2012 Hemi Tick

[reps4jesus]

Hello all, new to the forum and I’ve been following the synthetic oil thread and have learned a ton. I recently purchased a 2012 Ram 1500 5.7l hemi with 83k on it and 2750 engine hours. Carfax showed good maintance records and pre purchase inspection said it was in great shape, but had an exhaust leak. I had the exhaust leak fixed before purchase, and I was problem free for about till 86k miles when I started getting a tick. I switched from synthetic 5w20 to PUP 5w30 with lube gaurd the other day. I’ve noticed it’s now quiet on startup but ticks once it’s warm now. I’m using a Fram Ultra filter as well (the big one). It seems the tick starts once my oil reaches 165 degrees. I’ve tried to attach a video but I can’t seem to make it work. It’s not super loud, but sounds like it’s coming from the driver side head. It currently idles very clean, and I have no check engine light, misfires, or any issues whatsoever besides the audible tick.

As far as possible solutions, should I give this oil a bit to do its thing before I change things up? My thinking was to try 0w30 redline. If I do, should I leave the current filter with very few miles on it or get a new one? Current temps here stay about 20-40 Fahrenheit and it will get colder in the coming months down to the teens.

Sorry I’m beating a dead horse, but I’d really like to avoid lifters and cam right after buying this truck. This thing was a dream of mine to get for a very long time and finally became possible so I want to take care of this the best I can.

Thank you guys in advance. And trust I am using the search function and reading every oil thread I can find. I’ve read everything I could from Burla and the other experts here and I’m mind blown by how much knowledge is on this forum. I just wanted to make this thread for my specific circumstances.

 

[Burla]

Are you in snowy oregon? So you did notice a change when you went to 5w30 pup with lubegard? Warm idle tick is the worst tick, I'd really make sure it is not exhaust, rule out that it came back, then proceed with it.

 

[reps4jesus]

Are you in snowy oregon? So you did notice a change when you went to 5w30 pup with lubegard? Warm idle tick is the worst tick, I'd really make sure it is not exhaust, rule out that it came back, then proceed with it.

Yeah I’m in southern Oregon where it gets moderately snowy and down to 5-10 degrees sometimes in winter. I’ll look at manifolds and double check! If that isn’t it, would you agree it’s time to try 0w30 redline? Thanks for the reply!

 

[Burla]

If you have 500 miles on that combo I would support moving or giving it time. It does take moly some miles to plate. We don't know if 0w30 is as good as it was prior to formula change, what we do know is 5w30 is still the best formula for redline at killing tick. Is your truck garaged or outside? IMO that makes the difference 5w30 versus 0w30. The only reason against 5w30 is cold piston slap, and you can thin it if needed and make it like 0w30 even better fairly easy.

 

[reps4jesus]

If you have 500 miles on that combo I would support moving or giving it time. It does take moly some miles to plate. We don't know if 0w30 is as good as it was prior to formula change, what we do know is 5w30 is still the best formula for redline at killing tick. Is your truck garaged or outside? IMO that makes the difference 5w30 versus 0w30. The only reason against 5w30 is cold piston slap, and you can thin it if needed and make it like 0w30 even better fairly easy.

My vehicle stays outside unfortunately. Maybe I’ll give 5w30 a shot, and thin it out if it causes me any issues.

 

[Burla]

You could just go 4 qrts 5w30 and 3 5w20, will get you there out of the gate and will have a better additive package then 0w30. We dont know that new formula is any worse at killing ticks, it just appears worse on paper, where as the combo I just said would be stout. Dont worry that both winter ratings are a 5, when you thin that 5w30 redline you will in a sense get a 0 for cold performance.

 

[reps4jesus]

You could just go 4 qrts 5w30 and 3 5w20, will get you there out of the gate and will have a better additive package then 0w30. We dont know that new formula is any worse at killing ticks, it just appears worse on paper, where as the combo I just said would be stout. Dont worry that both winter ratings are a 5, when you thin that 5w30 redline you will in a sense get a 0 for cold performance.

Okay, I’ll give that a shot. Thank you! And I realize I didn’t answer a question you asked before, yes I did notice a difference when I went from Kirkland 5w20 and lubegaurd to PUP 5w30 and lubegaurd. It seemed to almost make the tick worse. It was super quiet at start up but then gradually ticks louder till it’s up to temp. I changed the oil to PUP a day after noticing the tick.

 

[Wild one]

Okay, I’ll give that a shot. Thank you! And I realize I didn’t answer a question you asked before, yes I did notice a difference when I went from Kirkland 5w20 and lubegaurd to PUP 5w30 and lubegaurd. It seemed to almost make the tick worse. It was super quiet at start up but then gradually ticks louder till it’s up to temp. I changed the oil to PUP a day after noticing the tick.

Pull the valve covers and check rocker arm movement,before you drive it much farther.You're not doing yourself any favours with band-aid oil fixes if it is a bad cam/lifter,all you're doing is putting more metal filings into the engine.You could also pull the intake manifold and check the screen on the VVT oil control valve,if it's covered in filings ,park it "now",and you might get away with flushing the engine and doing several short oil change intervals after replacing the cam and lifters

 

[Wild one]

Okay, I’ll give that a shot. Thank you! And I realize I didn’t answer a question you asked before, yes I did notice a difference when I went from Kirkland 5w20 and lubegaurd to PUP 5w30 and lubegaurd. It seemed to almost make the tick worse. It was super quiet at start up but then gradually ticks louder till it’s up to temp. I changed the oil to PUP a day after noticing the tick.

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[reps4jesus]

You could just go 4 qrts 5w30 and 3 5w20, will get you there out of the gate and will have a better additive package then 0w30. We dont know that new formula is any worse at killing ticks, it just appears worse on paper, where as the combo I just said would be stout. Dont worry that both winter ratings are a 5, when you thin that 5w30 redline you will in a sense get a 0 for cold performance.

Well, I tried this and it quieted the tick significantly but I could still hear lifter noise after 500 miles. I got a third party warranty with the truck when I bought it for a $50 transfer fee. I Took it to a buddys shop (they don’t do engine work though so he just looked at) that agreed there is definitely lifter noise and he told me I’d be best off going back to a mopar mo899 filter and PP 5w20 so the tick gets bad again so it shows when I take it in for diagnostic under the warranty. I have it scheduled to be torn down and checked on December 11th at a shop here in town with a great reputation. Would you recommend going back to this oil and mopar filter to make it bad again and then drive it a little until then so it shows? Lifters and cam should be covered under the warranty and I don’t have to take it to a dealer. I pulled the tune off of it (Diablo canned tune) about 1000 miles ago so I don’t suspect it would cause me issues at an independent shop? If they tear it down and don’t determine they need replaced I’ll be on the hook for a pretty big tear down bill on that one. I’d do the work myself as I have decent experience with these trucks but if I can save the money and get it covered that would definitely be nice!

 

[fitteenhundred]

Hi reps4jesus. I know this thread was a while ago, but what was the outcome of the shop visit?