My truck has always had a soft ticking sound at start up, for maybe 2-3 seconds, then goes away. Yesterday i started it and the ticking was loud, and didn’t go away. I opened the hood and it seemed to be coming from the driver’s side, but I couldn’t crawl around to investigate further. So after about 5 minutes i shut it off, then about 30 minutes later i started it up and no ticking whatsoever. I drove down the road and back, still nothing.
I’m going to get it in to my mechanic as soon as i can, hoping maybe it’s the manifold bolts I’ve read about.
If it’s the lifters, from what I’ve read in forums here and YouTube, I’ll be lucky if i caught it early enough that it hasn’t damaged the engine to the point it needs to be replaced. I’ve also read it’s important to find a mechanic who knows about this issue and has enough experience to do it right. Luckily my guy is honest enough to say when it’s something he’s not familiar with, and can refer me to someone who is.
My truck only has 64000 miles, and is just about perfect inside and out. I’ve read so many stories about this it’s ridiculous FCA isn’t stepping up to make this right. I’ve taken great care of this truck, with regular service, mostly at the Ram dealership where I bought it 8 years ago. I’m always proud when people see it and can’t believe it’s almost 10 years old. I also believe we as owners should not be expected to use special oil, oil filter, additives above and beyond what’s in owner’s manual (otherwise FCA should have issued a TSB, and advised owners what oil, additives or whatever to use instead of what’s in the manual, but I’m sure the lawyers told them that would be admitting there is a problem)
I’ve also read wildly different prices on this fix- from $900 to $4000, to new engines. This really wasn’t what i had planned for the money we’re apparently about to get- that was going directly toward the tax bill we owe! (Kinda funny Fed govt is depositing $$ into same account they’ll take $$ out of 3 months later.)
All i can say is thank God for forums like these with so many guys (& gals) to make people aware of things like this! I know just about enough about cars to get myself in trouble, that’s about it.