Searched the Forum and Common Issues Sticky, have a few questions as alot of the posts scare me as a new owner.

1. What exactly does the "Hemi Tick" sound like? I've noticed on both sides of the truck if you listen by the front wheel wells I hear a tick, almost sounds like a crank/knock sound or loose flywheel at idle. You dont hear it in the truck, and the truck seems to run perfect (knock on wood), just wondering if that is the sound everyone talks about.

2. I had a misfire in cylinder 2 that turned out to be a bad injector, but I have read many other posts about misfires in cylinder 2 and 4 mostly, some other cylinder misfires have been noted. Is there a reason that the most common misfires are in these cylinders?

3. There has been many posts that talk about misfires turning out to be bad cylinders, either burnt valves, head gaskets, or other causes, but there is no mention of how many miles are on these engines that require rebuild. How many miles are these engines good for before these issues rear their ugly heads? Any preventative maintenance that can be performed to keep from getting these problems?

My wife and I love this truck, but the issues on the forum get pretty scary to read. Ours is a 2005 Daytona with 36K on the clock.

 

1) it's a faint tick that can usually be heard in the drive thru next to a building. You may either be hearing that or just the injectors clicking.

2) No common reason other than the fact that it is in the front and more susceptible to water spray and dirt from the radiator fan.

3) The 03's had some valve spring issues. Most of the engine problems often stem from detonation. The owners manual recommends using 89 octane fuel with the Hemi. I would recommend you do that. You can't always hear detonation even though it is slowly damaging the engine. Better safe than sorry.

With only 36K on the clock, you should be in good shape for a very long time. Just a note, the spark plugs get changed every 30K so if they haven't been done, you might want to invest in a new set of copper core plugs.

happy motoring.

 

You have to remember when you read a forum that a good 75% of the people get on only when they have a problem, and usually after they've been the dealer and/or mechanic route with no resolution.

So the "problems" encountered on any vehicle forum are usually not indicative of the real percentage of that particular vehicle out there.

As for the "tic" I've had it since day one and I've not had a single issue with my truck save a blown shock when it was still almost bone stock.

lxman pretty much summed it up. BUT there are a few KNOWN issues you need to watch. The "C-Clips" holding the stock LSD in place (if equipped with one) is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Front end components tend to wear prematurely (why the hell they use moving parts that are not greaseable is beyond me) and a few other things here and there. The spring issue is confined to the '03s and very early '04s so that shouldn't be a problem. The dash issues went away with the '03s and a new source for dashes.

Powertrain-wise, these tend to be solid trucks. I know guys with 200k miles on Hemi engines without single issue and as for the tranny (long the achillies' heal of Dodge trucks), they finally have one in the 45/545 rfe that is at least on par with offerings from GM and Ford half tons.

 

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What Hammer said

To me the tick sounds much like an exhaust leak, but a tiny bit deeper. My C ticks more at 60K than my Ram does at 113K.