Ram still ticking after cam, lifter replacement

[bbruno1973]

I am sure I won't be the first or last person to post this. Worked with a speed shop to order non MDS lifters, cam, hi volume oil pump, timing chain, gears...replaced 3K miles ago. Then sent out my PCM to Holley. Purchased a tuner and disabled MDS. Power increased dramatically. Definitely improved. Crazy part, at 140K miles, cam had no wear/groove marks, lifters did not appear to have failed. I was expecting grooves/worn cam lobes.

BUT still have the annoying tick. Its quieter but still there. And it does not matter warm or cold. Seems to be the same. No matter what. Its quieter for sure. And it seems to come more from the passenger side then drivers.

-- could be exhaust leak?
-- pushrods that need to be replaced?

Is there oil additives that would help? Its just flat out annoying. I see people mention Redline...

 

[Scottly]

Cracked manifold/exhaust manifold leak/broken manifold stud. That's just my guess because I really don't know much about these motors.

 

[Jim BB]

Mine sounded like lifter tick but was a manifold leak ! warm or cold

 

[Wild one]

I am sure I won't be the first or last person to post this. Worked with a speed shop to order non MDS lifters, cam, hi volume oil pump, timing chain, gears...replaced 3K miles ago. Then sent out my PCM to Holley. Purchased a tuner and disabled MDS. Power increased dramatically. Definitely improved. Crazy part, at 140K miles, cam had no wear/groove marks, lifters did not appear to have failed. I was expecting grooves/worn cam lobes.

BUT still have the annoying tick. Its quieter but still there. And it does not matter warm or cold. Seems to be the same. No matter what. Its quieter for sure. And it seems to come more from the passenger side then drivers.

-- could be exhaust leak?
-- pushrods that need to be replaced?

Is there oil additives that would help? Its just flat out annoying. I see people mention Redline...

Did you replace the mds solonoids with the non-mds block off plugs,if not,you should,if you're running all non-mds lifters now.

 

[alex6666]

As far as an additive, based on a rec from Burla I tried Lubeguard Biotech as my truck had an occasional tick on startup for about ten fifteen secs. It has so far eliminated the tick and the truck runs much better especially at highway speeds. I usually just use bulk 5/20 at the oil shop but no more. 35 cdn at Amazon. Given how much better the truck runs I'll be moving to synthetic oil. Good luck with your issue......

 

[bbruno1973]

Did you replace the mds solonoids with the non-mds block off plugs,if not,you should,if you're running all non-mds lifters now.

I did not replace them with non mds block off plugs.

 

[Burla]

I hope you didn't change the lifters/cam because of a tick with no mis fire code? After all that expense, I'd use the nuclear option as opposed to the biotech option with all due respect to our friend who gladly it worked on. The nuclear option is so good that it is almost a decent diagnose. As in, if it is lifter tick and you try redline 5w30 and a good high flow filter, I would expect at a minimum some change in the tick. If the tick sounds the same after this, I'd look hard at exhaust bolts because likely that is the issue. Look up thread in my sig and filter options, the most likely easily to find filter is fram ultra xg2.

 

[Wild one]

I did not replace them with non mds block off plugs.

You should,they allow more oil flow to the lifters. Every factory non-mds 5.7 / 6.2 /6.4 uses them,you can buy them at any dealer. Any decent non-mds cam kit will include them

 

[bbruno1973]

I hope you didn't change the lifters/cam because of a tick with no mis fire code? After all that expense, I'd use the nuclear option as opposed to the biotech option with all due respect to our friend who gladly it worked on. The nuclear option is so good that it is almost a decent diagnose. As in, if it is lifter tick and you try redline 5w30 and a good high flow filter, I would expect at a minimum some change in the tick. If the tick sounds the same after this, I'd look hard at exhaust bolts because likely that is the issue. Look up thread in my sig and filter options, the most likely easily to find filter is fram ultra xg2.

Oh...I did. There was no misfire. My performance greatly improved. So something was off. And everything I read seemed to suggest that was the cause.

 

[Daniel from Texas]

I am sure I won't be the first or last person to post this. Worked with a speed shop to order non MDS lifters, cam, hi volume oil pump, timing chain, gears...replaced 3K miles ago. Then sent out my PCM to Holley. Purchased a tuner and disabled MDS. Power increased dramatically. Definitely improved. Crazy part, at 140K miles, cam had no wear/groove marks, lifters did not appear to have failed. I was expecting grooves/worn cam lobes.

BUT still have the annoying tick. Its quieter but still there. And it does not matter warm or cold. Seems to be the same. No matter what. Its quieter for sure. And it seems to come more from the passenger side then drivers.

-- could be exhaust leak?
-- pushrods that need to be replaced?

Is there oil additives that would help? Its just flat out annoying. I see people mention Redline...

If you haven't checked, the exhaust manifold bolts break and much of the hemi tick, comes from them. You have to take the the bolts out, some look fine, but that's the heat shield holding them in place. Replace with great bolts, I now do mine every two years to ensure I don't have to drill them out again. If you have to drill, they sell a great kit on Amazon (and many other places) to help do it correctly and quickly. Just buy reverse or left thread drill bits, if they grab, the bolt come flying out.