LOUD/LONG Piston Slap/Hemi Tick..

[NY Andrew]

Soooo truck sat for a month with the bed on a slight decline leaving the engine a bit inclined.

Ignored my low battery alerts so battery was dead I had to jumpstart.

Once it started there was a VERY LOUD and hard piston slapping noise/hemi tick.

Figured it needed to warm up some so let it idle a bit. Didn’t help it. Tried shifting gears to get fluids moving. Didn’t help it. Terrified I turned the truck off and checked the oil and oil was there. Oil pressure was normal. Finally let it idle a bit longer then slowly took off and over time the noise went away...on the way back home I punched it hard periodically to clean the exhaust system and get the system under pressure to “clean/wake” it up.

Can only imagine what my oil filter is gonna look like after that long and hard slapping......if there truly was a lack of oil between metal on metal contact...

If that was even it, I don’t know, what do you guys think? Did the oil just completely drain from between the metal contact points? Did it have to do with the parking angle of engine higher up allowing oil to drain down and out a bit easier?

Clearly I need to begin starting it at least once a week allowing it to run for 10 minutes to get the fluids flowing.

Sounded like the noise was coming from underneath drivers side or on that side of the engine. Meant to get a video but actually was in a rush somewhere and scared/bummed.

All the gauges and readings were fine...somewhere around 7-9k miles.

 

[NJMOPAR]

How old is the oil?
I'd start with a fresh change, maybe toss a bottle of Lubegard in too.
Sounds like cold piston slap from your description.

 

[BEAST19]

Soooo truck sat for a month with the bed on a slight decline leaving the engine a bit inclined.

Ignored my low battery alerts so battery was dead I had to jumpstart.

Once it started there was a VERY LOUD and hard piston slapping noise/hemi tick.

Figured it needed to warm up some so let it idle a bit. Didn’t help it. Tried shifting gears to get fluids moving. Didn’t help it. Terrified I turned the truck off and checked the oil and oil was there. Oil pressure was normal. Finally let it idle a bit longer then slowly took off and over time the noise went away...on the way back home I punched it hard periodically to clean the exhaust system and get the system under pressure to “clean/wake” it up.

Can only imagine what my oil filter is gonna look like after that long and hard slapping......if there truly was a lack of oil between metal on metal contact...

If that was even it, I don’t know, what do you guys think? Did the oil just completely drain from between the metal contact points? Did it have to do with the parking angle of engine higher up allowing oil to drain down and out a bit easier?

Clearly I need to begin starting it at least once a week allowing it to run for 10 minutes to get the fluids flowing.

Sounded like the noise was coming from underneath drivers side or on that side of the engine. Meant to get a video but actually was in a rush somewhere and scared/bummed.

All the gauges and readings were fine...somewhere around 7-9k miles.

I had the same issue with my ram the first month I had it , brand new , sat for two weeks..... started up and sounded like someone was pounding a metal hammer on the inside of my engine . Scared the hell out of me and I had it flat bedded to the dealership. It was explained to me that it was somewhat normal, with the hydronic lifters, when it sits , the oil slowly leaks down and leaves the lifters dry upon start up. Until the pressure builds back and the oil circulates the noise continues. But it goes away and is said to be harmless....

Many have had luck with filters that have a certain valve of sorts preventing the oil from leaking down .


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[NY Andrew]

How old is the oil?
I'd start with a fresh change, maybe toss a bottle of Lubegard in too.
Sounds like cold piston slap from your description.

Prob somewhere between 1-2k miles on it since April. Redline 5W-20 with RP filter.

Yea that’s what I was thinkin based off the sound..

 

[NY Andrew]

I had the same issue with my ram the first month I had it , brand new , sat for two weeks..... started up and sounded like someone was pounding a metal hammer on the inside of my engine . Scared the hell out of me and I had it flat bedded to the dealership. It was explained to me that it was somewhat normal, with the hydronic lifters, when it sits , the oil slowly leaks down and leaves the lifters dry upon start up. Until the pressure builds back and the oil circulates the noise continues. But it goes away and is said to be harmless....

Many have had luck with filters that have a certain valve of sorts preventing the oil from leaking down .


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“Said to be harmless” of course that’s what they’d want us to believe lol. But that’s good to know, appreciate your experienced response.

I was using RP filters but due to quality changes I’ll no longer be using them. Thinkin about switching to Puralator Boss next but curious what oil filters would prevent oil from leaking down.

 

[NJMOPAR]

I was using the Mobil 1 filter but switched to the Boss. Think it's more having an additive that sticks to the metal than the filter so there's some lubrication at startup.

 

[NY Andrew]

I was using the Mobil 1 filter but switched to the Boss. Think it's more having an additive that sticks to the metal than the filter so there's some lubrication at startup.

Sweet so I got a good game plan then. I don’t think adding an additive to redline makes much sense but I can see why the suggestion. Thanks.

 

[tfeni52355]

Sweet so I got a good game plan then. I don’t think adding an additive to redline makes much sense but I can see why the suggestion. Thanks.

I’d switch to Redline 5W-30. The 5.7 Hemi loves that weight oil. Completely quiets the engine down. I changed over at about 10K miles and never looked back. I also run the RP larger filter 20-820 (?) that is for the non-truck 5.7 hemi. Love the combination.


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[Tach_tech]

Chances are you had an aerated lifter that bleed down and took awhile to actually pump up. Seen it lost especially with vehicles that sit for a long time. There’s even a TSB from FCA about it.

 

[indept]

Chances are you had an aerated lifter that bleed down and took awhile to actually pump up. Seen it lost especially with vehicles that sit for a long time. There’s even a TSB from FCA about it.

What does the TSB say to do?

 

[NJMOPAR]

What does the TSB say to do?

Start truck and pray it gets quiet before customer arrives to pick it up.

 

[jws123]

Only fix for the start up noise is to remove MDS and the MDS lifters they bleed down out the holes in the side I just rebuilt a ram 2500 has no mds and does not make noise on start up. When i did my cam and lifters if I knew better then I would of put all reg lifters mine is noisy on startup til mds lifters pump up.

 

[Tach_tech]

TSB says to basically hold the engine at 2500rpm for a few minutes then idle for a minute, then back to 2500rpm for a few minutes. Do that 4 times basically.

Usually it never takes that long and goes away in a minute or so.

 

[Burla]

Funny before reading this I was going to exactly say get the rpm's to about 3k and leave them there for at least 2 minutes.

I'm not sure why fca wants an idle after that, I guess to hear if there is still tick.

Corey has been saying this forever, I wonder if fca read his posts, lol.

I'd say if you wanted the benefits of 5w30 redline which is higher hths and operating viscosity, dump off two quarts of this oil change and put back 2 quarts redline 5w40. So I concur, not a lot of reason to use an additive to redline, however 5w20 redline is just as thick as other 5w20's, so the reason why so many guys use 5w30 redline is that butter smooth effect you don't get with 5w20.

 

[Burla]

Soooo truck sat for a month with the bed on a slight decline leaving the engine a bit inclined.

So my truck I guess being the original truck that ran redline to kill tick on ram forum, has been mainly tick free forever I guess coming up on 10 years. Just when the oil gets real old I might get a slight tick telling me it is time to change, I change tick goes away. So there was only one time since that I really got the solid tick, and that was when my truck sat for a month during the original sonoma country fires in 2016. So bottom line, if you have hemi tick not even redline is gonna to protect if you if the truck sits that long. Keep us updated, my guess if you will be fine. Even though we have fires every year now, I make sure I run the truck at least once a week.

 

[NJMOPAR]

I'm currently running a blend of 5qts RP 10w30, 2 qts Mobil1 5w20, and 15oz Lubegard.
My tick is mostly just the manifold bolts now, lifters are quiet & once manifolds heat up no tick at all.

 

[Burla]

10w30 is basically 30 weight oil, many manu's have no vii's in that oil so it really isn't a multigrade oil. As long as it starts good no problem, but if it gets cold and you hear major piston slap, you will know what to change. Look at the difference in cold performance 5w30 versus 10w30, and this is only at 32f or 0 c's, just imagine how much worse it gets ar 0F. So at 32F the difference between 5w30 and 10w30 is about 300 viscosity, no considering operting viscosity of 5w20 is around 9 to 10, and the operating viscosity of 5w30 is about 11 or 12, but at cold temps 10w30 is damn thick stuff.

njmopar, I'd even consider 0w30 is 10w30 gives you a bad result this winter.

 

[NJMOPAR]

I'll consider that, thanks.
Would 0w40 be an acceptable substitute?
0w30 isn't available locally but 40 is.

 

[Burla]

Not really, I'd go to 5w30. Just do me a favor, if there is any cold performance issues, as in when you start the truck in the cold, PM me, we can figure it out.

0w40 means just that it is the best that a 40 weight can flow, it doesn't mean it will flow good or even better then a 5w30.

 

[Burla]

you haven't had any winters on 10w30 yet?