Not sure what I have going on

[Xsniper]

Hi everyone, new to the thread. So, I have a 2016 Ram Hemi 5.7 with about 138,000 miles on it. At about the 65,000-mile mark I had the ticking from the broken manifold exhaust bolts on the driver's side. Repaired by the dealer no issues other than the cost, of course it was just out of warranty. Well recently the passenger side started ticking, I am not a mechanic but knew this was something I could tackle, which I did. I replaced the exhaust manifold, seal and all of the bolts and the heat shield. No more ticking on the cold start...but...now when I am driving and I give it a little gas, I hear a soft "ticking" or "clicking" noise, which wasn't there before. I thought maybe the exhaust was leaking, since I did just play with that, so I loosened everything back up and retightened the manifold to the cat and then re tightened all of the manifold bolts. Seemed to help a little, but I can still hear some noise when accelerating, and it isn't every time which is why I am confused. Is it possible the exhaust still isn't sealed properly, or is it the lifters? I will add, while the truck is just idling there is no noise at all. I hear it most when giving it gas while driving, not sitting in the driveway or at a stop light.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Daw14]

Yes your manifold gasket may have been damaged running with a leak , a stethoscope of some sort can help pinpoint the issue. Remflex 6022 is as good of a gasket that’s made, if they need changed.

 

[Tulecreeper]

Hi everyone, new to the thread. So, I have a 2016 Ram Hemi 5.7 with about 138,000 miles on it. At about the 65,000-mile mark I had the ticking from the broken manifold exhaust bolts on the driver's side. Repaired by the dealer no issues other than the cost, of course it was just out of warranty. Well recently the passenger side started ticking, I am not a mechanic but knew this was something I could tackle, which I did. I replaced the exhaust manifold, seal and all of the bolts and the heat shield. No more ticking on the cold start...but...now when I am driving and I give it a little gas, I hear a soft "ticking" or "clicking" noise, which wasn't there before. I thought maybe the exhaust was leaking, since I did just play with that, so I loosened everything back up and retightened the manifold to the cat and then re tightened all of the manifold bolts. Seemed to help a little, but I can still hear some noise when accelerating, and it isn't every time which is why I am confused. Is it possible the exhaust still isn't sealed properly, or is it the lifters? I will add, while the truck is just idling there is no noise at all. I hear it most when giving it gas while driving, not sitting in the driveway or at a stop light.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

It's amazing how often that is the problem.

 

[Xsniper]

not sure if this is a crazy question, but is there way to spray soapy water on there to see bubbles, or is that not going to work because of how hot it gets? I hate to take it all apart again and spend money on a gasket when that isn't the problem. Just wondering...

 

[srv1]

Mechanics stethoscope from harbor freight is like 5 to 10 bucks.They work great.

 

[Jeepwalker]

OP, what did you actually do in the repair process? Did you replace the manifold? Or 'true' the warped surface by machining or putting on a large belt sander? That might help us offer suggestions.

The exhaust pipe bolts could have worked themselves loose too... something real simple.

 

[Xsniper]

I replaced the manifold completely with a new gasket and bolts. There wasn’t much build up on the engine because as soon as I heard the ticking I fixed it a week later.
I did go back after a week and tighten everything back down, but didn’t really do much to stop the noise.

 

[Burla]

Fuel Fragrances, why not? You shouldnt smell anything in engine bay, if you try a FF you would know how tight everything is. If you smell it while driving you know where the issue is. If the smell is faint I wouldnt even worry, if it is strong, well need to figure which side is the issue. If you use FF do it when gas isnt full, concentrate that smell.

You can get a oil analysis and see how it is wearing, with those miles I believe you might be able to see the wear either yeah or nah for lifter issue.

You can look up lubrication strategies, it's a good idea anyway, but I'm guessing this time it is exhaust. Now, you "should" be able to duplicate this with rpm's, set up the same rpm's when engine is warm that this is happening, have a friend hold the rpm's at that number, report back.

So to be clear, you have no warm idle tick? Take a audio with device under engine at warm idle?

 

[Jeepwalker]

Sorry to ask basic questions, but 1) You're sure there was no old gasket stuck on the head, right? 2) The new manifold sealing surface was 'true' (measured with a straight edge), before you installed it? 3) No gasket material left on the exhaust pipe flange?

It's entirely possible the exhaust pipe flange gasket isn't 100% sealing right. Or not parallel with the manifold flange surface.

It's also possible there's a crack in flange-too-pipe weld.

Those are tricky to see or get your hand on(safely) on the vehicle. If you can get a mirror or borescope cam up there, there should be dark traces wherever the leak is ...if it's still a leaky gasket.

 

[CanuckRam1313]

Is there any possibility there is a leak at the collector where the manifold meets the cat-back-pipe?

It is a good idea to lay a big thick bead of Permatex Ultra Copper around the flange connection when re-installing, to the point it oozes out, and set the bolts evenly in the tightening process, too.

This way you ensure there is a great seal between these two areas as they are known to have leaks.

My replaced manifolds (went with shorty headers, but it's moot in this case) I did this and zero leaks to this day and that was many, many months back, and tens of thousands of Km's ago, too.

 

[04fxdwgi]

Sometimes in the garage, we would have a guy jam and hold a rag in the tailpipe while another checked up front. This would pressurize the pipe and make the leak far louder / easier to find.

 

[CanuckRam1313]

Sometimes in the garage, we would have a guy jam and hold a rag in the tailpipe while another checked up front. This would pressurize the pipe and make the leak far louder / easier to find.

Yep, old-school exhaust leak detection

 

[Ralph Mauro]

You can always spray combustion chamber cleaner in the intake manifold that should creat enough smoke to see if you do have a leak around your exhaust manifold

 

[js12278]

How many broken bolts did you have to deal with?

 

[Marshall]

I would think if you had them off, and not broke, a plane job would be better then new.
back in the old days they would usually break, welded a few over the years .
sometimes just blow the crap gaskets out, but if you left it , exhaust would cut the flange/head

 

[Xsniper]

Thanks all for the advise. I got the problem solved.
I just didn’t have the connection for the pipe to manifold sealed and tightened enough. I had to add some washers to the bolt to give more threads to get it tight. Easy and cheap fix.