Hi,
I am hoping for some help. I have been on the forum for a while now, and the tech section has help for all three of my Dodge vehicles.
However, this time, I really can't find anything that fits the same problems I am having.
Truck Info:
2004 Ram 1500 SXT, 5.7 hemi, 206K miles.
History:
I bought it in 2011, truck had 86k miles on it. We drove it out of state a lot pulling a large flat bed trailer (with 2 golf carts on it). First problem was EGR, I have put 2 on it within 2 years
next the throttle body (about the 3rd year, it was giving me the lightning bolt light on the dash, replaced throttle body, problem gone. next, running rough (about 2015), got worse and worse. My daughter then overheated it. I pulled the heads, had those reworked, new gaskets, head bolts, ect. the machine shop found no problems with the head, and nothing noticeable with the head gaskets. I did find, however, the push rod tips were badly worn, with groves and ridges. all new, and back together, and now I have a lifter tap, and it still runs just as rough as before.


OOHH, and somewhere around 185k mile, I had to replace the fuel pump. And since I replaced it, the gas gage stopped working. (prolly around195k mark. Problem is, I don't remember if it was running bad before that or not. But did have the acational misfire code before that.


shew, that's a lot of typing. I'm sure I missed a few things there some where.
Thank you for any and all help, you may be able to provide.

 

Just a guess but the first thing that came to my mind was a worn camshaft??

 

I have about 155-165 PSI per cylinder. Wouldn't I have low compression in at least one of the cylinders? or maybe it has worn over the years, and that's why it has gotten progressively worse?


Thanks for the response!!

 

I believe a worn camshaft would not show up on a compression test. Flow in and out of the cylinder at running rpm would be affected if a valve wasnt opening properly.
i dont believe hemis are known for wearing camshafts. Im just factoring in your valve lash tick. This leads me to think of looking further into your valve train. Heads and push rods should be good. Camshaft lifters and rocker arms remain ??? Just a thought.

 

Ok, I took the valve cover off, and I have #3 cylinder rocker/push rod having a bunch of slop. It all looks like it is rotating properly, but that's where the noise is coming from. maybe collapsed lifter?
Question is, would a stuck lifter cause it to run that bad, with not codes, and before the heads were reworked, it ran just as bad, with no lifter noise.


Thank you!

 

Pretty tough to diagnose over internet. Is the culprit lifter/rocker arm assembly moving as much as the others.....opening valve the same amount as the other valves ?
It certainly isnt right the way it is so I would be digging into that further and eliminating that as a problem and move on from there with your diagnosis

 

Understood. I have a feeling the lifter tap is just a second problem. Even though, I have no codes, my LTFT is pretty high, so I think I'm gonna replace the O2 sensors, and EGR valve. and see if it helps. Fuel pump, is also suspect, but I would think it would be either bad, or not.

Thanks for your help Truedogman!

 

Let us know how you make out Odd! Good luck