P305 code is driving me crazy

[EdGs]

The rocker arm on the bottom slides on #5 and has wiggle room. I don’t have that on the other arms.

With my new rocker arms, I could slide some of them left or right, but the pushrods were all snug.

Is there up and down play?

I didn't really have any in mine, but I was not to the point of a misfire.

 

[Sillygoose]

what does the truck do when you go WOT under load ?

 

[Jdennis1989]

what does the truck do when you go WOT under load ?

The truck runs perfect WOT under load. It only bogs at idle and very slightly.


Last night I got both valve covers off, all the rocker arms seem fine and tight other than one of the ones at #5 which is where the misfire is. There is a small amount of play there, but not a lot. I am taking all of this one step at a time and going slow so forgive me if this is a dumb question. But do I have to remove the radiator, serp belt, timing cover, ect to inspect and replace the lifters. I get that I would for sure if I have to replace the cam shaft, but I have a small camera I can send down the hole to inspect that part. My thing is do I need to take all of that off in order to replace the lifters.

 

[Ken226]

The truck runs perfect WOT under load. It only bogs at idle and very slightly.


Last night I got both valve covers off, all the rocker arms seem fine and tight other than one of the ones at #5 which is where the misfire is. There is a small amount of play there, but not a lot. I am taking all of this one step at a time and going slow so forgive me if this is a dumb question. But do I have to remove the radiator, serp belt, timing cover, ect to inspect and replace the lifters. I get that I would for sure if I have to replace the cam shaft, but I have a small camera I can send down the hole to inspect that part. My thing is do I need to take all of that off in order to replace the lifters.

If a lifter is wiped, then so is the cam.

The mode of failure on these engines isn't typically such that you can replace one without the other.

 

[Wild one]

The truck runs perfect WOT under load. It only bogs at idle and very slightly.


Last night I got both valve covers off, all the rocker arms seem fine and tight other than one of the ones at #5 which is where the misfire is. There is a small amount of play there, but not a lot. I am taking all of this one step at a time and going slow so forgive me if this is a dumb question. But do I have to remove the radiator, serp belt, timing cover, ect to inspect and replace the lifters. I get that I would for sure if I have to replace the cam shaft, but I have a small camera I can send down the hole to inspect that part. My thing is do I need to take all of that off in order to replace the lifters.

Heads have to come off to replace lifters or even remove them to look at the cam lobes through the lifter bores

 

[Jdennis1989]

I got the intake off. I get that the cam is most likely going to need to be replaced too, but am I able to just get the lifters out without taking all the radiator and stuff off the front. I haven’t gotten to the part yet of taking the heads off, that will be my next job. Is it possible to take the heads off without taking the radiator and stuff off?

 

[Wild one]

I got the intake off. I get that the cam is most likely going to need to be replaced too, but am I able to just get the lifters out without taking all the radiator and stuff off the front. I haven’t gotten to the part yet of taking the heads off, that will be my next job. Is it possible to take the heads off without taking the radiator and stuff off?


View attachment 575530

Yes you can remove the heads with-out removing the rad. Make sure you drain the radiator and try and get at the block plugs to drain as much coolant as possible out of the engine.As soon as you pull the heads you'll have coolant everywhere,with alot of ending up in the oil,so plan on doing an oil change as soon as it's back together,before you even attempt to start it.
Before you pull the heads,remove the VVT solenoid at the front of the block,and check it over for metal flakes.Lots of video's on you tube showing how to remove the vvt solenoid if you don't know what it is.

 

[EdGs]

That is your VVT solenoid, it's held in by 1 bolt. It comes straight out toward the rear of the engine.

You likely will have to turn it slightly left and right to get it out. Be careful.

A FEW WORDS OF WARNING:

Plastic clips and plugs can be very brittle from the heat.

When I unplugged my VVT solenoid, the white end inside the plug fell off. Also the clips for the wire harness that you see to the right of the VVT plug and next to the MDS solenoid for cylinder 4 fell apart into several pieces.

Make sure you remove them and/or account for the pieces, so they dont fall in somewhere. I didn't see mine had broken until later. Be careful.

The screen on the VVT solenoid might give you a clue. Here's what mine looked like:

You can see there's very little metal flakes on it. Sometimes, there is alot, and that can mean replace the engine.

As @Wild one said, if you don't know how to remove the VVT solenoid, watch some videos how to do it.

 

[EdGs]

You can also dissect your oil filter to see if theres metal flakes trapped in it. Sometimes the filter will catch them, but if the filter collects too much, the bypass valve can open, and thats when those tiny flakes go throughout the engine, and you have bigger problems and decisions to make.

 

[EdGs]

Also, there are some that have just repaired instead of replacing the engine when they had lots of flakes on the VVT solenoid screen, I would like to imagine there's a bit of cleaning out to do. Plus several oil changes in quick succession, but I would do the oil changes no matter how covered the screens are.

Your truck, your call.

JMO, YMMV

 

[demonram]

I have a 2015 Ram 1500 5.7 Hemi with 175,000 miles on it. I’ve had a ticking noise for the last few thousand miles which I assume is the exhaust manifold. The other day it starts bogging down at low idle, not too bad, but noticeable and worse when put into reverse. At any speed though it’s nonexistent. It throws the P305 code on me saying misfire in cylinder 5.

I haven’t changed the spark plugs in God knows when. So I changed them on that cylinder. Doesn’t fix it, so I changed the coil. Doesn’t fix it, so I think maybe it’s the exhaust manifold because of the ticking sound. Doesn’t fix it, or the ticking either. I listen a little better and the ticking is probably coming the passenger side that I haven’t replaced yet. Either way I changed the fuel injectors. Doesn’t fix it!!!!!! Please what would the next logical step be?!? I’m at my wits end.

Congratulations, you are the latest winner in the cam lifter wipe out. At 175,000 miles, that's great. Mine happened at about 92,000.

 

[BigPoet]

To my knowledge/reading, the ticking comes from the push-rods/lifters/cam wear. When I queried GROK the result reported were that about the best way to prevent or treat this Hemi-Tick problem was one of 3 or 4 recommended oil additives. The one that looked best to me was "Lubegard BioTech Engine Flush & Additive" (it doesn't need to be used with a complete oil flush despite the title). Directions: add 1 oz per quart of oil with each oil change. This is roughly 8 ounces per oil change.

 

[Wild one]

To my knowledge/reading, the ticking comes from the push-rods/lifters/cam wear. When I queried GROK the result reported were that about the best way to prevent or treat this Hemi-Tick problem was one of 3 or 4 recommended oil additives. The one that looked best to me was "Lubegard BioTech Engine Flush & Additive" (it doesn't need to be used with a complete oil flush despite the title). Directions: add 1 oz per quart of oil with each oil change. This is roughly 8 ounces per oil change.

Did Lubegard Biotech kill your hemi tick??

So we have had a couple guys running biotech so we should start seeing some results, and hopefully this thread will encourage people with hemi tick to try other lubrication strategies. For those that follow, Lubegard Biotech is similar science to Redline, and as we have seen it can be an...

www.ramforum.com

 

[Jdennis1989]

Ok so I have gotten to the lifters after much frustration. The 1st lifter on #5, where I had the misfire code was completely locked up. The roller was frozen, but I was able to unlodge it and it rolls with some play in it. The rest of the lifters were perfect. Using a camera, I looked at the cam shaft and it looks the same to me in each hole. I attached a picture of the lifter damage and a video of the hole to the cam shaft. I’m just a novice so I thought I would get recommendations from others that had cam shaft damage. Does it look like I have any damage there to have to replace the cam shaft?

November 16, 2025

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtu.be

 

[EdGs]

Your cam lobe is gonna have damage, did you get a look at the end of that cam lobe? The wear will be on the highest point.

I think your video does not show the tallest part of the cam lobe

The end of the cam lobe has worn down the ears on the lifter body.

Here was mine:

Here's the end of my lifter:
And the bad lifter next to a still good one:


Did you get the VVT solenoid out and look at the screens?

 

[Jdennis1989]

I looked at all four cylinders on the driver side and they all look fine. The VVT had a couple very microscopic metal pieces

 

[mtofell]

You can see there's very little metal flakes on it. Sometimes, there is alot, and that can mean replace the engine.

This is what happened with my misfire code (#3). Dealer said there were pieces of metal on some filter and they had to swap the engine. Although, different symptoms than OP.... I'd get the code under hard acceleration. At idle it was smooth. I'm not nearly as up on all this as most of you here but wanted to throw this out as a data point.

 

[Ken226]

Ok so I have gotten to the lifters after much frustration. The 1st lifter on #5, where I had the misfire code was completely locked up. The roller was frozen, but I was able to unlodge it and it rolls with some play in it. The rest of the lifters were perfect. Using a camera, I looked at the cam shaft and it looks the same to me in each hole. I attached a picture of the lifter damage and a video of the hole to the cam shaft. I’m just a novice so I thought I would get recommendations from others that had cam shaft damage. Does it look like I have any damage there to have to replace the cam shaft?

November 16, 2025

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtu.be

View attachment 575737

No way your gettin outa this without replacing the cam.

The spot I zoomed in on here is where your cam lobe and lifter body tried to occupy the same space, at the same time:



Put a socket on the harmonic balancer bolt and rotate the engine until you can see the top of the cam lobe in that hole. I'm pretty confident that its gonna look worse than fido's butt.

 

[Wild one]

Your cam lobe is gonna have damage, did you get a look at the end of that cam lobe? The wear will be on the highest point.

I think your video does not show the tallest part of the cam lobe

The end of the cam lobe has worn down the ears on the lifter body.

Here was mine:
View attachment 575740View attachment 575741
Here's the end of my lifter:View attachment 575743
And the bad lifter next to a still good one:
View attachment 575742

Did you get the VVT solenoid out and look at the screens?

If the lifter is that badly worn the cam is toast. Don't go cheap on the lifters,stick with new OEM lifters,otherwise you'll have a good chance of doing this job all over again in less time then you'd like

 

[Jdennis1989]

No way your gettin outa this without replacing the cam.

The spot I zoomed in on here is where your cam lobe and lifter body tried to occupy the same space, at the same time:
View attachment 575744


Put a socket on the harmonic balancer bolt and rotate the engine until you can see the top of the cam lobe in that hole. I'm pretty confident that its gonna look worse than fido's butt.

Your right. Thank you for the tip. I’ll have to replace the cam shaft. Wasn’t worried about the cost, just not looking forward to the extra work.