Hemi Time Bomb

[03marauderman]

I'm sure this topic has been addressed, but I just became aware of this Hemi disaster. I have a 2016 Ram 1500 with 16k miles...I only use it for recreational purposes & use my 2000 5.2 Ram for a daily driver...If the 16 Ram sits for a period of about 2-3 weeks I get a bad lifter noise at start for about 3-5 minutes at idle, then it goes away...Using the truck daily is fine no noise.... Now I find out that the design of the engine is the cause starving the cam & lifters of oil. Something about a cast baffle part of the block preventing the splash of oil to the cam....I also heard the dealers are plagued with failing Hemi's with both cars & trucks. Disappointment is an understatement...My question....What are other members experiencing? Is Chrysler doing anythng about it?...Would greatly appreciate any input....Thanks.....

 

[j cal]

What performance issues are you experiencing (if any)?

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[03marauderman]

None...Runs perfectly...just got back from a 5 hr. trip...

 

[MoPowered]

So then are you looking at what you think is going to happen? Search the forums about Red Line synthetic, if you think it’s cam/lifter issue. Are you certain it’s cam/lifter issue and not a cracked exhaust manifold/bolt?

 

[03marauderman]

Definitely internal...been twisting wrenches 50 years..I know what I heard...I'm on the verge of a rant..This is the second time I got screwed on a Chrysler product with an internal engine problem. Its not like buying a stale bag of potato chips...45k is not pocket change to me & from what I understand this is a design flaw, where a repair is the fix...There is no fix unless I'm missing something....

 

[whetrick1]

Definitely internal...been twisting wrenches 50 years..I know what I heard...I'm on the verge of a rant..This is the second time I got screwed on a Chrysler product with an internal engine problem. Its not like buying a stale bag of potato chips...45k is not pocket change to me & from what I understand this is a design flaw, where a repair is the fix...There is no fix unless I'm missing something....

That's why I bought a extended warranty on mine.. Covers bumper to bumper.


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[ramffml]

My understanding is that the mopar filter is not all that great. Royal Purple and Wix make better filters and might prevent the oil from draining back (which is what is causing the lifter tick between long running intervals).

 

[03marauderman]

Extended warranties, oil filter experimation, along with different brand names of oil & additives should not be the solution...The failure is the result of product engineering with the consumer being the guinea pig...I live in a small hamlet with 4 poilce cars, of which 3 are Chargers & one Explorer..2 of the Chargers are at the town garage with blown Hemi engines....

 

[Ricks Ram]

My truck has had the bad lifter knock twice since I've owned it that made me cringe to listen too. It sits for 2 and 3 weeks without bring driven as well. Some trucks exceed well over 100k miles with no issues and some fail in half that time which makes no sense. My realtor's 14 Ram has around 135k with no issues. He just runs regular Penzoil synthetic. Other trucks using the same oil changed ever 5k miles will fail in less than 50k miles. frustrating to say the least. Many people are running Redline oil or other moly additives that seem to help with the random tick and theoretically should help the lifters to last longer. Roller lifters shouldn't require a tremendous amount of oil so I'm inclined to think its a combination of poor lifter quality and design as well as the issue with the block casting. I love my truck so I plan on keeping it. Many people are replacing the stock lifters with Hellcat lifters and deleting the MDS system. I'm considering doing that after I get moved to my new house. Basically address it before there is an issue. I am doing research now to see what the best alternative is. I agree with the fact that this is a known problem and FCA should address and correct the issue but it seems to be pretty common with most auto makers to just ignore it. I think in most cases the trucks last until they're out of warranty so they don't care. The thing thats most frustrating is it probably wouldn't cost that much for them to correct the design flaw with the Hemi block and or lifters.

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[03marauderman]

Now we're going in the right direction with this topic...Rather than expermanting with oil & additives, I'm interested in the replacement of the lifters with the 'Hellcat lifters'...however there is still the issue of oil starvation..I spoke to someone who had this failure & two lobes of the cam we're completely rounded off...he's in the process of replacing the engine. The reason for the engine replacement is contamination through out from metal shrapnel. There is also the suggestion of overfilling the crankcase by one quart to give more splash....Manufacturers will only address safety issues mandated by the Fed Gov. for the rest, the public is on their own.....

 

[Clayvis]

So has this "design flaw" been fixed in later year models?

 

[dale197338]

Easy fix trade it in on a awesome built ford or chevy products. Yes that's sarcasm.

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[BEAST19]

Can u post a video of the noise ? Could it be piston slap ? I experience that until it’s warmed up, especially in cold weather , it’s exaggerated and much
More noticeable due to the thin walls of the long tubes I have installed.


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[03marauderman]

Oh no it's not piston slap...been there done that...In 1994 I bought a new Cherokee 4.0 'High Output' - keyword 'High Output' I picked it up from the dealer, drove 10 miles home & when I put it in the garage I couldn't believe what I was hearing. What Chrysler did was bore the block. & did nothing about the pistons, however closed the gap with deeper rings....It sounded like an antique washing machine....After running me around the block & letting them take it to their Zone facility in Tappan NY they came back with an offer to either trade it for an 8 cyl Grand Cherokee or replacing the short block..... I said if I wanted an 8 cyl Grand Cherokee I would have bought one...If I wanted a new short block, I would have bought a high mileage used one...with less than 100 miles I wanted my $$$ back...yeah...good luck...I ended up selling it 2 years later with about 5000 miles...I lost my shirt & could not stand living with the wrap in that engine....Chrysler corrected the problem 1 year later.....So it looks like history is repeating itself....

 

[ScLeCo]

Melling 10452

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

We are all in the same boat with the problems of low oil pressure if the idle hours are to excessive like the police cruisers they run them hard, but they should take it, what I've learned on this forum is Type of oil, weight and filtration using what we call the Approved Oil filter W silicone drain back valve for dry starts and synthetic filter media, no these are only suggested methods to prevent the catastrophic failure, try reading all the Oil and Filter threads if we do these preventative measures early on, we can have years of Happy Motoring.

 

[03marauderman]

The question begs to be asked....A new Ram that rolled off the assembly line today...is it the same casting & valve train as the previous years? - or did they try to modify & correct the problem?

Not all Ram owners have the interest & passion to devote to this issue, I'd say for the most part they use their trucks, some go to the dealer for service, some go to Jiffy lube, or a local shop....Is it asking too much from the manufacturer to design & produce a vehicle that just requires oil changes at any place, without being a chemist to figure out how to do a simple oil change?

 

[Burla]

03marauderman we are all in the same boat, and the forum has done many things here, but don't think changing lifters will solve this, it is hit and miss if it does.

I wish we kept numbers from way back, we lost at least 1/2 the guys who put the work in and they were about 80% success rate. Look at these polls, ram forum members who have solved this with oil, and read the end of these threads where an engineer tells you the issue and the solution, the solution being high additive high performance oil. He tested the metal in a failed cam lob and lifter, it is not the quality of those items, so changing them will possibly just bring you pain.

Did redline kill your hemi tick

47 ram owners killed their tick completely with redline 5w30.

17 partially killed their tick with redline 5w30.

7 Redline 5w30 did not help, at least 3 of those were high mileage engines.

Did lubegard biotech kill your hemi tick?

Also had good results, read the poll.

It isn't hype, it is a decade of trial and error and following the science. The science we followed was the science of EP/AW additives, which both of these products have a ton of. Especially the EP additives, or extreme pressure additives. Go figure hemi tick has extreme pressure on the tick site, so go figure the additives actually do what the science says it does. Long term used oil analysis show the wear gets better when you kill the tick, suggesting it actually cures the issue and not masks it. If you want to discuss more just join those threads, good luck Burla the guy who used to have hemi tick 10 years ago but has been driving a butter smooth hemi since that to 5w30 redline.

 

[MoPowered]

My 12 PW has 71,000 on it and (knock on wood) no lifter tick. But I run Amsoil and or RedLine even dose some Liqui Moly every couple of oil changes. The design failure lies with the oil return or lack thereof. I agree with you that we shouldn’t, as consumer’s have to pay the price over engineer’s failure.
You can rant, it’s only logical and no one here will belittle you for it. I think all manufacturer’s have their issues and it all depends what kind of **** sandwich you wanna eat when you buy.

 

[pacofortacos]

Well if the tick is at startup, it isn't and can't have anything to do with oil splash. How much splash can there possibly be on a start - I am thinking slim to none and slim left town.
Startup tick is solely a lack of oil, aerated oil, or a collapsed lifter that hasn't pumped up yet.

It isn't new with hemi hydraulic roller lifters as it has occurred since the 60's to now with hydraulic lifters/pushrod motors.
Either that or I have been really unlucky since every V8 hydraulic pushrod motored vehicle I have ever owned since my 64 Plymouth Belvedere has had some form of lifter tick at startup.