THINK TWICE

The EcoDiesel's EGR cooler can crack, and this is the engine's most dangerous failure. Per the recall defect text, a cracked EGR cooler lets pre-heated vaporized coolant enter the EGR system, where the mixture can combust inside the intake manifold -- an under-hood fire risk. Two recalls cover it: 20V699000 for the 2014-2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0L EcoDiesel and 19V757000 for the 2014-2019 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel; the fix replaces the EGR cooler and, if needed, the intake manifold. The corpus carries this pattern in owner texts across both trucks -- leaking EGR coolers, unexplained coolant loss, white exhaust smoke, and engine-bay fires.

Check — Confirm the EGR-cooler recall is complete on the VIN (19V757000 for a Ram 1500, 20V699000 for a Grand Cherokee). Watch for coolant loss with no external leak, a coolant/sweet smell or white smoke from the exhaust, and any evidence of an under-hood fire or a replaced intake manifold.

The defining Dodge/Ram Hemi 5.7 failure is MDS lifter and camshaft wear -- the internal "Hemi tick": the multi-displacement-system (cylinder-deactivation) lifters on the deactivating cylinders wear and collapse and score the camshaft lobes. Owners report a top-end ticking, a cylinder misfire (P0300/P030x codes), rough running or shaking, metal in the oil, and in the worst cases stalling or a seized engine. 292 federal ENGINE complaints across the 2009-2019 Ram 1500, Durango, Grand Cherokee, Charger and 300 name lifters, camshaft, MDS or cylinder deactivation; among the mileage-known reports the failures cluster around 100,000 miles (median). These models are engine-mixed, so this describes the 5.7 Hemi specifically, not the 3.6 V6.

Check — Cold-start and listen for a persistent top-end tick that does NOT fade once warm (this is the catastrophic one -- distinct from the exhaust-manifold-bolt tick in HEMI-2); scan for stored or pending cylinder-misfire codes, and ask whether the camshaft or lifters were ever replaced and whether there is metal in the oil. A proper repair is a camshaft plus a full lifter set (sometimes a short block), so budget for a major engine repair on a high-mileage 5.7.

The EcoDiesel's high-pressure fuel pump is a catastrophic-failure risk. Recall 22V406000 covers the 2014-2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee and 2014-2019 Ram 1500 3.0L diesel: per its defect text, a high-pressure fuel pump (HPFP) failure can introduce internal debris into the fuel system, which can cause fuel starvation and an unexpected loss of drive power. The EcoDiesel uses a Bosch CP4-type HPFP, the same pump family notorious on other modern diesels for shedding metal into the injectors, rails, and lines when it fails, turning a pump failure into a whole-fuel-system job. The recall replaces the HPFP and inspects/replaces other fuel components; corpus texts describe these trucks losing power at speed and refusing to restart, with debris found in the fuel system.

Check — Confirm recall 22V406000 shows complete on the VIN. Ask whether the truck still runs its original HPFP or has had a pump/fuel-system replacement, and whether any metal contamination was found; a sudden stall-and-no-restart history is a red flag. Budget for the risk on an unrepaired high-mileage example.

A second, later Pentastar 3.6 failure mode is valvetrain wear: a rocker-arm roller wears, loosens and drops, throwing the rocker off the cam and producing a ticking or tapping that can escalate to a misfire or internal damage if driven on. 161 federal ENGINE complaints on the 2014-2019 3.6 models (Wrangler, Grand Cherokee, the vans, Charger and 300) name rocker arms or lifters. Owners report dealer rocker/lifter replacements and PCM reflashes, with the noise often appearing at highway mileage rather than when new.

Check — Listen for a persistent tick or tap that does not clear after an oil change and is not just cold-start injector noise; ask about any rocker-arm, lifter or valvetrain work and any PCM/ECM reflash. A tick left unaddressed can score the camshaft and turn a rocker job into an engine job.

A second, look-alike Hemi 5.7 "tick" is broken exhaust-manifold bolts, NOT an internal failure: the manifold bolts shear -- often loudest at cold start -- producing a ticking or tapping and an exhaust leak. 269 federal complaints, overwhelmingly on the Ram 1500 trucks (with a handful on the Durango, Grand Cherokee and Charger), describe broken manifold bolts or an exhaust-manifold tick. Owners routinely confuse this with the lifter tick in HEMI-1; it is a far cheaper, non-catastrophic repair, though snapped bolts can be hard to extract and a leak near the firewall can let exhaust fumes into the cabin.

Check — Distinguish it from the lifter tick: a manifold-bolt tick is loudest cold, is tied to an exhaust smell or a "leak"/ticking sound at the head, and throws NO misfire code. Inspect the exhaust manifolds for broken bolts and soot tracks; a durable repair replaces all the manifold bolts (many shops use an upgraded stud kit) rather than just the one that let go.

The 3.0L EcoDiesel of this era was covered by a federal diesel-emissions settlement, which required an approved emissions-system software modification (owners and dealers call it the AECM update). It is a mandatory emissions action, not an NHTSA safety recall, so it does not appear as a defect campaign in the recall file -- but it matters to a buyer, because the corpus carries many owner complaints that AFTER the approved emissions modification the engine hesitates, bogs, or loses power (especially before it warms up) and returns worse fuel economy. Separately, watch for illegal "delete"/EGR-DPF-DEF tunes on these trucks, which are an emissions and registration problem.

Check — Confirm the approved emissions modification (AECM) has been applied and the truck runs the current, legal calibration (not a delete tune). On the test drive, watch for cold-engine hesitation, bogging, or power loss when pulling into traffic, and ask the seller about fuel economy and any EGR/DEF/emissions service history.