Ticking in the engine...

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

Have patience and give time for the oil to take it's effect.

Just be patient as others have stated it takes 5-2000 miles for the different engine oil to take effect, still wouldn't hurt to use Lube Gard biotech for the moly content.

 

[JHoward]

Well, 40° is cold enough for me, lol.

The average high/low temps year round where I reside are upper 90°/middle 30° so I can get away with using 5w/30.

My HEMI never had the famous "HEMI tick", but had the occasional dry start/upper drive train clatter before using Red Line. I have a 2017 RAM @ currently 46k miles and I'm on the third oil run of Red Line and I'm hoping that it'll last until I croak!

I'm hesitant right now on moving to some other oil/filter combo as for my HEMI is doing super good.

... So, all is good for now. Uh, I hope ......I probably shouldn't have made reference to how good my HEMI is performing, it might unexpectedly implode.

 

[knightjp]

... So, all is good for now. Uh, I hope ......I probably shouldn't have made reference to how good my HEMI is performing, it might unexpectedly implode.

Nah.... If you're going to be using Redline 5w30 from here on, and never had the tick, you'll probably never have the tick ever. Redline is like a vaccine for the HEMI - a vaccine that actually works. LOL.

In addition to the city driving, I'm also going to be doing quite a bit more 4x4 driving so I will need an oil in the engine that can take the punishment.

 

[knightjp]

Tick Log, Star-Date 18 Feb 2023:
I’ve been driving it around like normal. Now the tick has gone from intermittent to continuous and it sounds a bit louder than before.
I suppose I need to be more patient and hope the oil will do it thing, but it’s very unnerving. I feel like I’m making it worse by driving it this way.
I really don’t want to go in for another rebuild.
The idle also has been affected. It doesn’t idle smooth at all.
I’m taking it on a 2 hour drive and I’m hoping that the highway cruise will be enough for the oil to do its work.

Tick Log, Star-Date 20 Feb 2023:
Honestly the tick was getting louder. One guy a parking lot approached me and told me that he suspected my sound was lifters and I should use AMSoil to resolve it. Claimed to have the same issue on his Chevy truck. I chuckled, thanked him for the advice and then explained why Redline was the better choice for any pushrod engine with lifter ticks and the biggest reason I feel the lifter ticks.
Yesterday evening took the truck for the 2 hours drive and the engine ticked all the way there. On the way, I was mentally preparing my mind for another engine rebuild and how I would go about paying for it. However then just as we were climbing the mountain, the tick suddenly went away and the engine was quiet and smooth. My brother, driving at the time, said he felt it smooth.
So far now, the tick seems to have gone. I think I still hear it, very,very faint. I'm not sure. It could me being paranoid about the whole thing.

I contacted HPL about the oil I bought about the moly content.
Erik from HPL (hploil.com) came back to me the following day and said, "Regarding the PPM of Moly and ZDDP, it's approximately: Moly- 1700 ppm, ZDDM-900 ppm."
Although this was an estimated number, seems like a good amount.

 

[knightjp]

Tick Log, Star Date 22 Feb 2023:
Drove the truck all day yesterday and didn't hear a sound of the tick.
This morning, it came back on my way to work. Later on the day, I took it for a drive and the journey started with a tick and when I got to my destination, it had disappeared. After which later on, when trying to come home, the tick was there continuously and now it still is.
I haven't even completed 500 miles on the HPL ojl yet.
@Hemi395 What are your thoughts... should I just continue or change the oil again for Redline?
The current oil, I'm informed, has quite a bit of moly.

 

[JHoward]

Tick Log, Star Date 22 Feb 2023:
Drove the truck all day yesterday and didn't hear a sound of the tick.
This morning, it came back on my way to work. Later on the day, I took it for a drive and the journey started with a tick and when I got to my destination, it had disappeared. After which later on, when trying to come home, the tick was there continuously and now it still is.
I haven't even completed 500 miles on the HPL ojl yet.
@Hemi395 What are your thoughts... should I just continue or change the oil again for Redline?
The current oil, I'm informed, has quite a bit of moly.

My suggestion is continue to run it ... give the oil some time for the molybdenum to "plate" ...

 

[danielmid]

Tick Log, Star Date 22 Feb 2023:
Drove the truck all day yesterday and didn't hear a sound of the tick.
This morning, it came back on my way to work. Later on the day, I took it for a drive and the journey started with a tick and when I got to my destination, it had disappeared. After which later on, when trying to come home, the tick was there continuously and now it still is.
I haven't even completed 500 miles on the HPL ojl yet.
@Hemi395 What are your thoughts... should I just continue or change the oil again for Redline?
The current oil, I'm informed, has quite a bit of moly.

What oil filter are you using?

 

[Hemi395]

Tick Log, Star Date 22 Feb 2023:
Drove the truck all day yesterday and didn't hear a sound of the tick.
This morning, it came back on my way to work. Later on the day, I took it for a drive and the journey started with a tick and when I got to my destination, it had disappeared. After which later on, when trying to come home, the tick was there continuously and now it still is.
I haven't even completed 500 miles on the HPL ojl yet.
@Hemi395 What are your thoughts... should I just continue or change the oil again for Redline?
The current oil, I'm informed, has quite a bit of moly.

Personally I would give it another 100-200 miles a day see how it's doing. If it's still ticking or getting worse I would go back to RL.

 

[knightjp]

What oil filter are you using?

The stock Mopar one. That is all that we have access to here in Dubai.

Personally I would give it another 100-200 miles a day see how it's doing. If it's still ticking or getting worse I would go back to RL.

@Hemi395 @JHoward thanks for the input.
I took a video today to show how loud the tick is right now.

The Tick is back

youtube.com

If you guys say that it is OK to drive like this for another 100 - 200 miles, I will go ahead and do so. There is a planned road trip to the mountains again this weekend. This is about 107kms away.
I'll do some other long drives as well to make sure that I give it the distance it needs.

Based of the video, do you think that a tick that loud can be resolved with an oil change or am I looking at another rebuild?

 

[Hemi395]

Ok so after hearing that video I would change it sooner than what I had originally said. That's pretty loud... Honestly that's what my truck sounded like on PP 5w20 so it may be worth changing the oil back to RL.

Is that at full operating temp?

 

[knightjp]

Is that at full operating temp?

Yes..
Considering that this HPL has quite a bit of moly, I wonder why it didn't work in sorting out the tick?
Do I just go in for Redline or should I just go in and replace the lifters on the right bank? That's where the tick is coming from.
If I should go in for Redline, what should I choose?
Do I do an engine flush first before putting in Redline?




I'm leaning towards 10W40 at this point.
Where's our resident RL expert? @Burla ?

 

[Burla]

I'm not sold that is lifters, maybe a valve spring. It can be lifters, but sometimes I am on the fence. It is pretty bad though, I'm not sure I would take that on a trip, I might rent a car and enjoy life. 5w40 and 5w30 redline are the way to go. I once thought 10w30 redline would suit me, but it was the worst redline for my hemi tick that i tried. From forum experience, 5w40 redline is as good as 5w30 redline at tick killing.

 

[Burla]

The same unexplainable thing 5w30 versus 10w30 redline is in play for the 5w40/10w40 debate, you can see. The 5w40 operates a little higher and has better viscosity index with no fall off on noack/hths. Never just look at weights but rather stat sheets, often times you see better effort oils in unexpected weights.

 

[knightjp]

I’m right now thinking that I should replace the lifters and then put in Redline 5w40

 

[knightjp]

I just spoke to the dealer of Redline here in Dubai.
He has RL 5w40 Euro spec.
When he heard it was for a Ram 1500, he suggested 5W30 and 5W50.
Which of the two should I choose?

 

[Burla]

5w30

 

[knightjp]

I once thought 10w30 redline would suit me, but it was the worst redline for my hemi tick that i tried. From forum experience, 5w40 redline is as good as 5w30 redline at tick killing.

The same unexplainable thing 5w30 versus 10w30 redline is in play for the 5w40/10w40 debate, you can see. The 5w40 operates a little higher and has better viscosity index with no fall off on noack/hths. Never just look at weights but rather stat sheets, often times you see better effort oils in unexpected weights.

Do you think that it has something to do what I highlighted in the pics?I thought that 5W30 and 10W30 would be the same at operating temperature. That is what the David from High Performance Lubricants told me on the BITOG forums.

Anyways,. right now, considering the availability of the oil, I will be using 5W30. I hope that this will be good after the rebuild.

 

[knightjp]

Tick Log: Star-date 28 Feb 2023
I got the truck back. The lifters were changed for new one. As it turns out, it wasn't the rollers like last time. The internals of the hydraulic lifters were at fault this time. I'm guessing due to improper lubrication. Anyways, after replacing the lifters, we used Redline 5W30. The engine is whisper quiet now. Will take a video of the sound of the engine in reference to what it was before.

So far, Redline is the real deal. It has it all. I think for the foreseeable future, I'll be running only that. It cost the same as the HPL. According to David from HPL, the HPL oil I ran only had 80ppm of moly. Perhaps if I went with Redline from the beginning after the first rebuild, I wouldn't have had these issues.
I would be open to taking up David's offer for HPL oil, but at a later date. I want to give Redline a good few months of continuous use.

 

[Burla]

Not surprising info there, lol. But lets hope this is the end of your ram issues, you have had more then your fair share bud.

 

[knightjp]

Not surprising info there, lol. But lets hope this is the end of your ram issues, you have had more then your fair share bud.

You can say that again.... I'm pretty sure that as long as I use Redline, I would not face any issues. I'll import some cans of 5W40 for the Summer months, since the dealer does not import it. Apparently they say that the Redline Professional is pretty good too since it has the Dexos certification. I don't know.. I'm sticking with the blue quarts and the red gallons.
I'm pretty sure what caused me to have to do the first rebuild.
At first it wasn't the lifters that was causing the tick. Two of the header bolts had sheered.
However in the oil change that followed, Redline was not available, hence I had to choose an alternative. Tried to get Amsoil SS 0W40, but couldn't.. went with AMSoil 5W30. It should have been OK, but the truck had a very slight tick when I bought it. So when you have the tick, you need something with a lot of esters zddp and moly - you need Redline.
Since it wasn't there, I was forced to sue something else, which resulted in the tick getting worse.
Not a knock on AMSoil. Pretty sure if someone used 5W30 (regardless of any brand, as long as it was a recognized one) from the very beginning, they would never face the tick. Sadly, over here in Dubai, at least for the 1st 2 -3 years of ownership, you have to do the service with the local dealer, otherwise you void warranty. Yeah.. they have those rules and clauses here in Dubai. So with that, if you don't know what oil they are using, you will face an issue later on.
I bought this truck used and hence it was already compromised with dealership services.