broken valve spring?

kayadog · **Posted:** Tue Apr 27, 2010 11:37 am

Hi-- My 2004 sport with 71,000 miles (warranty till 70k!) has a broken valve spring. Is this a common problem with the 3.7?

I'm pissed because this Jeep is babied and has had regular synthetic oil changes.

Dealer is currently tearing apart the engine to find out how much damage was done, but the estimate is $1,000-1,800.

I'm woried about my other Liberty with the 3.7. Dealer is trying to give me a deal on a Commander, but it also has the 3.7!

I'm hoping they hook me up so close to the warranty expiration since I'm a good customer.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 27, 2010 11:58 am

if you think about how many 3.7's are in use, it's not a 'common' problem, it's the same valve springs the 4.7 v8 uses

valve followers are more known to get jacked up and burn up the valves more so than springs breaking and chances are the dealer may find that it's actually the follower and not the spring causing the valve to stick open

if you can, talk them into redoing the valves, followers etc on both heads and naturally a compression check on the affected cyl(s)

sorry about your luck

linewarbr · **Posted:** Tue Apr 27, 2010 1:08 pm

I had an exhaust valve spring on my Hemi Dodge Ram break at 29,000 miles. It was completely random, I pulled up to a stoplight, the engine started running really bad, and I nursed it along by shifting into neutral at stoplights till I thought, "Why am I doing this? It's under warranty, and the dealer will come pick it up."

It was a freak occurence, the valve spring just had a weak spot in it and it broke.

Strange how these things seem to happen just out of warranty, though, isn't it?

kayadog · **Posted:** Tue Apr 27, 2010 1:19 pm

I know the Internet can be funny by making car problems seem more common than they really are, but there sure are a lot of postings and blogs about broken valve springs in Chrysler vehicles at less than 100k miles.

Still waiting to talk to senior service manager.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 27, 2010 1:45 pm

yeah, but you only hear about the ones that break, not the ones that hit 200k+ with no component failures

Diggerfreek · **Posted:** Tue Apr 27, 2010 1:50 pm

JeepinJarhead03 wrote:

yeah, but you only hear about the ones that break, not the ones that hit 200k+ with no component failures

X2. I have only seen a handful of members on here that have had issues.

bootsers · **Posted:** Tue Apr 27, 2010 3:09 pm

I too had a valve spring break right about at 100k(10hrs from home no less). We were lucky, and I hope`you are too, no damage was done. I think it was only about mid 200's to fix it. The spring itself is fairly inexpensive. Can't say enough about the dealership in Salina, KS. I have heard from other dealerships around that it is fairly common in Dodge/Chrysler vehicles. Good Luck!

kayadog · **Posted:** Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:21 pm

Don't really know the amount of damage yet-- it is definitely a broken valve spring and and it may need a new head.

Either way I am thrilled that the dealer is honoring the expired warranty for a $300 deductable. They didn't give me a hard time at all. Can't say enough about Sudbay Jeep in Gloucester Mass. Not the first time they have come through for me and my family.

Diggerfreek · **Posted:** Wed Apr 28, 2010 1:43 pm

Awesome!

broken valve spring?

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