Ticking in the engine...

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Burla

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redline professional series aint worth buying, ever. Just over priced group 3 similar to m1, so why pay the extra? It came into existence when 66 bought redline, true redline would never settle for that, but corporate america would sell their moms liver for a dime. Redline High Performance series only.
 

ramffml

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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.

Good to hear your problems appear to be over!

Worth noting though that several us mentioned to you that you were not buying the HPL which the rest of us are talking about on this forum. The HPL oil I'm running has 860ppm moly according to a VOA I sent to Blackstone.
 
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knightjp

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Good to hear your problems appear to be over!

Worth noting though that several us mentioned to you that you were not buying the HPL which the rest of us are talking about on this forum. The HPL oil I'm running has 860ppm moly according to a VOA I sent to Blackstone.
@ramffml Thank you for that.. I know you guys were looking out for me. However I should say that I was aware of it from the beginning. @Travis8352 gave me the whole briefing. Even David from HPL briefed me on it as well. Both did mention that it was an excellent oil and so I went ahead with it, because I wanted to give it a try. By all accounts the assumptions were that it was similar to the ones you were talking about here and therefore similar to Redline. Now I know that isn't the case.

What is the Ester content of HPL compared with Redline?
 

Travis8352

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@ramffml Thank you for that.. I know you guys were looking out for me. However I should say that I was aware of it from the beginning. @Travis8352 gave me the whole briefing. Even David from HPL briefed me on it as well. Both did mention that it was an excellent oil and so I went ahead with it, because I wanted to give it a try. By all accounts the assumptions were that it was similar to the ones you were talking about here and therefore similar to Redline. Now I know that isn't the case.

What is the Ester content of HPL compared with Redline?
The HPL you can get I do not know. Redline has been estimated to be between 12-15% but thats a guess based on the ****** oxidation value
 
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knightjp

knightjp

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Travis8352

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I was actually referring to the HPL from (https://www.hplubricants.com/hp-synthetic-motor-oil-4/).
Perhaps I should ask David from HPL.. He's been very helpful with information.
An uneducated guess based on v i r g i n oxidation is 4-5% ester but thats not really a good way to guess so thats why i say uneducated guess. Id ask david. They use more alkylated napthalenes than ester i believe
 

Burla

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It is beneficial to the forum to have options, but when the number one known option is so effective, many guys will just stay with that. It is what it is, I would know because I'm one of them. I do want to see hpl get tested, but what I am doing isnt broke so why fix it? So the main difference with the hpl that ticked in knights truck was average moly? what else is anyone knows? Redline has other lineups as well, I would bet good money professional series would tick as good as anything.
 
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knightjp

knightjp

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@Burla I wonder if anyone has tried the RL Racing oil.. LOL

I recall one time that when Redline was not available, you told me to get Motul 300V 5W30 and 5W40. It cost a lot more than Redline as far I know, but I see that it is hardly spoken of as an alternative.
Maybe we just forgot about it.
 

Travis8352

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@Burla I wonder if anyone has tried the RL Racing oil.. LOL

I recall one time that when Redline was not available, you told me to get Motul 300V 5W30 and 5W40. It cost a lot more than Redline as far I know, but I see that it is hardly spoken of as an alternative.
Maybe we just forgot about it.
Theres no detergent package in that oil i would not run it
 
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knightjp

knightjp

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I think that this thread could use a brief summary on the state of the tick, seeing that it begins with my first grey truck and now with my current black one.

So here is a brief summary of what has happened so far and which oils worked.

1st Truck - Grey one.
Pre tick:
Mopar 5w20 and occasionally Mopar 5W30.
Once I had the tick, replaced the lifters on the left bank and used the best ones for the right. That was the only way we could keep the cost of that job down.
After the rebuild, I used Redline 5w30. I ran that oil continuously and the engine was smooth and whisper quiet. The mechanic who was a firm believer and always championed using original spec oil and stuff, was so impressed that he began recommending it for his other customers with HEMI engines.
Post Tick:
1st change: Redline Oil 5W30 - engine remained quiet and smooth.
2nd change: Total Quartz 9000 5W30. The engine oil sounded smooth and good, but certainly not as quiet as Redline.
3rd change: Motul 300V 5W40. Another recommendation from @Burla. The engine sounded smooth and great, better than Total, but sounded a bit more like an old school HEMI, if that makes sense. It certainly wasn't as smooth as with Redline. Motul was more expensive than Redline so I wasn't too convinced to go back to it again unless I had really, really had to.
Sadly before I could do another oil change, I made a mistake, had the crash and totaled the truck.

2nd Truck - Black one.
Pre Tick:

The truck was already having a very slight almost indiscernible tick when I bought it. The mechanic heard it. I couldn't hear it at all. If there was a tick, I knew what to do. Just use Redline. Once I bought the truck, we replaced all the fluids. Redline oil and Mopar gearbox, transfer and diff oils.
1st Oil change: Redline 5W30
2nd Oil change: Redline 5W30
3rd oil change: Redline 5W30 - it was at this point that we noticed a tick coming on. I thought that was impossible, considering that I was running Redline.
4th oil change: There was no Redline available, so I had to choose an alternative. I used AMSoil SS 5W30 - This was when the tick became really loud and decided to do the rebuild, change the lifters. I couldn't bear it anymore.

Rebuild:
During the rebuild, the mechanic discovered by my tick was two fold. Two of the bolts on the left manifold had sheered and the lifters on the left bank were looking pretty bad.
So we changed them in the same way. We changed the left bank lifters and then used the best of the old ones for the right.
We decided to use Castrol Magnatec 5W30. I was intrigued by the oil and wanted to test it out. Besides with some people using Castrol Edge 0W40 on their HEMI engines without any additives and having good results. Plus the cost of the oil was quite a bit less than Redline and more readily available in the market. Castrol is a more widely known brand, even to those who aren't gearheads. So the idea sounded good.
However the tick came back. This isn't a knock on Castrol. I'm guessing that the lifters on the right, even though they were best of the old ones, were damaged as well and therefore needed more Esters and moly, but sadly I didn't give it that.

Post Rebuild:
1st oil change: HPL 15W40, based on recommendations to go thicker to try and resolve the ticking. The idea was to use something that was thicker and had a good amount of moly. I later realized that the moly in this oil was only comparable to that of Castrol Edge. The HPL I got was from (https://www.hploil.com/) and not related to the one that was discussed here on this forum. With HPL, the tick became louder. Decided to replace the lifters on the right bank as well for new ones.

Post 2nd lifter change/ Rebuild: The mechanic said that the right side lifters, it wasn't just the rollers bearings that failed. The lifters themselves, internally, were buggered. So they needed to be changed. No oil change would have helped that. Not even Redline.
Currently: Redline 5W30 - the engine is smooth and whisper quiet. I like it this way.

This might be a placebo effect, but running Redline I kind of get the feeling of assurance that nothing can go wrong with the lifters now that it is in there. Know what I mean?
 
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Marmay

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There is a guy on YouTube, Truck Central,he have 190.000 miles on his Ram,no issue whatsoever, no special treatment, no RL,no lubaguard, no extra oil filters etc,he go with the comp interval, lucky him I guess
 

ramffml

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There is a guy on YouTube, Truck Central,he have 190.000 miles on his Ram,no issue whatsoever, no special treatment, no RL,no lubaguard, no extra oil filters etc,he go with the comp interval, lucky him I guess

We've talked about him here before. He also has insane idle hours (like 1500+) and tows often and heavy. He does everything wrong according to one theory or another, and he is actually the reason I still own my truck as watching his videos come out every few weeks has given me more and more confidence in my truck.

I'd never suggest doing what he does, the suggestions in this forum can only help prevent it even more. But I'm very happy to hear that his struck is still ticking (the good kind of tick lol).
 
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knightjp

knightjp

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There is a guy on YouTube, Truck Central,he have 190.000 miles on his Ram,no issue whatsoever, no special treatment, no RL,no lubaguard, no extra oil filters etc,he go with the comp interval, lucky him I guess
I don't know about him, everything on this thread is based off my own experience.
For one, I don't think he has mentioned what kind of oil he has been using on his engine. He's not alone though. There are a number of users on this forum who just do regular maintenance and stuff and never face the tick. Sometimes also, people say they are using standard good brand oils and regular maintenance, but in reality they are putting additives from time to time. To them its just a minor thing, they don't even make mention of it.

In addition, as @ramffml as mentioned, he seems to put his truck to work hard and it is still going strong.
That is sort of a testament to the durability of Ram IMO. Take that Tundra owners. LOL
 
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knightjp

knightjp

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Time has come for me to change the oil on my truck. Of course considering my experience, the obvious choice is Redline 5W30.
After seeing many people running cheaper oils like Castrol, AMSoil, etc without any issues, I'm tempted to wonder if I would benefit from the same. Maybe not, considering my engine has experienced the dreaded tick.
Even though I have change all the lifters and stuff, I guess I am stuck using Redline in order to never have any issues again. Not a big deal though.
Summer is soon upon us; which mean temps will soon rise to an average over 45.C
My plan is to run a Redline 5W30 in the winter and 5W40 in the summer.

update:
Just spoke to the dealer. The only Redline he's got of the 5W40 is the professional series.
From the High Performance series that we use, 5w30 10w40 5w50 15w50 20w50.
So which should I go for?
I would prefer to run something thicker for the Summer months.
 
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06 Dodge

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Just remember your engine was designed for 5w oil, can you safely use 15w or 20w oil without any problems, that's the $64 question..
 
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knightjp

knightjp

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Just remember your engine was designed for 5w oil, can you safely use 15w or 20w oil without any problems, that's the $64 question..
Well, there were a couple of users that have been using 10w oils in their vehicles with no issues and no ticks.
According to this link, I should be using 20W-40...
Of course when looking at the details for Redline, 5w30 and 5w40 are the best. As @Burla recommended, I think that I'll use 5W30 for now and maybe look at importing 5w40 for the next change after this.
 
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knightjp

knightjp

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Update:
Since Redline was not in stock, I moved over to Mobil1 FS 0w40. The engine ticked for 2 - 4 seconds on initial start just after the change. On the second cold start and after, it was quiet and smooth. Actually was impressed how quiet and smooth the engine sounded after that.
I changed the oil every 5000kms.
I used Mobil1 FS 0w40 twice and then decided to try something else.
I read of a combo used by @Ghost1500, which was Liquimoly Molygen 5w30 and Liquimoly Hydraulic Lifter Fluid.
I'm currently on my second OCI with this combo and so far the engine is smooth and quiet. I've become a bit paranoid and every time I start the truck, I get out and stick my head in fender listening for any kind of faint ticking or something that I thought was a tick.
On this last OCI, my mechanic saw me doing that and he said I don't have worry. The engine was smooth and quiet. He said it sounded better than with Mobil1, mostly because there was no ticking on initial start.

My main aim is to prevent the tick and get my engine to 500,000kms for now.

While some of us on here keep talking about engine oil and they various additives that would help prevent / quieten the Hemi tick, this guy is posting about how this is the sure way to prevent the tick from happening.
I'm not sure that changing the oil pump is necessary. I'm sure that it will help. Maybe even prevent the tick from happening. However there 1000s of users running stock Hemi engines without ever facing the tick and do so because they use a good 5w30/0w40 oil with a regular and relatively short OCI.
 
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