2015 ram 1500 Lifter failure… dreaded

[JHoward]

Absolutely, if I'm that far into the engine then MDS is getting pulled out by its teeth lol. I make do right now with the pulsar so I don't have wear out the steering wheel buttons.

I had the Pulsar on my 2017 HEMI and removed it. It currently resides in a closet collecting dust.

The "8 canned tunes" were, imo, the same as to what I already had with the exception of the go fast peddle "tweaked" in the performance and tow modes. An added PeddleMonster or something equivalent would accomplish the same thing still with using the -/+ controls of the steering wheel for MDS deactivation.

Pulsar claims 30 HP/30 trq. gains, but I couldn't tell the difference ... maybe taking my truck and having it dyno'd might would have proven that claim, idk.

As far as disabling MDS in the performance and tow modes, my truck would have a slight "shift" out MDS for about an second, probably due to being an "Piggy back" set up attached to the 'puter?

IMHO, It's overpriced and the cheaper route would be the PeddleMonster and to manually select MDS with the -/+ control on the steering wheel.

 

[ramffml]

I had the Pulsar on my 2017 HEMI and removed it. It currently resides in a closet collecting dust.

The "8 canned tunes" were, imo, the same as to what I already had with the exception of the go fast peddle "tweaked" in the performance and tow modes. An added PeddleMonster or something equivalent would accomplish the same thing still with using the -/+ controls of the steering wheel for MDS deactivation.

Pulsar claims 30 HP/30 trq. gains, but I couldn't tell the difference ... maybe taking my truck and having it dyno'd might would have proven that claim, idk.

As far as disabling MDS in the performance and tow modes, my truck would have a slight "shift" out MDS for about an second, probably due to being an "Piggy back" set up attached to the 'puter?

IMHO, It's overpriced and the cheaper route would be the PeddleMonster and to manually select MDS with the -/+ control on the steering wheel.

When did you get your pulsar? Older ones seemed to blip the gas slightly to force MDS to kick off, and that's how they disabled it then. Newer revisions of the pulsar use the same trick as the gear limiter, you can actually see the gear limiter cycle up to "8" when you active the MDS tune from pulsar so they're just sending the same electronic signal over the bus that we do when we use gear limiter manually.

As for 30 HP/TQ, that appears to be true. I've seen it dynoed on YT and they got more than that on 91+ octane and performance mode.

 

[JHoward]

When did you get your pulsar? Older ones seemed to blip the gas slightly to force MDS to kick off, and that's how they disabled it then. Newer revisions of the pulsar use the same trick as the gear limiter, you can actually see the gear limiter cycle up to "8" when you active the MDS tune from pulsar so they're just sending the same electronic signal over the bus that we do when we use gear limiter manually.

As for 30 HP/TQ, that appears to be true. I've seen it dynoed on YT and they got more than that on 91+ octane and performance mode.

I purchased the Pulsar for 2017 HEMI RAM back in 2018.

I've only and ever used 91 octane non-ethenol from the beginning when my truck was brand new.

 

[Barr2255]

Great info guys, I didn’t realize the pulsar is essentially a glorified “Pedal Commander”

I just got the water pump off but I don’t have the inverted torq set to remove the AC compressor studs. I will have to wait on pulling the timing cover until I go to hobo freight to get the right tools. Might go here shortly.

 

[Barr2255]

I might be over zealous but sand blasting and painting the timing cover is an intrusive thought I’ve been kicking around

 

[ramffml]

Great info guys, I didn’t realize the pulsar is essentially a glorified “Pedal Commander”

It does both, it adjusts your pedal sensitivity but it also tunes your engine on the fly with respect to increasing fueling/timing on all tunes, even ECO mode. My issue is that I can't separate the actual tunes from the change in the pedal and so I keep the tunes/pedal stock with MDS disabled.

 

[Barr2255]

Copy that

 

[cbt1976]

Instead of the oil topic let’s hear your guys thoughts on brands, or things that should be done while the motors apart that are easier to replace, like the MDS solenoids, replace now or when they take a crap? They are pretty darn pricy!

Be very careful of OEM lifters from ebay! When you get them post a picture of the lifter and of the box. There are so many copycats out there. I recently purchased "OEM" lifters from ebay, pictures on listing looked like OEM. When they showed up they where knockoffs. I contacted the seller, he refunded my money and let me keep the lifters. I know what the OEM packaging is supposed to look like, I have 15 years at Ram dealership and have replaced many cam and lifters.

I purchased a 2014 1500 Laramie that needed cam and lifters. I purchased Felpro head gaskets, cheap valve cover gaskets, cheap intake seals, cheap timing cover seal. I also replaced the rusted oil pan, cheap gasket and cheap pan. I ended up finding oem lifters and camshaft on ebay $800 for all. I didn't have to do ex manifolds as they were replaced about 10k miles ago. The truck is running good now. I did replace the oil pump w/ a Melling HV oil pump, I think that pump is whining on first starts until it warms up a little.

 

[Barr2255]

Good looking out, I figured that was the case and will inspect them carefully.

Glad the Felpro head gaskets worked for you as I purchased the same thing. I went with Felpro gaskets all the way around though because they were priced similar to all the others.

Does anybody know the ac compressor stud size? It’s basically an inverted torq socket that will be needed. I think they call them E-torques just not sure if it’s metric or standard and want to make sure I get the right set/size trying to avoid buying two sets for a “hopefully” one time tool lol

 

[mdc1990zr1]

That’s very interesting, I just learned from my local machine shop that if the Felpros are blue than they are made by U.S. seal company and better than the other ones that come in various other colors. Not sure how true that is but interesting non the less. I did notice upon receiving some of the gaskets all the ones that were blue said made “in U.S.A.” The other color variations were made in Mexico and various other places.

I’ve gotten Felpro “made in USA “ on the box, and made in India stamped on the gasket. That was a rear main seal for Chevy 350. Couldn’t trust it so got OEM gasket at the dealer. That was American made!

 

[Barr2255]

A little update… I found out a number 5 12 point socket fits perfect on the 2 studs… removed them no issue. Now there’s a bolt in the back of the compressor holding it in place, I was going blind and thought I found the correct bolt… WHOOSH there goes $400 of 1234yf Freon!

Waiting for the fumes to settle before I go back out there and assess. I’m sure I just made the EPA very happy.

 

[Barr2255]

I have the gauges and vacuum pump to do the recharge so it’s not a super big deal, about $100 to buy the refrigerant. If anyone in the future needs help recharging an AC let me know. I can walk you through it.

Tomorrow morning I will post pictures of the removal of the balancer and timing cover and hopefully camshaft. Work got busy today and just couldnmt get to it after the sudden combustion of my AC compressor LOL

That leads me to a question, do any of ya’ll work from home? What do you guys do for work?

 

[Wild one]

I have the gauges and vacuum pump to do the recharge so it’s not a super big deal, about $100 to buy the refrigerant. If anyone in the future needs help recharging an AC let me know. I can walk you through it.

Tomorrow morning I will post pictures of the removal of the balancer and timing cover and hopefully camshaft. Work got busy today and just couldnmt get to it after the sudden combustion of my AC compressor LOL

That leads me to a question, do any of ya’ll work from home? What do you guys do for work?

When are you pulling that damn vvt solenoid,lol. That's the most crucial thing that should be pulled and inspected before you get to carried away with stuffing a cam in it. It's 1 bolt,lol

 

[Barr2255]

I already pulled it and posted a picture. Scroll up. It was spotless lol

 

[Wild one]

I already pulled it and posted a picture. Scroll up. It was spotless lol

LOL you did and i missed it,sorry about that.The screen looks good,flush some diesal through the top and oil pan with the drain plug out,stuff a cam in it,and call it good. I'd use a cheap oil and change it and filter at about 100 miles,then run a good oil

 

[Barr2255]

Cams out! One wiped lobe and a couple others with wear. Crankshaft balancer got so scared of the 1/2” air gun at 120 psi the bolt fell right out, 3 tooth jaw puller was a bit of a pain and luckily my father in law was here to give a hand. I ended up setting cylinder one to TDC and making a couple paint marks. Zipped tied the chain off to the side with tension as not to slip teeth on the crankshaft pully. All in all not to tough. Just have to have patience and good tools oh and a couple cocktails helps.

Rest of the parts come in next week so hopefully next weekend everything is buttoned up and I can take the wife and kids to the lake.

 

[Wild one]

Cams out! One wiped lobe and a couple others with wear. Crankshaft balancer got so scared of the 1/2” air gun at 120 psi the bolt fell right out, 3 tooth jaw puller was a bit of a pain and luckily my father in law was here to give a hand. I ended up setting cylinder one to TDC and making a couple paint marks. Zipped tied the chain off to the side with tension as not to slip teeth on the crankshaft pully. All in all not to tough. Just have to have patience and good tools oh and a couple cocktails helps.

Rest of the parts come in next week so hopefully next weekend everything is buttoned up and I can take the wife and kids to the lake.

If you picked up the ziptie trick off of Kurtis's /Charonblk's thread,that was a trick my young dealer tech buddy taught both Kurtis and i on my truck,lol.Some of Kurtis's pics are of my cam swap years ago that we did at his shop

 

[Barr2255]

I actually didn’t see that thread, my father in law told me I was redneck for using the zip ties hahah. I’ll try and find that write up.

 

[Wild one]

I actually didn’t see that thread, my father in law told me I was redneck for using the zip ties hahah. I’ll try and find that write up.

Guess i'm not the only one who missed a few things on this thread,i gave you the link to Kurtis's article back in post #43,lol.
Post #4 shows the ziptie trick,and is my truck in the photo's

How-To: 4th gen hemi cam installation

Since cams are becoming more available for the VVT hemi engine, regardless of whose cam you choose, here is the how-to of doing the cam swap for the 4th gen trucks. This is honestly a job that can be done by anyone with basic handtools and basic mechanical skills. I did my first cam swap...

www.ramforum.com

 

[Barr2255]

Haha touché. My wife says I have selective listening.