Dodge gets a lot of hate for producing what some customers have called "piece of crap" automobiles. One TikToker has highlighted one possible reason its earned this reputation among particular consumer demographics: its engine.
Specifically, the Pentastar 3.6 liter engine, which has also been blasted across other social media platforms. One Redditor wrote, "The 3.6 Pentastar is the worst pile of [expletive] motor to grace the roads this century, all because of this part. You can't change my mind."
Auto tech and TikTok user Victor Shack (@victorshack) seems to agree with that assessment, and illustrates a specific reason why the Pentastar 3.6 is such a pain to diagnose and work on.
"I got this 15 Pentastar 3.6 Dodge [expletive] pile motor that's in Jeeps, and in Dodge Caravans, and all these other [expletive] from I guess 8 or 9 or 10, all the way up to date. Sometime you can't figure out why they misfire and you take it apart, you'll hear no noise, everything looks good," he says as he zooms into a portion of the engine he clearly has so much disdain for.
The auto tech continued. "And you can see the way that cam's tracking on that rockers, those two? Compared to these?" he states, panning his camera to another set of rockers on the engine. "You see they're not really the same, shiny still, you saw that one's not. Those two aren't on cylinder one? See that big line in the middle, you don't really got it on that one, but this one is," he remarks again, going back and forth between the two sets of rockers on his camera, highlighting their differences multiple times.
He delineates why this is such bad news for Dodge owners: looks are deceiving on the engine, and one would need an eagle eye to ascertain what was wrong with the car engine. "The problem is the rockers are taking a [expletive] early and throwing a misfire and everything looks beautiful but it ain't. We've experienced this [expletive] before where we've taken the head off three times cause we couldn't find the goddamn failure, everything looked great. Rockers look good, cam looks good, and I found that we changed all the [expletive] rockers on this cylinder one, the misfire went away."
Shack says these Dodge engines are nearly impossible to fix, even by the dealership.
"If no one can figure it out—probably not even the dealer because they're not that sophisticated—they'll just sell you a new engine," he warns.
How to fix a Pentastar 3.6 Dodge engine
The mechanic then goes on to explain how the fundamental design of the engine is what causes the premature first cylinder rocker wear. He also shares how to fix it. "All we gotta do is just lift this cam out—I gotta secret way of doing it. We're not taking all that [expletive] off get that [expletive] up, replace them two rockers. I don't see any more [expletive] up only one cylinder," he says as he zooms out to show the entirety of the engine.
He zooms back into the affected rockers. "'15 Dodge Caravan 3.6," he says before the video ultimately closes out.
Newparts.com has also mentioned that Dodge's 3.6 Pentastar engine experiences misfiring due to faulty rocker arms: "This issue can cause engine noise, reduced power, and engine damage if left unaddressed. In 2014, FCA issued a service bulletin to address this issue. The service bulletin recommends inspecting the rocker arms and camshaft for damage and replacing them if necessary. Additionally, the bulletin recommends using updated parts and a revised oil filter to prevent further damage."
Many viewers responded that they, too have experienced issues with Dodge vehicles.
"I use to have a 01 dodge caravan and it had more problems then I could count got it at 88k miles had to rebuild the transmission around 95k, then the reverse went out and I scraped it after it sat for a few yrs. piece of front wheel drive. Never again drive a dodge," one person penned.
Someone else simply stated: "Garbage engines."
Another user on the application attributed another recurring problem to these faulty rockers as well: "That annoying a*s tick is due to those sh*tty rockers too."
There was a lot of hate for these specific Dodge engines: "The 3.6 is better than the 3.8 but still has its problems. We ran into that shit with my sons 2013 Wrangler Sport 3.6L. He heard a ticking sound, six grand later and no more ticking."
One user speculated as to why Dodge is intentionally putting these engines in its cars: "Money makers," the TikToker penned.
And someone else remarked that they don't have a very good working relationship with Dodge motors either: "I work on state police cars everyday and the chargers and durangos have these shit motors leaking oil everywhere."
The Daily Dot has reached out to Dodge via email and Shack via TikTok comment for further information.
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