Hey everybody!
First post!
I wish I had a better post to start with, but unfortunately I don't. What I have is a dead HC, no warranty coverage and I have now been labeled a criminal mod-er by Dodge. Yes, I made the mistake of listening to my salesman and I am now paying the price. I can go into details on anything anyone cares to know more about but I will try and keep this first post short and to the point.
Here are the details on the car:
2018 Charger HC
Triple Black
Performance related Mods:
Toyo R888R DR’s
BWoody End Links
LMI
Catch Can
Metco Valve cover breather
Cat deletes
2.85 metco pulley/gates belt
Trinity 2 tuner tuned via email tune/data logging
93 octane tune/Race gas tune
Yes, I installed the End links, LMI, Catch can, Breather, Unlocked PCM, Pulley/belt and the trinity 2 tuner and emailed remote tunes.
I learned everything I know from the same research everyone here does and I actually had the time of my life installing these mods by myself and changing out tires several times for track days etc. This had been a life long dream to have a car this powerful, make it more powerful, race it and TRY and do the work myself. I guess that's where I made my mistake. You all can be the judge of that.
I tracked the car once before the mods and ran 11.4/124 which I believe is about what the car should run stock. I then ran it stock at a 1/2 mile event and made a modest 149.6 mph run which I thought wasn't that good. After the mods and tune, I tracked one more time and reduced my times to 10.8/132 which I was very happy about. I was scheduled to again attend a 1/2 mile event and the following occurred just a few days before the event.
The pulley and tuning had been on the car about two weeks when my life changed forever. While out and about, I hit the gas and ended up throwing a P0300 code (random piston misfire) and the engine began running rough. Later after getting home I could hear ticking coming from the engine. Nothing from the SC that I could detect that day. I knew this was bad as anyone would but for the life of me couldn't figure out why it happened.
The only additional piece of information for that day was that I had gotten a fresh oil change that morning. Don't know if that plays into any of this at all.
The only other time a code had ever been thrown was after the first emailed tune I received. It was a P0106 (MAP/Barometric pressure performance problem). The tuner stated that he may not have increased one of the values enough in the base tune he had sent me. He revised it and I installed the new tune and never saw that code again.
After that, I was happy with everything except that when I data-logged I couldn't record the 24 values the tuner was looking for and after much trial and error got 16 values he said he could work with. After receiving another revised tune, I data-logged again and sent those to him with a request for a 93 and separate race gas tune for track days. He sent a final revised tune and stated he had advanced the timing one degree. I asked if that was the 93 or race gas tune and he stated that it could be used for both. I was not sure if that was correct but I went with it since I know he is an experienced tuner.
I obtained some ms109 and ran about 2.5 gallons mixed in with about 5 gallons of 93 to see if there was any difference. I couldn't really detect anything. The day of the engine failure, I had about 2.5 ms109 mixed with about 10 gallons of 93. This was completely a testing and research period for me as I was intending to data log one of the runs. I never made it that far.
The car is not being warrantied due to the mods which I did not try to hide. I had listened to a dealer representative and thought I was completely covered. I was wrong. It also appears that the SC is now making a weird noise as well, sounds like bearings to me. I had taken it to a mechanic nearby just to hopefully help diagnose and after listening to the cylinders with a stethoscope, he noticed a weird sound coming from the SC when the car is shut off. I think the SC must have been damaged as well and is just now starting to show signs of it. I listened to it as well and could hear something I definitely don't like as the engine is turned off. I have videos of both I will try to attach to this post. BTW the mechanic noted that the rattle seems to be coming from the passenger side rear cylinder. He said all the other cylinders sound smooth.
That's my story. I contacted multiple mechanics and so far only one will even attempt to fix the car. Unfortunately he is about 6 weeks lead time before he could get started. I am searching for anyone in So Florida that could get me up and running sooner but it's not looking good. I will be contacting Gearhead Fabs as well, but they are 85 miles from me. I am open to all options though and plan to discuss this with them as soon as tomorrow.
Go easy on me guys, I can hear all the moans and groans already but my questions are:
1 - What happened, why did it fail
2 - Any recommendations on a shop down here that could handle this kind of work in house
3 - What would you be looking to do with your HC if this happened to you?
I don't know what my options are but I know they're all expensive, I've resigned myself to that reality.
Couple things, my baby's name is Bessie the HellBeast. I planned originally on keeping her forever. I mean that. Second, did I mention this was my daily driver? Yes, I'm currently ****ed.
Suggestions, constructive comments, questions, ALL WELCOME.
*I tried to attach video but it wouldn't let me. I will try again down below once I figure it out. Sorry. Added catch can to the list, forgot about that.
