Buying 2016 Rebel - Hemi Tick and other Questions

[G0S7]

I definitely will avoid over torqueing at all cost. The last thing I want is to have a broken bolt stuck in the side of my block. ETA: or ruin the gasket!

 

[John D Martin]

I bought a 2004 1500 ram with a 5.7 Hemi with 240k on it. The truck was city-driven and garage kept. It was in really nice shape except for the 'Hemi tick'! I took it apart thinking the lifters were gone. It turned out to be the pushrods were worn on the end that push against the lifter. On Hemi's, they work at an angle. It wears the edges of them. The lifters were fine. Before you go through the extra work of taking the heads off, check the pushrods. Easy to change and cost a lot less!!

 

[DaveSharp]

Hello all, new here. I currently have a deposit down on a 2016 Rebel with around 116k miles. Initially when researching I believe I was finding what was 3rd gen hemi issues related to the valve seat failure. I was relieved to learn that this issue concerned primarily 08 and older 5.7s if I'm not mistaken. However I completely overlooked the cam roller failures up until the past couple of days. It seems I have opened the flood gates and have read a novel's worth of user reported failures. Unfortunately I had placed a $1000 deposit before finding all this, which I may in fact loose.

It's seems that there is no evidence that the camshaft/roller situation has been remedied at all by the manufacturer. I also cannot verify rather this failure occurs any less with newer models, 2012+ (or better yet 2015 and up). Majority of the threads and videos I've found are 2008-12 related, but I have easily found 2016 Chargers and even a 2020 Ram demonstrating this failure.

I'd like to hear some owners report their experiences on their 2015+ models. I'm not sure if this will help ease my nerves or not. I may end up loosing $1k and just getting a Tacoma.

Just for grins have you driven the newer Tacoma's? Not like the older Tacoma's. Both trucks have their vices but I'll promise you this after driving a Toyota for the last 10 years, *(and like it). The Ram has a fun factor of 1000 behind the wheel and there is NOTHING in the Toyota that can replace that. Period. The Tacoma new is not the Tacoma of old... Just plan on replacing the cam and lifters in the future and there seems little in the maint department that is going to change that. It doesn't get oiled at low rpms.

 

[Dennis Flannery]

I’ve only been on this forum for about a month, maybe two. But one thing I’ve learned is lots of users like to beat on posters like they would a stubborn bolt—just have to absorb it and get the info you need. If we were all mechanics we wouldn’t be on here looking for advice.

 

[HEMIMANN]

I bought a 2004 1500 ram with a 5.7 Hemi with 240k on it. The truck was city-driven and garage kept. It was in really nice shape except for the 'Hemi tick'! I took it apart thinking the lifters were gone. It turned out to be the pushrods were worn on the end that push against the lifter. On Hemi's, they work at an angle. It wears the edges of them. The lifters were fine. Before you go through the extra work of taking the heads off, check the pushrods. Easy to change and cost a lot less!!

All the more reason to use a high moly, high film strength, high-plating engine oil = Red Line 5W-30.

Yes, I get the engine has 240k miles - my point is if this joint is one of the first to wear, it is one that needs the most lubrication help as well.

 

[RamRookie]

Hello all, new here. I currently have a deposit down on a 2016 Rebel with around 116k miles. Initially when researching I believe I was finding what was 3rd gen hemi issues related to the valve seat failure. I was relieved to learn that this issue concerned primarily 08 and older 5.7s if I'm not mistaken. However I completely overlooked the cam roller failures up until the past couple of days. It seems I have opened the flood gates and have read a novel's worth of user reported failures. Unfortunately I had placed a $1000 deposit before finding all this, which I may in fact loose.

It's seems that there is no evidence that the camshaft/roller situation has been remedied at all by the manufacturer. I also cannot verify rather this failure occurs any less with newer models, 2012+ (or better yet 2015 and up). Majority of the threads and videos I've found are 2008-12 related, but I have easily found 2016 Chargers and even a 2020 Ram demonstrating this failure.

I'd like to hear some owners report their experiences on their 2015+ models. I'm not sure if this will help ease my nerves or not. I may end up loosing $1k and just getting a Tacoma.

 

[RamRookie]

My run in with the hemi tick started December 2020. So I decided to head to the store I got in cranked her up and heard a slight tick and really didn't think a whole lot more about it. Thinking my manifold done snapped a bolt, I continued to drive it over the next two days it got really loud. Did my research and found out about the MDS lifter and cam issue and decided to do a MDS delete. I ended up going with a AMS Racing MDS delete kit for around $1100. My mechanic is charging $1200 to do it so hopefully no more hemi tick in the future. However when I went by today to look at my cam damage there wasn't any. Mechanic seems to think the MDS solenoid froze up bc the roller was intact and spinning but two of the pushrods had lost about a 1/4" of length. But knowing what I know now I will not let my truck idle for long periods and hopefully want have to deal with this again.

 

[G0S7]

My run in with the hemi tick started December 2020. So I decided to head to the store I got in cranked her up and heard a slight tick and really didn't think a whole lot more about it. Thinking my manifold done snapped a bolt, I continued to drive it over the next two days it got really loud. Did my research and found out about the MDS lifter and cam issue and decided to do a MDS delete. I ended up going with a AMS Racing MDS delete kit for around $1100. My mechanic is charging $1200 to do it so hopefully no more hemi tick in the future. However when I went by today to look at my cam damage there wasn't any. Mechanic seems to think the MDS solenoid froze up bc the roller was intact and spinning but two of the pushrods had lost about a 1/4" of length. But knowing what I know now I will not let my truck idle for long periods and hopefully want have to deal with this again.

Thanks for sharing. That's not a bad price your mechanic quoted you. Glad to hear you had no cam damage, it seems that would be the worst case scenario and most expensive thing to fix with these tick problems.

 

[Wild one]

Thanks for sharing. That's not a bad price your mechanic quoted you. Glad to hear you had no cam damage, it seems that would be the worst case scenario and most expensive thing to fix with these tick problems.

Did you buy the damn thing yet or not??,lol

 

[G0S7]

Did you buy the damn thing yet or not??,lol

Yes haha. Paper work was sent back to the dealer yesterday along with a certified check, via overnight parcel. The wife handled everything since I'm currently working overseas, but I'll will be home around the end of Feb.

 

[BISDAK52]

I own a 2012 outdoorsman with 255500km, I've done the manifold studs 3 times and a water pump.
I've owned it since new, never had any engine troubles at all. Tows our 5500lbs family camper all over alberta for the past 8 years religiously.
I run full synthetics front to back, diffs included.

View attachment 233739

Thank you for sharing your experience. If you don’t mind, did you ever suppress the cylinder deactivation in your truck? I am just curious because I have read a lot of comments about the cylinders that deactivate are the main culprits for scoured cams.

 

[Justin Stafford]

Thank you for sharing your experience. If you don’t mind, did you ever suppress the cylinder deactivation in your truck? I am just curious because I have read a lot of comments about the cylinders that deactivate are the main culprits for scoured cams.

No I haven't, I just knock it out of the eco mode when driving, that shuts off the mds. I haven't used mds much since the truck was new.
I dont notice much in fuel mileage either way.

 

[G0S7]

UPDATE: Sorry for the delayed update but I picked the truck up last week and drove from Ohio to TX without a single issue. The truck is surprisingly quite, even more quite than my wife's Denali. I wanted to update you guys with a photo, this was my first time seeing it in person -


Now that the truck is home I'd like to go ahead and change the oil, however I have a question for you guys. If I decide to go with Pennzoil Platinum do I need to bother with adding Liquimoly? Would that add too much moly content?

I was considering Penn Platinum 5w30.

 

[HEMIMANN]

UPDATE: Sorry for the delayed update but I picked the truck up last week and drove from Ohio to TX without a single issue. The truck is surprisingly quite, even more quite than my wife's Denali. I wanted to update you guys with a photo, this was my first time seeing it in person -
View attachment 242122

Now that the truck is home I'd like to go ahead and change the oil, however I have a question for you guys. If I decide to go with Pennzoil Platinum do I need to bother with adding Liquimoly? Would that add too much moly content?

I was considering Penn Platinum 5w30.

Beauty! Go with PUP, not just plain Platinum. You're ok on additives, then. Go to Synthetic Oil Thread and search for moly and you'll find what it has. 200 ppm is the knee in the curve you want, anything over doesn't do much. For zinc (ZDDP) it's something like 1,000 ppm or so.

 

[G0S7]

Thanks Hemimann, glad you mentioned the difference between the PUP and regular Platinum. I'll do some additional research in the synthetic thread before pulling the trigger, plus I need to look into filter choices a bit more.