2008 Dodge Charger 2.7 will not start

10

Asked by pdblanken Apr 20, 2014 at 07:58 PM about the 2008 Dodge Charger SE RWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Oil light came on in 2.7 and then engine lost acceleration power (foot stayed on gas pedal in same position but car slowed) and then died.  Now will not start.  Battery checked OK.  Alternator checked OK.  Instrument panel works.  Code of 0051 which is the o2 2/1 sensor, but I doubt that would cause these symptoms.  74,000 miles.  Just had new water pump and timing chain tensioner installed 2 days ago!  2nd owner of vehicle.  Purchased 6 months ago.  Please help!!

6 Answers

40,265

oil light, no oil, no pressure! will seize piston rings .your symptoms sound exactly that. check oil pump,filter, and oil pan level, oil pressurized tensioner undone, sludge in pan blocking flow. you may be repeating what inspired the repair in the first place just guessing

1,360

When the engine stalls, the oil light will come on because there is no oil pressure when the engine doesn't run. That doesn't necessarily mean there is an internal engine problem. What are the symptoms? Does it crank and not start, does it not crank at all, does it have any power when you turn the key on?

2 people found this helpful.
10

The oil light came on and THEN the engine stalled. Does not crank, does have power when the key is on. Cannot manually turn engine. Had new water pump in tensioner installed just 48 hours to car stalling. Mechanic called me during install of pump to show me how gunked up the engine was while the valve cover was off. My issue now is that there is no way the engine could have sludged up that much in just the six months of owning the car....the previous owner must not have taken care of the vehicle properly. I have a warrany that I purchased when buying the vehicle but mechanic says he is 90% sure the warranty company will not pay to have motor repaired because of the sludge.

1 people found this helpful.
1,360

It's awfully suspicious that you had a new water pump and toning chain tensioner installed and 48 hours later your engine is locked up. I've worked on a TON of these engines and the timing can be very tricky. With that being said, the sludge build up is an extremely common problem with these cars. I've never seen a warranty company cover that failure because it is due to lack of proper maintenance. Regardless of the cause, the engine is definitely in serious trouble. When you get an estimate for repairs, go to this site: mycheckenginelight . net and use the estimate review tool. They'll help you make sure you're not getting ripped off on the repairs. I'd probably suggest taking the car to a different place to make sure the last mechanic didn't cause the damage from not putting the timing back together correctly. If you take it back to the same shop and it turns out it was his fault, he'll have a chance to hide what he did wrong and then you won't be able to prove any wrong doing on his part

10

Do warranty companies not cover even though it was the previous owner, unbeknownst to me or the dealership, that did not properly maintain the vehicle? Doesn't seem fair.

1,360

Unfortunately that's the way it works. The way the warranty company looks at it, this is a pre- existing condition. The previous owner is at fault for the engine being sludged, but there's not anything that can be done about that. You can call the warranty company and ask them but it's highly unlikely they'll do anything for you. You're right, it's very unfair to you

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