Yes...ticking can come from anywhere. But in this case as it was with mine, we both know where it is coming from and I am sure of it. These are special lifters designed for the MDS. And when mine ticked, it seemed like it was running on 4 cyl as well as if MDS was engaged. I beleive it is because they weren't quite pumped up enough at start up...it makes plenty of sense. I also beleive that when MDS kicks in the lifters bleed down to run in 4 cyl mode. What ever the reason, mine was deffinately cause from lack of oil pressure to the lifters causing them to tick.

 

Yes, I can see that being an equally probable cause esp with these lifters as you have pointed out. My 04 did have a tick and it didn't have MDS, I never did figure out what it was, just lived with it. So far, my 09 is quieter "tick wise" than my 09. Were you able to resolve why you had insufficient oil pressure or do you think its just inherent in the design?

 

I can only assume that it is the lifter design alone and not the oil pressure or pump fault...because you can change the lifters for a fix. I did extensive reserch on the 5.7 and 6.4 and found that the lifters had issues, the piston skirts were too thin, and the upper ports on the 5.7 heads could not be touched when porting because they are two thin. Of course all of these have fixes, change the lifters, different heads, and different pistons with thicker skirting (top piston thickness). There was nothing found wrong with the oil pump and pressure, you just need more for these crappy MDS lifters and you can get it with a simple high pressure relief valve spring (in the oil pump)change. Also, our Hemis the way they are now are fine, as long as you don't go too far with compression or forced air, so no need to worry. I'm now studying and comparing the three aluminum gen 3 Mopar blocks and the 3 aluminum Performance Werks Racing blocks. The PWR blocks have 6 bolt mains on the center three as compared to 4 on the mopar aluminum blocks and look pretty sturdy and guaranteed for 9k rpms..same goes for their pro street heads (sweet). They have a 403, 440, and 468 and Mopar has the 6.1, 7.0, and of course all the way up to 500 cubes if you like. But there's the issue with not enough bore and too much stoke for all those cubes (500) in my opinion. I've talked to a few pro builders who all say the same thing. One example is the cast iron 440 gen 3...it's over kill and not as good as the 426 stroker because of the bore to stroke ratio. The fix... all the aluminum blocks can be bored much larger for a better mate with the longer stroke but 500 is pushing it (performance, not bore). My point is..you get better performance with a 468 than with a 500 stroker, imo. So many pros and cons to consider...did I mention the 528, 572, and the 605 gen 11 that I'm thinking of as well, lol! There are too many pros and cons with all these builds but they are all very impressive!