hi guys, i have a 03 ram2500 with nv4500 stick tranny n here is my mods, magnaflow dual, gutted cat, pulstar spark plugs, taylor 10mm wire set, 180 thermostat and superchips 3865, tried 87, tow and 91 tune, my truck have no low end and my mpg as drop from regular 11/13mpg to 9/10mpg, what e my doing wrong???, u guys have any ideas??, improvements to do???, ALSO I HAVE CHANGE THE OIL TO AMSOIL 5W-30 AND IS DOING THE HEMI TICK???, anything im missing here??, let me know guy's!!!

 

anyone??

 

Synthetic oil contains smaller molecules which is why it's a better protector. While it protects against wear for things such as bearings, it does tend to burn up some(slip past rings) because of the smaller molecules and it also doesn't cushion as well as regular oil when there is slight slop in the valve train which you have. Once I went to Synthetic @400miles, my Hemi tick became very apparent. I'll deal with the Tick over going to conventional. Even though you hear the tick, not much harm is being done because of it. The conventional oil will just absorb some of the noise if you will, but the valves guides will still have the same slop(too big clearance).
Your still better protected with Synthetic, but if the tick bothers you that much, go back to conventional next oil change.

 

What king of oil u guys recommend for synthetic n conventional , can u mix synthetic with conventional so u can absorb the noise but keep the protection from synthetic ?, I use 5w-30 amsoil n seems to light for a HEMI v8?

 

When I went to Amsoil, my tick was reduced. I run 5W20.

 

Yes but 5w-20 is only for mds models, any other options.

 

5W20 was specified on the 2005 pre-MDS hemi. Identical to the 2004 5.7

 

I have 60,000 miles on my 06 Hemi. I've been running Royal Purple in mine since I got it at 30,000. It has always had a slight "tick". When my "tick" got really noticable, I took it to a local shop, and they found that the exhaust manifold studs had broke or rusted off, and the loud tick was an exhaust manifold leak. They fixed the manifold issue, and it was back to the old slight tick. Maybe it's not your oil?

 

Stick with the 5w-30 on the 2500 Hemi. No MDS and 5w-30 will provide better wear protection for HD use. Economy tunes on the 2500 is useless, its just too heavy of a truck and it needs all the power it can get. Best bet is to run the performance tune and use ethanol free 91octane. Hemi Tick is normal, the flashpaq probably increases the tick a little due to the altered timing. Use a good synthetic and everything will be fine. The Hemi's true power really comes to life after 2000 rpm's, might be able to get better mpg over 2k as long as you keep your foot light once your there.

 

ohh, forgot to say. I run 5w-30 in my truck. I have MDS disabled via Superchips. I also run 1qt of Lucas SYnthetic stabilizer in my oil along with the Mobil 1 AND some zinc additive. Newer oil have 1/2 the zinc as older oils(800ppm vs 1600ppm just 10yrs ago) Zinc prevents premature wear and acts like a friction modifier to reduce surface tension. There have been Laws regulated to reduce amount of Zinc additive in oils because it's Phosphorous based and is detrimental to catalytic converter life...boohoo I'd rather replace a clogged converter after 100kmi than an engine! BTW, race oils like motorcycle oil or anything labeled High performance by Amsoil and RP all have between 1800-3000ppm of Zinc. I run zinc in all my small engines along with Synthetic. It's something most people dont even know about!! I buy the stuff that says "Engine Break in additive" It has 5000ppm and I only use 1/4 bottle per oil change for 7qts.

5w-20 vs 5w-30
Same viscosity at temperatures at or below freezing(5w = 5winter)
the 20weight is slightly "thinner" with less viscosity at higher temps than the 30weight which has slightly more viscosity.
The 30weight will absorb more noise because it's thicker so it acts like a cushion. However, if you constantly run 5-6krpm's, the 20weight will lubricate the bearings better. The thicker the oil, the harder it is for the bearings to displace the old oil for new oil! Viscosity is the resistance to flow. Thicker flows less. With that said, thicker oil at higher rpms needs to be changed more frequently than thinner oil in the same engine.

There are engines made for thicker oil, but the bearing clearances are larger to accomodate for that. Hemi engines have very tight tolerances. It's a NASCAR designed engine, which is why the piston ring landing can break off with bad gas(pre-detonation) due to the race type engine design.