" The Manley chain kit will not fit without modification even though it is mentioned for use on the car. Several people have done it. You have to modify the timing chain cover and shave a few of the bolt heads down in order to make it fit."
Just one more quick question....Is there ANYONE HERE that is against modifications to your pride & joy Challenger?
" @DougHerbert - A much better set than dodge supplies..if u have any conections at dodge PLEASE see if they will consider using this set instead of their chinese set, we are now having second failures, taking out heads & pistons for 2nd time! Else they WILL be sued plus buying back LOTS of Challys"
This was SUPPOSED to be a PM to the guy who posted "I just finished all 56 pages of this thread and ...." Another Android error??? I hit the PM button...
Continue on in the thread, I have found a MUCH beter timing set, Doug Herbert actually found the Manley kit...I would stop driving it NOW before it ruins your heads!!! Bite the bullet, pull the cover...be SURE to get lots of digital pics as soom as the cover is off, before doing anything with chain set. See how much slop is in the chain, measure it & post in the thread...You may be a hero!!!
Hello All,
I've been reading this thread because......... My Challenger threw the timing chain.
09 Challenger R/T Auto 59,134 miles. stock
Driving home from work 70 MPH Flat and straight interstate, all of a sudden Bam the engine shuts down. The only warning light on is ETC. Pulled to the side of the road ran it through a code sequence with the Key, got nothing, let it set for a minute. Tried restarting it and the motor would turn over but never fire. No clunking, valves hitting the pistons NOTHING just won't fire. Called a tow truck and had it delivered to the Dodge dealer.
I called them up the next day, and the "person" that I talk to says "we don't know what the problem is? The camshaft is not turning" I say it sounds like the timing chain is broken! (this is before finding this thread)!!! He tells me they will diagnose it by Monday(this was on last Friday). Monday I call and he tells me the motor is locked up! I start laughing. I ask him to give me a time frame and his answer kinda surprised me. He said "I can't, theres to Hemis in front of you with the same problems!" So this is not a very low percentage event. This is a failure.
Before anyone starts asking I will give you a little background. Have owned Chrysler products since the day I started driving (legally) in 1979. Was a Mechanic in the 80's. Been around the block with engines. Don't know everything, but enough.
Lifetime warranty will cover this unless Dodge want to fight it.
Last edited by dodge junkie; 08-02-2012 at 10:10 AM.
At first, I read your post as a chain failure at "134 mi", and I was like, "Wuh?!" Then I read it correctly.
These failures are really disconcerting, nonetheless. How long would you say you were running mds on that stretch of hwy? Anybody notice that every single person (seems that way from what I recall) that has reported a failure, reports of being on a "flat, straight hwy"? Nobody was on a hill or slowly overtaking somebody or on a long grade or going against a headwind or any other scenario where the mds would necessarily have been in a more loaded situation, if it was active. It's not even right at the point where mds has first engaged (which you would think should be a higher stress point to "snap the final straw" than just running at a constant speed at light load). I've not even heard of anyone report it was right when they were deliberately stepping into some throttle to proactively trigger a return to full-v8 mode (that short latency moment before the switchover where mds will actually be running a heavier than typical load, would seem to be another opportune moment to "snap the final straw") It's always a flat, straight hwy where presumably that translates into minimal engine load...entirely counter-intuitive to when you would expect chaos to emerge.
...and all of this runs utterly counter to the most obvious scenario of failure...if the chain, tensioner, or whatever just happens to be hanging by a thread (from previous wear scenarios), what more stressful scenario could there be than an upshift under heavy throttle from very high rpm to medium rpm, or a downshift from low rpm to moderate to high rpm with heavy throttle?...that has to be a far more stressful scenario to snap a link than any typical mds scenario. Surely, we are all doing that at some point (even routinely) in such a car as this? Why doesn't it ever break then? That boggles me most of all!
It's not that I really needed 370 hp...but having 150+ hp riding shotgun at a moment's bidding w/o a 6000 rpm moonshot is what makes me feel like I'm in the right car for me. The roar of a v8 seals the deal!
The Google keyword is "ethanol-free gas". The truth is coming to light. Check out http://pure-gas.org/
Last edited by randycat99; 08-02-2012 at 10:12 AM.
Our Challenger has been babied! Bought it at the end of 08 for my wife to drive. It was not intended to be a daily driver and it wasn't for the first two years. Some things changed financially for us, and it became a daily driver for a year then back to an ocassional driver for my wife. My car was getting tires on it and I had to drive the Challenger to work (90 miles round trip all interstate) when the complete failure occured.
I had a new 08 Ram 1500 quad 4x4 5.7 auto. Drove it every where. Funny thing was when I first bought this truck my initial thought was the MDS was always fighting the transmission and engine. This truck had the overdrive OFF (or towing mode on) button on the gear selector, so I just shut it off all the time which would cancel out the MDS programming. Never had any problem with it, and didn't mind the lost fuel economy because I was getting reimbursed for all my fuel at the time.
A few times I got the same sensation with the MDS in the challenger, but not to the extent I had in the Ram. I do however feel that this is a contributor to these timing chains to fail. The amount of shock load going from 4 to 8 cylinders has got to be tremendous. Couple this with the weakest chain I've ever seen in a timing set, and it is a recipe for disaster.
This chain "Tensioner" is a bandaid! I don't think it can be called a tensioner anyway! More like a slack Damper. The engineers failed on this one and that can't even be argued.
Last edited by dodge junkie; 08-02-2012 at 10:46 AM.
At first, I read your post as a chain failure at "134 mi", and I was like, "Wuh?!" Then I read it correctly.
These failures are really disconcerting, nonetheless. How long would you say you were running mds on that stretch of hwy? Anybody notice that every single person (seems that way from what I recall) that has reported a failure, reports of being on a "flat, straight hwy"? Nobody was on a hill or slowly overtaking somebody or on a long grade or going against a headwind or any other scenario where the mds would necessarily have been in a more loaded situation, if it was active. It's not even right at the point where mds has first engaged (which you would think should be a higher stress point to "snap the final straw" than just running at a constant speed at light load). I've not even heard of anyone report it was right when they were deliberately stepping into some throttle to proactively trigger a return to full-v8 mode (that short latency moment before the switchover where mds will actually be running a heavier than typical load, would seem to be another opportune moment to "snap the final straw") It's always a flat, straight hwy where presumably that translates into minimal engine load...entirely counter-intuitive to when you would expect chaos to emerge.
I was about 20 miles into the ride home. First 15 are hills, and by the time this happened I was into a very flat stretch for the remainder of the trip.
I'm no engineer, but I too am puzzled by the fact that the MDS seems to crap out when the whole system should be under the least stress. I'm not that sensitive either, but with my resonators gone I can really hear and feel when it comes on. And when accelerating out of that mode (such as to pass on the freeway) there is a distinct resistance that I would intuitively think would be a potential breaking point.
I hope that the autostick mode completely shields from a failure.
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How long would you say you were running mds on that stretch of hwy? Anybody notice that every single person (seems that way from what I recall) that has reported a failure, reports of being on a "flat, straight hwy"? Nobody was on a hill or slowly overtaking somebody or on a long grade or going against a headwind or any other scenario where the mds would necessarily have been in a more loaded situation, if it was active. It's not even right at the point where mds has first engaged (which you would think should be a higher stress point to "snap the final straw" than just running at a constant speed at light load). I've not even heard of anyone report it was right when they were deliberately stepping into some throttle to proactively trigger a return to full-v8 mode (that short latency moment before the switchover where mds will actually be running a heavier than typical load, would seem to be another opportune moment to "snap the final straw") It's always a flat, straight hwy where presumably that translates into minimal engine load...entirely counter-intuitive to when you would expect chaos to emerge.
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