[Meela]

Hello and thank you for reading my post . I have a 06 300c 5.7 hemi . Bought for 500 it had kinda bad damage front end and cracked tranny. Well got all that done and put 4,000$ into pulling frame and used low mileage tranny put in . Air bags did deploy but not reported so not salvage. And it’s stuck on traction mode the zz light is on ..I bought all new tops for engine; intake manifold,evap/charcoal canister and both sensors front and back, spark plugs ,Egr,water pump, new oil change , tires,brand new battery,thermostat,changed out a couple coil packs ,New map sensor and some other little things I can’t remember . Fixed all codes that showed on my scanner .So maybe about 5,500$ into vehicle already .130k miles on it .tranny 50-60k
Long story short I was driving from my town to my work 1hr 40 Min on freeway Going bout 80-90 real smooth . Ran over a small price of plastic from another car bout 1x1 size . Didn’t hurt the car in any way still drove smooth . I even slowed down to make sure it didn’t run funny after,get to town ,pull over turn off car . Then when leaving and starting engine made very loud horrible cranking vibration noise. Took to shop the said it’s common for heads /seats or rods to go out and it would be best to find a used engine because rebuild is way too much $. I see the rebuild kits for about $700-$900
..I got 1 guy said 2500 rebuild 3month warranty
...$1000 labor swap engines if I get used or new
... or do I walk away and spend more$ on buying another car
... how do I find legit correct used low mileage engine??
... also seen some oil in air filter box so I’m guessing there’s maybe oil in intake . But radiator has no oils and engine oil is clean also . Only cranked for a few seconds and died out .
?I’m a girl trying to learn thank you for your support ??love my hemi ?

 

[Meela]

I live in Turlock ca if that helps in any kind of way

 

[CtCarl]

I'm sorry to say it, but this sounds like a dropped valve seat as alluded to in your post.

$2500 is a good price for a rebuild. $1000 to swap them out seems high. Can you go to the same shop that put your tranny in, and see if they'll cut you a sharper price?

My first question for the rebuilder would be, exactly what do they do to update the heads? Some shops will replace only the dropped seat. A better plan is to replace all the valve seats with updated parts that improve the interference fit.

Whatever you decide, it's important to keep an eye on the engine temp, and never shut the car off when it's hot. You need to avoid those first few minutes, when the coolant gets superheated since it's not circulating. Let it idle for a few minutes, pop the hood, etc.

You might also want to drop in a cooler thermostat...a 195º will give you a modest drop in temps but shouldn't trip any DTCs.

Good luck!