Piston Slap - Oil suggestions

[Mockers]

Hi all, New to the forum and looking for advise.

2014 Ram 1500 - 138,000km.

I have the hemi tick. its louder at cold start and gets quieter as it warms up. Dealer confirmed it is not exhaust manifolds or lifters/cam. but is bottom end so potentially bad wrist pin / piston slap. They said not repairable and needs a new motor.

I have read that if it is piston slap the engine could still be ok for years. not sure if this is true.

question, I see some changed their oil to Redline 5w 30 or 0w 30 which quiets their engines. dealer told me to only use 5w 20 otherwise I would get an error code on the dash from the MDS?

would changing to redline 5w 30 or 0w 30 help the piston slap and not throw and error code?

 

[Wild one]

Hi all, New to the forum and looking for advise.

2014 Ram 1500 - 138,000km.

I have the hemi tick. its louder at cold start and gets quieter as it warms up. Dealer confirmed it is not exhaust manifolds or lifters/cam. but is bottom end so potentially bad wrist pin / piston slap. They said not repairable and needs a new motor.

I have read that if it is piston slap the engine could still be ok for years. not sure if this is true.

question, I see some changed their oil to Redline 5w 30 or 0w 30 which quiets their engines. dealer told me to only use 5w 20 otherwise I would get an error code on the dash from the MDS?

would changing to redline 5w 30 or 0w 30 help the piston slap and not throw and error code?

I run Redline 5W-30 in all my hemi's,never once had an oil pressure code,including in my 14 ,and i'm in Airdrie,so the climate is the same.The early 09's seem to be the only ones that "might" throw a code,and not all of them do.
This is from the big 700 page printed manual for my 14,you won't have this manual,as you used to have to phone to get it,but read the note at the bottom.
Lordco's carry Redline,but it's not cheap at a smidge over $25.00 a quart.

 

[Wild one]

If you wanted to try a cheaper combo Pennzoil Ultra Platinium mixed with Lube Gards Bio Tech Engine Oil Protectant has the rep of being a poor mans Redline.
The only place to get LubeGard in Western Canada is from CanWest Transmissions in Edmonton.
It's the blue bottle 4th one down,i just phone them to order it,if i phone in the morning,it's usually on my front step the next afternoon.
If you order 12 it offsets the shipping from Edmonton.

Lubegard Products | Edmonton, AB | Can-West Transmission

For quality Lubegard products, Edmonton consumers come to Can-West Transmission Parts. Check out our inventory!

canwesttransmissions.ca

 

[Mockers]

thanks for the quick responses. would 5W 30 reduce the piston slap ticking or make it worse?

 

[Burla]

Piston slap tends to be a very specific thing, and usually is harmless. Combustion happens at the top of piston and rings protect cylinder. Piston slap is just the skirt of piston that shrunk at a different rate then block BECAUSE OF COLD TEMPERATURE, meaning there is more movement in the piston bore, and that is slap. So next time warm idle after any trip of length even 10 minutes, do you hear this at warm idle, report back I will add more.

Unless you are leaving something out, I'd find a new dealer.

 

[Burla]

thanks for the quick responses. would 5W 30 reduce the piston slap ticking or make it worse?

depends if it is piston slap or hemi tick, so you need to rule out piston slap. This determines next thing, two different diagnoses and treatment.

 

[Burla]

Just a tease, 5w30 redline can cause worse piston slap, but nothing better at killing hemi tick then this oil. Ram forum members experiences taught me this one.

 

[Wild one]

thanks for the quick responses. would 5W 30 reduce the piston slap ticking or make it worse?

Listen to @Burla ,Mike's got more oil experience then i do ,on what works for the differant Hemi ailments.Him and Corey/ @Hemi395 have forgot more about oils then i'll ever know

 

[Mockers]

depends if it is piston slap or hemi tick, so you need to rule out piston slap. This determines next thing, two different diagnoses and treatment.

@Burla I drove it back from the dealer, 45mins, oil temp was 85 degrees, and you can still faintly here the ticking. That's why their view is its the piston slap. Oil change was completed yesterday with with Pennzoil platinum fully synthetic 5w 20.

 

[Burla]

@Burla I drove it back from the dealer, 45mins, oil temp was 85 degrees, and you can still faintly here the ticking. That's why their view is its the piston slap. Oil change was completed yesterday with with Pennzoil platinum fully synthetic 5w 20.

There is about a 2% chance that is piston slap, I would say you have hemi tick more likely then not. Can you upload a YouTube at start up and then again at warm idle? Take recording device such as a phone from underneath engine. So start recording put the phone under engine and then start it next time it's cold, upload to youtube. Can you do that?

It is a very large difference if you are going to use a lubrication strategy to either fix it or minimize it. Now the oil they used is a decent if not good piston slap oil, it is however a very poor oil to treat hemi tick. I am using % to make this statement, see redline thread in my sig for poll results. I don't want you to spend 90 bucks on oil if somehow it is piston slap, but if you want the best shot at killing hemi tick 5w30 redline and a royal purple filter 20-820 is the best chance at erasing tick, about 80% effective. The cheap version is right now with your oil just being changed, get 15 ounces lubegard biotech and see if there is any difference, just add it to sump. As long as you are at full indicator on dip stick and not past that, 15 ounces will not overfull sump. This is known as poor mans redline, it is very similar science and is about 50% effective. So I would do that now whether it is piston slap or hemi tick, that is the beauty of this product.

 

[Mockers]

I think I can upload, will try tomorrow. it will be -10 in the morning here so will sound louder at start up then will drive and take a second vid at temp.

 

[Burla]

I think I can upload, will try tomorrow. it will be -10 in the morning here so will sound louder at start up then will drive and take a second vid at temp.

sweet

@Wild one aka Rick has the 411 on biotech in Canada.

BTW, both things a ram can live many years with. It is possible anyhow, even hemi tick isn't fatal until you get a mis fire code, could be a week, could be a decade.

 

[White six four]

45mins, oil temp was 85 degrees

Did you mean 185?

 

[Burla]

Did you mean 185?

lol he in Canada so celsuis.

but either way it should be 203 unless he has a 180 t stat on there. Maybe the cold is keeping it low, dunno. I think even at 185f after 45 minutes there is no way his pistons are still in a state of retracting, or thermal contraction for tech term for it.

 

[White six four]

lol he in Canada so celsuis.

Hahaha. Sorry to the op and others didn't even look to see where you were from. Just thought maybe you had a real cool running motor lol. My bad.

 

[Burla]

op this is piston slap, when aluminum cools faster the steel or iron, it creates that wider clearance. However, as soon as you get warm this gap shrinks back to normal, plus usually there is oil there and piston slap generally only happens like 1 to a few times and then goes away. I am missing how the dealer would even think this is piston slap, just isn't the issue here. Just scraps the cylinder wall, you hear the term his bark is worse then his bite = piston slap.

 

[Mockers]

sweet

@Wild one aka Rick has the 411 on biotech in Canada.

BTW, both things a ram can live many years with. It is possible anyhow, even hemi tick isn't fatal until you get an mis fire code, could be a week, could be a decade.

Dealer check codes and no codes present on their scan.

 

[Mockers]

Hahaha. Sorry to the op and others didn't even look to see where you were from. Just thought maybe you had a real cool running motor lol. My bad.

Haha yes still cold here in Canada. Drive back was -8 C today. On highway got to 92 degrees but by the time I got back to the house to listen it was 85. Will try to upload videos tomorrow.

Thanks all and enjoy your evening.

 

[Wild one]

Haha yes still cold here in Canada. Drive back was -8 C today. On highway got to 92 degrees but by the time I got back to the house to listen it was 85. Will try to upload videos tomorrow.

Thanks all and enjoy your evening.

Do you have a 180 thermostat in it? Do i know you,lol.
This was my old truck ,parked behind the wifes 1320 Challenger.

 

[Mockers]

Whats a 180 thermostat? It’s stock ram 1500. Only mods are magnaflow cat back and S&B induction.