Hey all. First time poster here.

Got an '03 QC hemi with about 20K miles on the motor. Within about the last month and a half or so I've started noticing the now infamous "hemi tick". It's not bad -- more noticeable in the morning when all the oil's still down in the pan. Seems to almost completely go away when the engine's warm. I've taken it to my local dealer twice (not necessarily for this same problem, mentioned it both times but also other small stuff) and they've told me it's not a problem. The service manager even told me his does the same thing. There are apparently no TSB's from Dodge regarding this, etc. I'm going to try changing the oil out (fresh change recently, full synthetic) for a different viscosity to see if that helps.

Also I've noticed a small loss of performance within the last 5K miles or so, but since I've installed a K&N air filter, Magnaflow duals and an Airraid cold intake all within the last few months, I'm going to try disconnecting the battery for a while to hopefully get the chip to reset itself. It'd be great to have it "wake up" and realize there's much more breathing it can do now!

Great forum.

Later,

Hemi_Chris

 

Well I think your gonna experience the power/torque loss, until you get yourself a hypertec programer so you can enhance your air fuel mixture. I am told since the hemi doesnt have the typical MAS air sensor its trying to compensate for the extra air flow with excess fuel.

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Thanks for the reply, IS_THAT.

It could be that the loss is just what I'm "thinking". I've probably not lost any actual hp, just hoping for more gain than I got. My MPG definitely have not gone down, so if there is some extra fuel compensation going on, it can't be much at all.

I'll look into the programmers, though.

 

Na, its not in your head, the power loss that is.... Many have experienced it including myself.... I have a intake from K&N and I looked at the Dyno numbers on their website before I bought it, it showed a 10 HP gain on the Dyno, dont know how that is, since we are experiencing the opposite. Everyone will tell u , just reset your computer, well thats not the fix either, been there done that.



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I have heard about thie "tick" that the Hemi is supposed to do for a long time now and don't doubt that it happens to some, but I've driven mine over a year now and have never heard this sound. Whatever it is, it's apparentlly normal, at least for some, but mine just doesn't do it.

If I were you, I would not change the oil viscosity from the manufacturer's recommendations, especially because of this "tick" which is, from all accounts, a non-problem.

 

I've seen several who got rid of the tick by running 5w-20 synthetic. As for the power loss, from I've read, I'm pretty sure you did loose low end hp with the CAI and dual exhaust. Probably more so from the dual exhaust than anything. You just won't gain anything but noise from an open air filter. The OEM intake is already a cold air intake. It draws colder air that runs up from under the vehicle along the wheel well liner. The negative of this is that the wheel well liner will create a water wave in water that's not very deep. I've read where one owner hydrolocked his hemi due to this. $8,000

 

Thanks to all others who replied.

As far as the CAI, I really only put it on to try it out. It was a gift, and it does at least look nicer, anyway. I may try going back to the stock box and romp on it a little to see if there is a difference (a regain) in low-end torque. But, what would be the point of a product like the Airraid if it didn't yield any hp gains? I'm not trying to sound naive, but it's hard to believe all these changes I've made should add up to a net loss of power. I think the tuned chip is the next most sensible step. Factory timings and air/fuel + aftermarket bolt-on hp tricks = confused and/or non-optimized computer, results in disappointing to no gains.

As far as the tick, yes I'm going to go back to the 2W50 full synthetic as that is what I was running before the tick showed up. ANother thing I noticed recently: if I listen carefully with my head in the engine bay (not wearing a tie ) the tick is muffled some. I can actually hear it best from behind the driver's side front wheel, almost as if we're talking about a transmission and/or torque converter issue. Strange, because I'm sure this is a (hopefully slight) valve problem, but I'm still getting used to the quirks of this 3rd gen motor.

I have owned 3 Dodge/Mopar products so far. This one, my '96 Ram, and a '68 Barracuda. All three had little quirks with their small block engines, the two 318's and the new 5.7Hemi. They're low-tech engines, basically (as opposed to Honda V6's, etc.) in that they're just straight, pushrod, regular V8's. The Barracuda's 318, which I built myself using choice parts and did so very carefully had exactly the same problem; a valve regularly ticked but it never turned into anything serious even after repeated hard driving. The '96 Ram was driven fairly hard with lots of highway miles and had the same noisy issues at cold startup. I think I'm resolved to just trusting this is the way Mopar V8's run and to not worry too much about it.

I haven't even really "gotten on" my Hemi yet anyway. That is, no full-throttle from a stop starts. I love it too much to abuse it.

 

I've heard others also say it sounds like it's coming form the transmission. Let us know if it goes away or gets quieter when you switch back to the 5w-20.