I have a 2003 Ram 1500 4X4 with 5.7 hemi.Since it was new it has had an annouying tick at the left rear head that sounds like a lifter tick that gets louder sometimes.It has been to the dealer several times for this and they say it is an exhaust leak but don't have a fix for it yet.I am a mechanic and know that it is not a leak but may be an exhaust valve lifter problem.I have listened to several 2004"s and they don't seem to have the problem.My question is is there a fix and how do I get this repaired under warrenty?

 

If you change the oil to a 5 W 20 is should take care of it, it has on some. Also its some kinda valve down there making the tick as well, do a search on google and I'm sure you'll find it. Its normal though.

 

We have seen this problem a hundred times at my dealership.There seems to be no definite answer to this problem.There is nothing wrong with your truck if we are talking about the same thing.I seem to think that it is coming fron the exhaust manifold.I have a buddy who put headers on his hemi. It no longer ticks like it used to.

 

I don't know if you can call that normal but my 04 has done it since it was about a year and a half old. Sounds like a lifter to me and I have a friend who had the same problem with his 05 and the local dealer tore the engine down to replace the lifters. They told him it's a common problem and they have been doing a lot of em. I took mine to the dealer twice when the noise first started and they also told me it was normal and Hemi's make strange noises. The noise in mine went from a tic when the truck was cold to a rather loud tap constantly. I'm gonna be trearing it down this summer to fix the problem since Dodge pushed me off long enough to get past my warranty. Don't trust em anyway.

 

wow..crawling back form the dead. 6-1/2yrs.

Mine does it. it's normal. And it sucks. Valve clearance issue's.

 

You could try new 6.1 exhaust springs on all valves. Cost is cheap and you wouldn't have to remove the heads, only the brake booster.

 

I thought threads were automatically closed after a long length of inactivity. How did this become reactive?

 

Well I'm no mechanic but I was pretty obsessed about my truck ticking for a while. I mean I could hear it inside the cab and unless I had the radio up to drown it out I and others could hear it - very annoying. It sounded exactly like my old 2.2L S10. One day after a long trip it got really loud and sounded like an exhaust issue, I decided to check out the exhaust manifold on the passenger side and low and behold the rear bolt (the one that the heat shield is tacked onto) had the head rusted off - all other bolts were fine. I had the manifold replaced - no more tick. I can hear a lifter rattle when outside the cab but not inside, therefore I do not care. The truck burns no oil so to me its not worth the $$$ chasing it. I respect the guys opinions that valve clearances are the causes of the "tick" but in my case it was definitely exhaust. Definitely worth checking out.

Just my $0.02 CAD (about $0.0189999999 US) LOL

 

Again....this post is 6.5 years old.

 

The post is reopen so we can obtain important information and suggestions like the post by glenn.d.smith about these Hemi's ticking like a biotch! Great post glenn and I will be sure to check my manifold's, especially the bolts. Thanks