With my 06 Hemi, after it's been sitting awhile and when you first start it up it "ticks" real bad. they blamed it on a exhaust leak, but it sounds like a loose rocker to me. my camaro did the same thing until i put a cam in it and found a bad lifter. this sounds like the same thing. i've been running nothing but good 5w-20 with a good filter. also the octane of fuel or how full the tank is dosen't make a difference. was just wondering if anyone else has had this problem or heard anything like it.

 

Do a search for "Hemi Tic"...

 

put a screwdriver on the valve cover and your ear on the other end, without getting caught up in your fan if possible. check both. you'll be able to hear a difference. on the other hand, my cousins 06 had a pin hole in one of his exhaust welds as well and it was enough to cause a tick. usually if its a lifter it will go away when it warms up. chevy is notorious for that on cold statrts!!!!

 

sounds like an exhaust leak to me.... especially if you've tried running 89 octane

 

It does go a way sometimes faster then others. sometimes it will do it for like 10-20 seconds. and sometimes it will do it for a good couple ofmins. i'm going to be buying those gibson headers for the truck and getting rid of the muffler or what ever the hell it is before the muffler. maybe this will help. we will see. i think it has something to do with why my truck is going through antifreeze.

 

I say hound the dealership. They have to do something about it at somepoint. Be the biggest pain in the butt they've ever come across

 

try switching over to synthetic oil at your next oil change and see if that makes it go away...mine ticked on cold start up before i switched to synthetic...hasn't done it since then

 

This sounds like a typical cold start, especially if your oil is thinning out or even the slightest bit low. Colder the weather the longer it takes to both warm up the oil and get it from the bottom of the pan to the top where valves and cam are. Thats what your hearing is the valves/cams turning w/o total lubrication, then once theres some oil up there then it quiets down. Synthetic sure made a difference for me as well , but thats not to say that it does not still happen on cold starts. Of course I'm living in the Mtns and my starts are typically around 15-20 degrees F.

 

Ok ya i'm up in vermont so it's pretty cold here the other day it was 5 out. but it didn't do it that day but last time it did it it was around 15. i switched from straight oil to a blend and that didn't really help much. i would switch to sysnthetic but i cant justify a $50-60 oil change. i'm thinking i may just let it get low on coolent since that has been fixed yet either and blow the engine and get a new one. or trade it in for the new 2500 with the cummins

 

I have a 2006 hemi ram 4 door 4x4 and did have the same problem. I found out the stock Mopar Oil filters have a special "o" ring inside that keeps the oil in the filter with out it draining back into the oil pan after the engin has been sitting for a while.I used fram filters in the past and had the same problem you are having. My freind that works for Chrysler said he found out from one of the Tech's at his work that if we use the mopar stock oil filter the tic sound when starting the truck will no longer be there. Mopar oil filters for the Hemi are different than most other filters made for the Hemi. Try this and see if it makes a difference.
Charlie