ramnododge
Junior Member
Hi guys. Coming in for some advice for my current project. My problem statement is I just tore apart my engine expecting a failed lifter....but no failed lifters to be found. So here is what happened....
I bought a 2013 Ram 1500 5.7L 4x4 Express with 145k miles on it. Owners selling the truck knew it had the "hemi tick". I checked both exhaust manifolds on the spot...yup, heat shields both broken off. But the price was good enough, even if it was the "true" Hemi tick, I could fix it, no problem....
It's a white work truck, and the owner is high up at a construction company, so quite a bit of heavy idling onsite (of course the idle hours say 0 though). INDICATION #1...
The tick is loud. Its there at startup....and it doesn't go away. So I drove it about 500 miles started by replacing the passenger exhaust manifold. Fun bolt extraction time. But no go, tick was still there. The same day, I changed the oil with RP 5w20 and a Mopar oil filter. AND THE TICK ACTUALLY WENT AWAY! INDICATION #2....
Buttttt then after a few hundred miles, the tick came back. It came back kinda slowly, and over the course of about 100 miles, it progressively got back to as bad as it once was. SO, I replaced the driver side exhaust manifold....and the tick was still there! INDICATION #3...
I drove it about 3k miles and decided to change the oil again, same RP 5w20, but this time with some Lucas Oil Stabilizer. Admittedly, I DID look for metal shavings, but never really found anything that I considered "unordinary", but I unfortunately didn't bother cutting into the filter. Well, this oil change did nothing to get rid of the tick like it did the first time. But then this time, about 40 miles after the oil change, Cylinder 2 misfire + really rough idle. INDICATION #4...
So at this point, if I wasn't already sure it was the lifters, I was POSITIVE there was a failed lifter (based on my professional internet research, and severe lack of knowledge on engines). Went ahead and bought the cam+lifter+everything kit from MMX. Started the project yesterday, and to my surprise, all the lifters look fine!! On Cylinder 2, it is just slightly interesting that its the only lifter that has a slight discoloration to it, but still in working order. All the rods looking perfectly normal to me. I unfortunately don't have enough knowledge to understand wtf I am seeing on the valves, on the driver side cylinder head? Related to issues, or is that normal?
Anyways, I'm pretty down/stuck because of the time/money wasted. Well, not the time because this is all a learning experience for me, never having dug this far into an engine. But I stopped there, I did not pull the camshaft yet. Any thoughts here? Is it possible that in some weird world, it was a lifter but I'm just not seeing it? Or is there something else on the valve train I should look for while I'm this deep? Truck is torn apart, so I'm all ears on what to go investigate!
Video of "ticking"
I bought a 2013 Ram 1500 5.7L 4x4 Express with 145k miles on it. Owners selling the truck knew it had the "hemi tick". I checked both exhaust manifolds on the spot...yup, heat shields both broken off. But the price was good enough, even if it was the "true" Hemi tick, I could fix it, no problem....
It's a white work truck, and the owner is high up at a construction company, so quite a bit of heavy idling onsite (of course the idle hours say 0 though). INDICATION #1...
The tick is loud. Its there at startup....and it doesn't go away. So I drove it about 500 miles started by replacing the passenger exhaust manifold. Fun bolt extraction time. But no go, tick was still there. The same day, I changed the oil with RP 5w20 and a Mopar oil filter. AND THE TICK ACTUALLY WENT AWAY! INDICATION #2....
Buttttt then after a few hundred miles, the tick came back. It came back kinda slowly, and over the course of about 100 miles, it progressively got back to as bad as it once was. SO, I replaced the driver side exhaust manifold....and the tick was still there! INDICATION #3...
I drove it about 3k miles and decided to change the oil again, same RP 5w20, but this time with some Lucas Oil Stabilizer. Admittedly, I DID look for metal shavings, but never really found anything that I considered "unordinary", but I unfortunately didn't bother cutting into the filter. Well, this oil change did nothing to get rid of the tick like it did the first time. But then this time, about 40 miles after the oil change, Cylinder 2 misfire + really rough idle. INDICATION #4...
So at this point, if I wasn't already sure it was the lifters, I was POSITIVE there was a failed lifter (based on my professional internet research, and severe lack of knowledge on engines). Went ahead and bought the cam+lifter+everything kit from MMX. Started the project yesterday, and to my surprise, all the lifters look fine!! On Cylinder 2, it is just slightly interesting that its the only lifter that has a slight discoloration to it, but still in working order. All the rods looking perfectly normal to me. I unfortunately don't have enough knowledge to understand wtf I am seeing on the valves, on the driver side cylinder head? Related to issues, or is that normal?
Anyways, I'm pretty down/stuck because of the time/money wasted. Well, not the time because this is all a learning experience for me, never having dug this far into an engine. But I stopped there, I did not pull the camshaft yet. Any thoughts here? Is it possible that in some weird world, it was a lifter but I'm just not seeing it? Or is there something else on the valve train I should look for while I'm this deep? Truck is torn apart, so I'm all ears on what to go investigate!
Video of "ticking"