04' 5.7 Hemi Awful Noise!

[Neilct]

So this morning its 68 degrees out and I'm driving as easy as always keeping the rpms below 2500rpm. I'm driving my new to me 04 Hemi 5-spd 2500 with 74,000 miles. As I'm taking my exit off the highway I hear a terrible Knocking/Ticking noise! The noise faded out as I accelerated (Increased oil pressure) and came back as I let the rpm fall. I turned it off and coasted to the parking lot. I started it up after checking the oil and coolant and it knocked like crazy and idled low. I turned it off after a few seconds. The truck is parked for the time being. It had no hint of a tick or knock before this spontaneous noise...I'm praying its a collapsed lifter and not a rod.

-Started after driving 15 miles of highway and city traffic.
-No hint of a tick or knock before hand in the last 1500 miles I've had the truck.
-faded out when accelerating lightly and came back when I let off.
-Oil pressure, level, and condition are all and were great.
-started while cruising at 2000rpm

I just can't believe a rod could just start knocking without losing oil pressure and the ports have to be too big to just clog unexpectedly. I think this is possible with a hydraulic lifter.

 

[HemiLonestar]

Check your valve springs, if it's an early enough build one may have let go on you.

 

[Neilct]

well the powder-forged connecting rods let loose...Snapped the rear most connecting rod most likely from lugging with the 5-spd. I never did noticeable lugging but I did use the Hemi torque to accelerate from 500rpm in 4th gear kinda often...I only revved over 5000rpm 3-4 times and 1 time with the clutch in on a shift it slowly revved to upper 5000's...that was about 400 miles ago. This was a 74,500mi OE build 5.7 from the best I can tell.

Anyways hypermileing for 17.2MPG comes at a cost I would say.

Considering a 6.4L Stroker for hauling and leaving cam, heads, and intake in stock form for idle-2500rpm power.

or H-beam rods...I'll need to tear into it later this week to see if the valves, piston and cylinder wall made it out ok.

 

[witt20]

I have what I believe is a broken #8 connecting rod on a 2004 Hemi. No warning, parked it about 11:00 pm, my wife got at about 7:30 am and said it was making a banging sound. I inspected the inside of the cylinders with a borascope looking for valve or spring pieces and discovered that the piston isn't moving when turning it over. the others are, and are nice and shiny on top while #8 has oil all over it. I'm curious how you go about fixing it and if anyone else can give any guidance. I really want to know if there's a way to change the rod/piston from the bottom assuming there's no damage to block

 

[RonJon '06]

It could be the wrist pin became disconnected. You can drop the oil pan but to get it out you'll need to unbolt the oil pick up tube. If you need to replace the piston or connecting rod you can do it from underneath, just turn the crankshaft by hand to get access to the rod bolts. When its time to put the oil pan back on replace the windage tray and be sure to put some black RTV at the four places where the block meets the front cover and rear main seal assembly.