HEMI TICK, limp mode, no check engine light...?

[maybeoneday]

Just noticed my hemi tick, im not a mechanic and don't like to work on vehicles, I suffer from the serenity of not listening to my truck. I get it, I really should listen.

I just noticed a bad tick, and left for a vacation where I was going to rent a trailer. On the 4 hour drive to pick up the trailer then head to the predetermined camping spot, I noticed power loss at certain RPM's that just got worse. end of the story, trailer rental cancelled, mechanic brother is telling me lifter is bad, maybe the cam. ****. I'm thinking the knock sensor is prohibiting power? also gas mileage dropped to 12.5, instead of the expected 16.5 on the freeway that i have gotten in the past.

my options are to rebuild the engine as cheaply as possible, and sell/trade in, or rebuild, upgrade and keep for the next 5 years+, or commit fraud and burn it down to collect the insurance. option 3 is a no go, especially now that I have record of thinking about it on the internets.

If i do rebuild with the intention of keeping it, what upgrades should i do? better lifters? anything that will add power? different air intake? better valves? Headers? idk, just throwing stuff out there. i would want to add tires/wheels, lift, and make it look good too.

Also, option 4 might be to replace the engine, could i do a 6.4L truck hemi from 2014 in a 2012 5.7L hemi 1500?

 

[Burla]

Run the codes anyhow, see if there is a mis fire. Can't do anything til you identify what cylinder is involved, if you are trying to make it out of this w/o a cam/lifter swap. No brand lifters or cam can prevent this, it is the design, I can't even tel you how many people put new lifters in and still have hemi tick. Read the tick thread in my sig, might be too late for this hemi, but if you put new lifters in you might want that info.

 

[PoMansRam]

The tick could be as simple as an exhaust manifold leak.

A good diagnosis is key here. Just the 'normal' lifter tick wouldn't necessarily result in what you describe.

 

[Pull Ya]

You can throw all the money in the world into your present truck and you're still going to end up with a 2012 Ram. You will never recover even a small percentage of the money you spend. You mentioned trading it in and that is my vote unless it is a realllllly cheap repair.
Jay

 

[RLJ10X]

Trading in a truck with a bad engine is going to be a whole lot more expensive than you helping your mechanic brother fix what you have.

And as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing wrong with owning a 2012. That's a year newer than mine, and I still love my truck.

If it has an engine and wheels, 99.7% of the time, it's going down in value.

If my cam ever goes out, I'm going to dip into my Emergency Fund, and put a little bit warmer cam in mine; May as well turn that event into something reasonably positive.

 

[Burla]

They don't make rams like they did in 2012, i'd keep it for life.

 

[tantore]

i have 2012 5.7 with 58,000 k on the clock had the hemi thick and solved the problem with 5w30 red line the engine runs real strong no other issues hope to keep truck for a while longer

 

[maybeoneday]

The tick could be as simple as an exhaust manifold leak.

A good diagnosis is key here. Just the 'normal' lifter tick wouldn't necessarily result in what you describe.

Mechanic bro says it’s not an exhaust leak, that was my first thought, he said it doesn’t sound like exhaust, he been wrong before though. If it isn’t exhaust, or lifter, what else could it be?

 

[maybeoneday]

i have 2012 5.7 with 58,000 k on the clock had the hemi thick and solved the problem with 5w30 red line the engine runs real strong no other issues hope to keep truck for a while longer

121,000 miles.

 

[maybeoneday]

Trading in a truck with a bad engine is going to be a whole lot more expensive than you helping your mechanic brother fix what you have.

And as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing wrong with owning a 2012. That's a year newer than mine, and I still love my truck.

If it has an engine and wheels, 99.7% of the time, it's going down in value.

If my cam ever goes out, I'm going to dip into my Emergency Fund, and put a little bit warmer cam in mine; May as well turn that event into something reasonably positive.

That’s my hope, turn this positive, it gives me an excuse to upgrade/ add power, if it’s possible. Bro isn’t gonna help, we live in different states, and he’s scared to pull it apart, he was making excuses not to do it.

 

[maybeoneday]

Run the codes anyhow, see if there is a mis fire. Can't do anything til you identify what cylinder is involved, if you are trying to make it out of this w/o a cam/lifter swap. No brand lifters or cam can prevent this, it is the design, I can't even tel you how many people put new lifters in and still have hemi tick. Read the tick thread in my sig, might be too late for this hemi, but if you put new lifters in you might want that info.

Dealer ran codes, nothing. I’ll follow your link.

 

[Burla]

Dealer ran codes, nothing. I’ll follow your link.

If you don't have a mis-fire it isn't settled that it is a cam lob.

 

[scott lass 18]

mine was po 301 so did a plug no luck did a coil still no luck had ticking and running bad ! had power train warranty still so left at dealer ! was a fuel injector and exsate both on driver side ! check codes maybe you ll get lucky small fix ? sadly now a load ticking on other side same dealer doesn't seem to want to call me back sad right ! 60,000 miles

 

[Sherman Bird]

, or commit fraud and burn it down to collect the insurance. option 3 is a no go, especially now that I have record of thinking about it on the internets.

Before you were born.... people burned their cars down all the time! There was an undeveloped street near me that had a freshly torched new car every Sunday Morning..(Burned it during Sat night).....

It was merely a misdemeanor at that Time! Eventually, Texas made it a felony! Go figure!

 

[maybeoneday]

If you don't have a mis-fire it isn't settled that it is a cam lob.

reporting status here. I just changed the oil, used castro full synthetic with titanium whatever. Also added mos2. It seems to be a little quieter, but not gone.

How long do I give it before looking into other possibilities, like a rebuild?

 

[Burla]

Rebuild as in what, cam/lifters, or boring piston chamber and getting pistons? How would that fix the problem if it is something else? Have to figure out what is wrong first.

For lubrication the forum has pretty good evidence redline 5w30 or lubegard biotech is fairly good at getting tick, mos2 is a unknown quantity as far as tick, if you want to try something different next time. Read the threads on these in engine performance section and see poll results.

 

[BadHemi2014]

How is it running now? Still having loss of power? Could be something as simple as a dirty throttle body or air filter. How many miles on the spark plugs? Any broken exhaust manifold bolts? Mine has a bad tick but no other symptoms at all, I also have broken manifold bolts which may be most or all of my tick.

Just throwing some ideas out there, good luck.

 

[maybeoneday]

How is it running now? Still having loss of power? Could be something as simple as a dirty throttle body or air filter. How many miles on the spark plugs? Any broken exhaust manifold bolts? Mine has a bad tick but no other symptoms at all, I also have broken manifold bolts which may be most or all of my tick.

Just throwing some ideas out there, good luck.

Yes, I still have the loss of power, usually on takeoff. I’m not trying to go fast, just trying to go down the road. It’s like it will bog down until I get to a certain speed then take off like I floored it. It will also lose power when at freeway speeds, and gas mileage is at 11mpg, normally 15-16.

I haven’t checked manifold bolts, I don’t really know how I guess, but it doesn’t sound like exhaust leak, and occasionally the tick goes away completely, for about 5-30 seconds. I’m at a loss.


i’ll look at your ideas, someone also said the fuel filter could be the issue, but correct me if I’m wrong but you gotta pull the bed off your truck......

 

[maybeoneday]

Rebuild as in what, cam/lifters, or boring piston chamber and getting pistons? How would that fix the problem if it is something else? Have to figure out what is wrong first.

For lubrication the forum has pretty good evidence redline 5w30 or lubegard biotech is fairly good at getting tick, mos2 is a unknown quantity as far as tick, if you want to try something different next time. Read the threads on these in engine performance section and see poll results.

What else can I look at? I read through your thread on redline, watched the video and I saw something about thicker oil and moldy, someone suggested mos2.

Is it an instant correction when you put redline in, or does it take a few miles before you notice the tick go away?

Any thoughts on the engine bogging down? still no codes.

 

[Daw14]

Broken valve spring ?