Shops quote $3,500–$5,500 for this one, and the quote usually isn't the ripoff, the job really is that big. Here's what's actually failing, what the correct repair involves, and the honest part: this is not a job I do in a driveway.
The 3.6 Pentastar's rocker arms ride the camshaft on tiny needle-bearing rollers. On these engines, and it shows up disproportionately on the left bank, the needle bearings inside a roller collapse. The roller stops rolling and starts dragging across the cam lobe instead, grinding it down a little more with every revolution. That's the tick: steady, mechanical, and unlike an exhaust leak it doesn't fade when the engine warms up.
As the lobe wears, the valve it operates stops opening fully. The engine computer notices the camshaft behaving sluggishly and sets P000A, camshaft position slow response, and you feel it as a rough idle and a motor that's lost its smoothness. Meanwhile the collapsed needle bearings themselves are loose steel rolling around the top of your engine, riding the oil to places they should never be.
The correct repair is not one rocker. All twelve rockers on the affected bank have identical mileage and the identical failure mode, and the cam lobe the dead one was dragging on is already damaged. Bank of rockers, new camshaft, fresh oil to carry out the debris, done once, done right. Replace just the noisy one and you'll be doing this again within the year.
If your Jeep / Dodge is doing any of these, this is the likely cause:
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Left-Bank Rocker Arm & Camshaft Replacement (Pentastar Tick) is on my published list of jobs I turn down. It needs a hoist, a press or a machine shop, and I work out of driveways with hand tools. That list is public on my trust page. I'd rather lose the job than learn it on your engine, and you should be suspicious of anyone who says yes to this over the phone.
So here's what I can genuinely do for you, holding a $3,500–$5,500 quote. Both are real, both are flat-priced, and both are worth more than a bad yes.
Before you spend $3,500–$5,500, have someone independent confirm that's actually what's wrong. This is a diagnosis, not the repair, no hoist, no lift, nothing comes apart. I scan it, test it, look at it with you, and tell you straight whether their diagnosis holds up. If it does, I say so and you go pay them with confidence.
Book the second opinion →At $3,500–$5,500 on a car that might be worth not much more, plenty of people replace instead of repair, that's a completely reasonable call. If that's where you're heading, get the next car measured before you hand over money: 150 published points, at the seller's location, written report the same day.
Book a pre-purchase inspection →Tell me what you've been quoted and what the car is doing. $100–$250 flat, at your location, and you get a straight answer either way.
Rather just have the quote read? The free quote check tells you whether the number is in line, no visit needed.
Jobs on this car that ARE mine:
Not so you can do it yourself, so you can tell whether the shop quoting you understands the job:
That's the job. It's why this one belongs on a hoist instead of in a driveway, and it's why $3,500–$5,500 usually isn't a ripoff, it's a big repair honestly priced. What's worth checking is whether that's really what your car needs.
Get the diagnosis confirmed firstPlain version: Left-Bank Rocker Arm & Camshaft Replacement (Pentastar Tick) needs equipment a driveway doesn't have, a hoist to get under it properly, a press or a machine shop for the parts that come out, and a controlled space for an engine or gearbox that's in pieces for days. I work out of driveways with hand tools. That's not false modesty, it's the published limit of what I take on, and it's listed on my trust page alongside the warranty.
What that means for you: this page is here to tell you what's failing and what it should cost, so you walk into a shop knowing the job instead of nodding at a number. And if you want that number checked before you pay it, that part I can do, $100–$250 flat, at your location.
Two things get worse while you wait: the cam lobe keeps grinding down, and the collapsed needle bearings keep circulating through the engine's oil system. The first costs you a camshaft you were already buying. The second can cost you the engine, because hardened steel needles don't pass through bearings politely. A Pentastar tick caught early is a one-day valvetrain job; ignored for months, it can become a bottom-end problem no valve cover removal will fix.
They went in together and they wear together. The other eleven have the same needle bearings at the same mileage, and the labour to get back in there is the expensive part. Replacing the full bank while the cam is out is the difference between fixing this once and fixing it annually.
Same family of failure, different part. The HEMI's tick is a seized MDS lifter roller; the Pentastar's is a collapsed rocker arm roller. Both end with a roller dragging on a cam lobe, both spread metal through the oil, and both reward early action. We work on plenty of each.
No. Left-Bank Rocker Arm & Camshaft Replacement (Pentastar Tick) is on my published list of jobs I turn down, it needs a hoist, a press or a machine shop, and I work out of driveways with hand tools. I'd rather lose the job than learn it on your engine.
Two things, and both are real. A second-opinion diagnostic at your car, $100–$250 flat, at your location, so somebody independent confirms that's actually what's wrong before you commit to a $3,500–$5,500 repair. And if you're weighing replacing the car instead of fixing it, a pre-purchase inspection on the replacement, $149–$399 flat, at the seller's location.
Because the useful part isn't the wrench. It's knowing what's actually failing, what the correct repair involves, and that shops quote $3,500–$5,500 for it, so you walk in knowing the job instead of nodding at a number. If you want that number checked before you pay it, that part I can do.
Send it over for a free second opinion. I'll tell you straight what the job actually involves, and if their quote is fair, I'll tell you that too.
Get a Free Second OpinionOther makes:
I'm not the guy who does this repair. I'm the guy who tells you whether you actually need it, before you spend $3,500–$5,500. Second opinion at your car, $100–$250 flat, in Mississauga, Oakville, Milton, Brampton and Etobicoke.
Book a Second Opinion Inspect a Replacement CarYour options on this one