Engine tick question

[dkelly3103]

Bad news then, it's not an exhaust tick.

Unless you want to start taking things off the engine, it's time to give Red Line a shot. No guarantees with that one, but it's a cheap shot all things considered. It might hold you over for a while until you can afford to fix it (time and money). Something is wrong, I don't know exactly what. When one or more lifters fail you'll know it. It usually happens during acceleration and the truck bogs down, check engine light comes on. Then it will run again for a little while, more or less. Give Red Line a shot, you have nothing to lose at this point. If it was my daily driver, that's what I would do. Thank God I got a Hyundai as a backup car (yeah, not confidence-inspiring, I know, lol).

If the redline quiets it down I think I’ll go ahead and order the lifters and a cam incase it’s damaged as well. I’d rather fix the issue instead of covering it up. I have some time coming up anyways so I’ll just get it done while I can.

 

[Travis8352]

If the redline quiets it down I think I’ll go ahead and order the lifters and a cam incase it’s damaged as well. I’d rather fix the issue instead of covering it up. I have some time coming up anyways so I’ll just get it done while I can.

Id still wonder if the manifold is warped

 

[dkelly3103]

It sounds like an exhaust leak, and though the video is short, I bet it started fading after you turned the camera off. Am I right?

Here’s a cold start video.

Cold start

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youtube.com

 

[Burla]

If the redline quiets it down I think I’ll go ahead and order the lifters and a cam incase it’s damaged as well. I’d rather fix the issue instead of covering it up. I have some time coming up anyways so I’ll just get it done while I can.

The news doesnt get better, try searching, a very large % of people who change cam and lifters to get rid of hemi tick, still have hemi tick. I just told a dude not to do it, he did it, over 6 grand later, his truck ticks, and if that happens to you how long do you think it will take to forgive yourself? If you insist on ding this, I'd put on the contract guaranteed to not tick after it. The only time when someone should change cam/lifters is when they get a misfire. If you think this somehow it is a pleasure to be the messenger here, I assure you it isn't, I hate it when ram forum guys suffer after they shell out money to fix this, time and time again man.

If you want me to listen to a warm idle tick let me know, if not, good luck.

 

[Rod Knock]

If the redline quiets it down I think I’ll go ahead and order the lifters and a cam incase it’s damaged as well. I’d rather fix the issue instead of covering it up. I have some time coming up anyways so I’ll just get it done while I can.

Try the RedLine first, and buying parts, I leave that up to you. I would go with Johnson Lifters, PN #2356, and get a billet cam from Comp Cams. You might actually come out cheaper than with $h1t lifters from Mopar. Also, with the Johnson lifters, do a proper MDS delete. It doesn't save fuel anyway, lol. The only feature that saves fuel and ads power in a HEMI is the VVT when it works right.

You might want to read over this ad: https://hotrodenginetech.com/gen-iii-hemi-lifter-tick-solved/

Id still wonder if the manifold is warped

It's hard to tell unless he takes them off. An oil change is quick and reasonably cheap, just my two cents.

 

[dkelly3103]

The news doesnt get better, try searching, a very large % of people who change cam and lifters to get rid of hemi tick, still have hemi tick. I just told a dude not to do it, he did it, over 6 grand later, his truck ticks, and if that happens to you how long do you think it will take to forgive yourself? If you insist on ding this, I'd put on the contract guaranteed to not tick after it. The only time when someone should change cam/lifters is when they get a misfire. If you think this somehow it is a pleasure to be the messenger here, I assure you it isn't, I hate it when ram forum guys suffer after they shell out money to fix this, time and time again man.

If you want me to listen to a warm idle tick let me know, if not, good luck.

Thank you for your input. I’m looking for advice from everyone and just trying to go the easiest route to get rid of the tick. Do recommend trying redline as well? If the tick is still there how should I proceed?

 

[dkelly3103]

The news doesnt get better, try searching, a very large % of people who change cam and lifters to get rid of hemi tick, still have hemi tick. I just told a dude not to do it, he did it, over 6 grand later, his truck ticks, and if that happens to you how long do you think it will take to forgive yourself? If you insist on ding this, I'd put on the contract guaranteed to not tick after it. The only time when someone should change cam/lifters is when they get a misfire. If you think this somehow it is a pleasure to be the messenger here, I assure you it isn't, I hate it when ram forum guys suffer after they shell out money to fix this, time and time again man.

If you want me to listen to a warm idle tick let me know, if not, good luck.

Also, based on the videos and the info I have given would you say it’s lifter related or exhaust leak related?

 

[Travis8352]

If the tick doesnt change aftwr 500-1000 miles on redline i would say its a warped manifold. Very high possibility considering the heat shields are gone meaninf someone worked on it. They probabaly found broken bolt/bolts and replaced them and just torqed to spec and left the heat shields off and didnt replace the manifolds. Mine has the cold start exhaust tick for a few seconds. Ive verified i have atleast one broken bolt on both sides

 

[dkelly3103]

If the tick doesnt change aftwr 500-1000 miles on redline i would say its a warped manifold. Very high possibility considering the heat shields are gone meaninf someone worked on it. They probabaly found broken bolt/bolts and replaced them and just torqed to spec and left the heat shields off and didnt replace the manifolds. Mine has the cold start exhaust tick for a few seconds. Ive verified i have atleast one broken bolt on both sides

That was my theory on the heat shields as well. The studs look fairly new too. I live in Indiana and I believe the truck has been in the state most of its life so considering there still there and not rotten off tells me they’ve been replaced at some point lol.

 

[Travis8352]

The news doesnt get better, try searching, a very large % of people who change cam and lifters to get rid of hemi tick, still have hemi tick. I just told a dude not to do it, he did it, over 6 grand later, his truck ticks, and if that happens to you how long do you think it will take to forgive yourself? If you insist on ding this, I'd put on the contract guaranteed to not tick after it. The only time when someone should change cam/lifters is when they get a misfire. If you think this somehow it is a pleasure to be the messenger here, I assure you it isn't, I hate it when ram forum guys suffer after they shell out money to fix this, time and time again man.

If you want me to listen to a warm idle tick let me know, if not, good luck.

I know ive said it before but my co worker shelled out 6500 for cam and lifters in his 2010 gmc sierra 5.3 only to have his engine make the exact same lifter tick. Only 70k miles to

 

[Rod Knock]

I know ive said it before but my co worker shelled out 6500 for cam and lifters in his 2010 gmc sierra 5.3 only to have his engine make the exact same lifter tick. Only 70k miles to

I remember, and it's funny every time, though tragic at the same time. Could have bought a new engine with that kind of money.

 

[Burla]

Could be either, I'd get a uoa and try reldine 5w30 and a royal purple 20-820 and get under and check bolts again. I' leaning towards lifters, but it wouldnt suprise me if it was bolts.

 

[Rod Knock]

That was my theory on the heat shields as well. The studs look fairly new too. I live in Indiana and I believe the truck has been in the state most of its life so considering there still there and not rotten off tells me they’ve been replaced at some point lol.

Go for lube before going for the wrenches, just my two cents. When mine pops, I'll drive the Hyundai with the 2.4L pepper-grinder while fixing the truck in my garage. When the time comes, I'll go for the Johnson lifter kit.

 

[Rod Knock]

Could be either, I'd get a uoa and try reldine 5w30 and a royal purple 20-820 and get under and check bolts again. I' leaning towards lifters, but it wouldnt suprise me if it was bolts.

At $11.99, I hoarded a few: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003L358WI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You never know...

 

[Travis8352]

Could be either, I'd get a uoa and try reldine 5w30 and a royal purple 20-820 and get under and check bolts again. I' leaning towards lifters, but it wouldnt suprise me if it was bolts.

His uoa looked good i thought. Thats what makes me think bolts

 

[Rod Knock]

His uoa looked good i thought. Thats what makes me think bolts

I doubt out of tolerance lifters will show up, they'll just be annoying. Then again, we've seen HEMIs with good UOAs **** the bed unexpectedly.

 

[MarineBSP]

Hey DKelly -

I just listened to your two videos. To my ear, I hear the same "tick" in both, maybe masked by other noise at cold start. So in your situation I'd grab a piece of clean fuel hose or similar and use it like a stethoscope to listen along the length of the exhaust manifolds.

You commented that the bolts are okay, and someone has been in there before. At least one other board member wondered if the old manifolds had just been replaced with either no resurfacing or a poor job of it. If that happened and the bolts were torqued to spec with a warped manifold, it could give you a warm exhaust leak. A listening test might tell you if there is noise localized to one part of the manifold or not. At least it's cheap.

I had my passenger side manifold replaced under warranty yesterday at my selling dealer. They had to weld a nut onto the back bolt to get it out. Of course they don't resurface the old manifold; it's a brand new part and will probably do the same thing. But on a scale of repairs overall, I'd way rather have a bad exhaust manifold than a cam and lifter problem - so I'm using Redline 5-30 and a good filter with silicone anti-drainback valve.

 

[Rod Knock]

@dkelly3103 Get the JScan ($23.99) app and a Bluetooth OBD II adapter, and get a thorough readout with the engine on of your VVT, cam actuation, MDS (you need to drive for this one), and see if anything jumps out. It will show you if the cam is out of sync, or if you have any misfires, it's pretty good and detailed.

I just found that with Mobil 1 FS 0W-40 my MDS is totally disabled and the VVT system is slowed down as a precaution by the PCM. I assume it's the same for RedLine 5W-30.

Screenshot from JScan today, while driving/coasting:

 

[dkelly3103]

Alright so I have an update for everyone. In the last few weeks I have replaced the drivers side exhaust manifold, gasket and studs. It made no difference but I figured it was cheap enough to try. Also put in 7 quarts of redline 5w30. I have driven around 500 miles since and the noise might have gotten very slightly quieter but certainly not a lot and still very noticeable even when standing a distance away from the truck. Any other recommendations?

 

[HEMIMANN]

Yes, most reports of manifold bolt breakage are on passenger side.