad to see this one definitely failed from neglect. I highly encourage people look into the extensive engineering they put into this thing. The only issues it really has are just Chrysler penny pinching and quality control. Such as sand cast issues and overuse of brittle. plastic(mainly oil filter housing and plenum). I know the oil filter housing is prone to cracking and the sending unit o rings are prone to failure, but I would think the o rings fail often because of the units location (at the top of the engine) so most of the time these o rings are dry. These also like to tick and love shredding cam bearings which isn’t the best, but hey every engine has to have something like that go wrong lol. I forgot to mention how beefy the bottom end of this engine is. The whole piston assembly is super durable and the rod caps alone look they’re out of a decent sized V8. I have no doubt that the bottom end of these engines will be very very long lasting.

AWESOME EDITING PRACTICES and a Great POS-a-star engine expose'! Thanks for your efforts.

Great video, I’m leaning toward lake of or poor oil changes

I think the pentastar is a great engine but maintenance is key and definitely requires high quality oil. I have changed the oil every 4-6k miles depending on what kind of driving I’m doing and I never let it idle more than I need to. My 13’ grand caravan has 187,000 hard miles and pulled a trailer about half of those miles. The only failures have been thermostat stuck open and the oil cooler/filter assembly cracked.

Replacing the worn out timing chains & sprockets on my 2012 Jeep 3.6 @ 98,000 miles. While I'm in there doing rockers and lifters. I just remind myself it is still a Chrysler product, took me 35+ years before I bought another Chrysler after owning a 67 Plymouth. Jeez

My respects to you, added that you did it under inclement weather is even more respectable! Thanks for doing this!

Pretty happy with my 2012 Chrysler 200, with 3.6 Owned since new, regularly serviced, No issues yet

The 3.6 in my 2013 Ram has 343,000 miles. I feel that this is a direct result of changing my full synthetic oil at 6,000 miles when driving strictly highway no heavy loads and at 4,000 miles when pulling my 5,500 lb travel trailer in the mountains of West Virginia. Ihave also used Lucas Fuel Treatment since new.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say a lack of oil changes was probably the biggest failure

I use the “clear flood” method to prime the engine before I start my Jeep. I crank it about three cycles without starting before I start it. It definitely reduces valve clatter at start. I’ve heard some say this causes more wear as the parts would normally get oil faster with just a quick start. I’m still doing this so we will see if it prolongs engine components or kills them faster! I am going to switch to a heavier oil and go full synthetic now that I am out of warranty.

I used to have a 2017 Dodge Journey SXT FWD. Never had any issue with it in the 39 months in my possession. The dealer wanted to buy it back after they messed up the financing during the initial purchase. I was looking for an AWD variant, of it but each day passes and it was getting more difficult to find one in decent shape.

I worked at a Chrysler Jeep dealer when these were released. I took one look at one and decided they were crap. Chrysler and then FCA had nothing I would purchase, and today is no better. IMHO the last good vehicles of the Mother Mopar persuasion was about 1973. The minivans became pretty good for a time but went for a powder lately. When Tom Gale and the other engineers of that day left, the bean counters took over and led the company into the septic pit.

Great video! Very informative! Thanks.

I've had 4 pentistars so far (2011 2016 charger, 2021 and 2023 jeep) They've all been good, only complaint was the 2011 oil filter spring clip broke which caused intake manifold replacement.

Great video man! Shame for the (owner of the) Jeep, 5 years is practically new!

you seem surprised about the various plastic pulleys: aren't they all these days? They seem durable enough too, with the failing part usually the (metal 🙂) bearing

Very good explanatory video!

Your the best,man...great video. I'm in the market for a Pacifica. I now have a bit more knowledge.

Thanks for another great video. Entertaining and educational. I'm waiting for the day your wife appears out of nowhere when you are using her bedsheets to sop up motor oil. That would be the biggest lesson we all learn.

I've heard that these are actually reliable if you replace the oil cooler with a metal one by dorman I don't know how true that is but I have seen them go up to 400,000 mi maybe the newer ones are just more junkie than the older ones