Hello everyone, Im new to your forums here, and was hoping to gain some better insight with my 04 Ram. My truck is a the Hemi model, 5.7ci, thundervolt wires, cold air intake, tri-Y exhaust headers, flowmaster muffler, dumped at the axle. Stock gears. Quad cab, short bed.

Im having a few issues that are not a big deal to some, but for me there driving me nuts. For one is my gas mileage is very poor! Im getting about 7.8mpg city, and maybe 11 highway. Idle speed and criusing is a concern. As I coast in a parking lot, down a hill, or in my driveway, my idle surges several hundred rpms. I can feel the truck pulling and slowing while coasting like this, its doing it all the time. The last thing is, my egr valve is throwing a code but then its gone for a few days then comes back. Scanned it I know its the egr, the code number is different for all 3, but the explanation is the same.

On top of all that Ive had this ticking sounds that I cannot pinpoint, its been driving me crazy as well. You can only hear it at idle, and its kinda loud. You can hear it over the engine at idle. To keep minds clear Ive done a tune up recently, last winter she got the new wires, good plugs, and oil change. She runs great, other then the ticking, mileage, and surging, shes great, haha.

Thank you for any ideas or advice!
Sean

 

get the engine timing done, or adjust the timing belt

 

nobody has any advice?

 

The ticking is probably just the Hemi Tick. It's just the way the engine sounds.

 

Agreed the ticking is probably the "Hemi Tick" I've had it just about from day one with no adverse effect.
Replace the EGR, a bad/dirty one is a mileage killer, also give the throttle body a thorough cleaning, another potential mileage killer.

 

+1...

 

Timing belt in a HEMI?????????? I don't think so!!

 

No such animal in a hemi (any of them). Chain all the way.

 

yeap, egr vavle would cause all your problems. and might as well clean the throttle body while you're at it, takes about 10 minutes.

timing belt?

 

Are you driving her hard? thatll keep the precious mpg's down as well. use good oil too and have you reset the overhead computer lately? recently i reset mine and my mpgs went from 11.8 to 13.7. needless to say im a happy camper.