Another Hemi Tick Thread
Veteran
Joined: Feb 2018
Posts: 408
Likes: 6
I've read so many posts on the dreaded Hemi tick. Its mind blowing to me that Dodge hasn't resolved this issue. But on the flip side, I also realize part of the Hemi tick has to do with the engine being hemispheric. Hence, the Hemi! So with all that, I would like some opinions to see what everyone thinks. I have a 2012 Dodge Crew Cab 1500. It has 107k miles on it. I bought it new in December of 2012. Last December I had the exhaust manifold bolts replaced. They replaced all 16 bolts. I only had 2 broken bolts on the drivers side and my mechanic said that if it were him, he would replace them all. And he said it's just a matter of time before they all break. He said it's much easier to replace them when they aren't broken, so I agreed. Cost me about $800 for both sides which I don't feel was too bad considering I've heard some have paid around $900 per side to have them replaced.
When I first got the truck, there wasn't any ticking at all. Not until the manifold bolts broke. Then after I replaced them, everything sounded great for about 2 months. Now I've got a tick again. Not the same tick like the manifold bolts. The ticking is constant. Its not real loud, but its there. Just tick tick,tick,tick,tick...constantly. So I went back to my mechanic and told him I've been reading all about it on the forums. I told him I realize it may just be there and I may just have to live with it. ....I hate listening to it.
I'm a female and it makes me nervous driving it on the road by myself. Will, the lifters fail and cause me to end up stranded somewhere? Should I bite the bullet, replace lifters and cam? Then I read somewhere where it's better to replace just the rocker arms. I've read where they are putting in longer arms? I think that's what I read. I am debating selling it and getting rid of it. But I LOVE my truck. It looks bran new. I've babied it. Park it in the middle of nowhere to keep people from dinging the doors. I love this truck. But I hate the hemi tick. I feel like this engine should last 150-200k miles. But then again....what if this ticking I'm dealing with now is more than just the tick.
So today I took it back to my mechanic. He had suggested to try de-sludging it. I agreed to try it. He put a solvent in the oil, drove it around for a while, came back and drained the oil and let it sit for a while. Then he put Lucas oil treatment along with the regular oil back in the truck. He told me to drive it for a few days and let him know if its better. I'm hoping after a few days of driving it will be better, but so far, the tick is still there. He did tell me that if after a few days driving it, he could drain one quart of oil out and add another quart of the lucas oil treatment. I just don't know.
Any thoughts from all of you here? Will this engine last another 50-100k miles? If it starts to fail, there any warning signs? I don't have any engine lights on, oil pressure seems to be okay.....it just ticks all the time. Sound like an old engine. Maybe I should add a loud muffler / exhaust so I don't hear it. LOL. For me, I have this awesome truck with the "hemi" motor and yet it sounds like crap! Sounds like I've got a very loud "timex" watch in there. Reminds me of the old timex watch commercial. Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.
So much to think about and so many different things that may or may not fix it. I guess my biggest concern is will this engine last another 50-100 thousand miles? Or is it a crap shoot?
When I first got the truck, there wasn't any ticking at all. Not until the manifold bolts broke. Then after I replaced them, everything sounded great for about 2 months. Now I've got a tick again. Not the same tick like the manifold bolts. The ticking is constant. Its not real loud, but its there. Just tick tick,tick,tick,tick...constantly. So I went back to my mechanic and told him I've been reading all about it on the forums. I told him I realize it may just be there and I may just have to live with it. ....I hate listening to it.
I'm a female and it makes me nervous driving it on the road by myself. Will, the lifters fail and cause me to end up stranded somewhere? Should I bite the bullet, replace lifters and cam? Then I read somewhere where it's better to replace just the rocker arms. I've read where they are putting in longer arms? I think that's what I read. I am debating selling it and getting rid of it. But I LOVE my truck. It looks bran new. I've babied it. Park it in the middle of nowhere to keep people from dinging the doors. I love this truck. But I hate the hemi tick. I feel like this engine should last 150-200k miles. But then again....what if this ticking I'm dealing with now is more than just the tick.
So today I took it back to my mechanic. He had suggested to try de-sludging it. I agreed to try it. He put a solvent in the oil, drove it around for a while, came back and drained the oil and let it sit for a while. Then he put Lucas oil treatment along with the regular oil back in the truck. He told me to drive it for a few days and let him know if its better. I'm hoping after a few days of driving it will be better, but so far, the tick is still there. He did tell me that if after a few days driving it, he could drain one quart of oil out and add another quart of the lucas oil treatment. I just don't know.
Any thoughts from all of you here? Will this engine last another 50-100k miles? If it starts to fail, there any warning signs? I don't have any engine lights on, oil pressure seems to be okay.....it just ticks all the time. Sound like an old engine. Maybe I should add a loud muffler / exhaust so I don't hear it. LOL. For me, I have this awesome truck with the "hemi" motor and yet it sounds like crap! Sounds like I've got a very loud "timex" watch in there. Reminds me of the old timex watch commercial. Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.
So much to think about and so many different things that may or may not fix it. I guess my biggest concern is will this engine last another 50-100 thousand miles? Or is it a crap shoot?
https://www.jegs.com/c/Engines-Compo...29591&sbv=true
https://www.powertrainproducts.net/
Thread Starter
|
Amateur
Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
Honestly, before putting all that money and labor into an engine with all those miles on it, you might want to look at a Reman'd engine from PowerTrain Products or ATK. They fix every known issue when re-manufacturing an engine so you don't go through this twice. Just a suggestion.
https://www.jegs.com/c/Engines-Compo...29591&sbv=true
https://www.powertrainproducts.net/
https://www.jegs.com/c/Engines-Compo...29591&sbv=true
https://www.powertrainproducts.net/
Thanks. However; putting a new engine or rebuilt engine in it is still spending a lot of money on it. I've actually toyed with doing that, but then again, it's still a Hemi and if the Hemi engines have issues with ticking, be it a "Normal Tick" or possibly being a lifter, cam, rocker arm issue, or whatever else it can be...wouldn't getting another Hemi engine be the same thing that I have now? I guess for me, the Hemi engine has a tick. You either live with it, or chase the tick and drive it till it blows up.....or buy anything but a Hemi. I'm just exhausted from thinking so much about it and ready to get rid of it. UGH Thanks for the response. I truly appreciate any ideas or thoughts others have on this issue.
Thread Starter
|
Amateur
Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
Update! Took my truck back to my mechanic. The noise is coming from two lifters in the front on the drivers side of the engine. The box thing that we heard the noise in is actually a box affiliated with the fuel injectors. My mechanic said the fuel injectors do make noise and will tick. But upon further investigation and listening to the truck, they are saying I do have 2 Lifters making noise. Now comes the decision on whether to fix it or get rid of it
Amateur
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 48
Likes: 1
From: kansas
Update! Took my truck back to my mechanic. The noise is coming from two lifters in the front on the drivers side of the engine. The box thing that we heard the noise in is actually a box affiliated with the fuel injectors. My mechanic said the fuel injectors do make noise and will tick. But upon further investigation and listening to the truck, they are saying I do have 2 Lifters making noise. Now comes the decision on whether to fix it or get rid of it
Captain
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 515
Likes: 5
From: N. KY
they are saying I do have 2 Lifters making noise. Now comes the decision on whether to fix it or get rid of it
I asked my mechanic about his Dodge with a hemi... he said as soon as he heard the tick in his engine he tore it apart and only replaced one lifter. All the lifters don't go bad, only some because of lubrication issues that nobody can pinpoint. Investigate deeper before making the decision.
Thread Starter
|
Amateur
Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
Until they take the vlave cover off and actually look they will not know the extent of the damage... if the cam has not been ground down too much ( you caught it early hopefully) then it will not cost a lot to fix... watch that youtube video again to explain the problem with the lifters.
I asked my mechanic about his Dodge with a hemi... he said as soon as he heard the tick in his engine he tore it apart and only replaced one lifter. All the lifters don't go bad, only some because of lubrication issues that nobody can pinpoint. Investigate deeper before making the decision.
I asked my mechanic about his Dodge with a hemi... he said as soon as he heard the tick in his engine he tore it apart and only replaced one lifter. All the lifters don't go bad, only some because of lubrication issues that nobody can pinpoint. Investigate deeper before making the decision.
Yes, I agree with you. Check out my post on lifters and cams? I talked to a guy today that used to do all the work on our vehicles years ago until he retired a couple of years ago. He gave me a lot of good info and bottom line I’m going to first try running a heavier weight oil to see if the noise goes away. He told me exactly what you just said. He said in his 40 years of owning his own shop and working on cars, the noise my truck is making, there is no way he could say for sure what it is that is wrong and making the noise. He said the only way to accurately diagnose it is to tear the whole thing down and see what all is wrong. He said that noise could be lifters, cam, bearings, pistons... it could be any of those things and he didn’t want me to spend thousands on fixing lifters and replacing the cam and not throughly check the whole engine. He said I could spend all that money and find out that the problem wasn’t the lifters but deeper into the engine. His suggestion was to run 20w-50 valvoline racing oil. He said it has zinc in it and would lubricate the moving parts. He said because we live in Houston where it gets so hot, that that heavier weight oil would not hurt the engine at all. He said if the noise stops after I do that, then more than likely it is the lifters. If it doesn’t fix it or gets worse then it’s deeper in the engine. Which is what you’ve been saying all along. A thicker oil. Don’t think you said 20w-50, but according to him, it’s not too thick for the heat here. I’m going to try it I think to see if it makes the noise go away.
Captain
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 515
Likes: 5
From: N. KY
I am not going to argue with you, but I do want to point out that your retired mechanic is probably not up on the use of social media to communicate in real time about evolving engine problems. Two hemi videos point to lifter problems and dozens of hemi-tick threads ( not all tick noises are lifter failures) that you can hear that eventually cause a ground down cam due to roller bearing failure on the lifter which eventually causes misfire codes to be thrown and check engine lights to come on. If ignored the damage becomes greater and eventually an engine tear down is in order to replace the cams.
If you merely show the mechanic the youtube video, then take off the valve cover on that side, it is fairly easy to visually see what the problem PROBABLY is and using your stethoscope verify exactly where the noise is coming from... no guarantees but certainly not a complete engine tear-down is not yet in order. Again I say probably... as the video points out, until you start getting misfire codes the engine is going to run decent... just annoying noise and further engine damage from the frozen roller bearing on the lifter
Yes heavier weight oil., maybe not jump to 50 weight, but certainly 30 weight or 40 in your HOT climate. The effect of using 50 weight is to quiet the lifter, not fix it. Maybe a different brand, maybe, but I again point out to you MotorKote Hyper Lube. Using this MAY have kept you from having this problem. Certainly if ONLY two lifters are involved, then you want to protect the other lifters that are not damaged with the MotorKote. $30 keeps your motor good for another 6,000-8,000 miles (using their 3,000 mile recommendations). I change my full synthetic oil every 6,000 miles and use 14 oz at the change, then add another 3-4 oz at about 4,000 miles. A 32 oz jug costs about $30 at my local store that stocks it.
MY story that made me a believer... I said before I have used MotorKote for 20+ years in all my engines. Once, about 13-14 years ago, I forgot to refill the oil in my wife's car after an oil change ( I always do my own) when I got interrupted. Hours later she drove to do grocery shopping, never knowing that I did change her oil. This is a 20 mile round trip. Further later I used her car to drive somewhere and about 3 miles down the road I noticed the OIL LIGHT on. I turned around, trying to figure out what may be the problem, then swearing at myself all the way. No place to buy oil between me and home, so I drove slow. Got home... and filled with my normal Mobil 1 oil and the MotorKote I always use. I then did the driving, about 30 miles, I started to do, and brought it home and looked under the hood. Never had a problem with it, never even told the wife of my goof-up. She never noticed the oil light, so no harm there. I traded it 3 years later after she used it as a daily driver 35 miles round trip in heavy traffic.
This is all just my opinion, based on my investigations into trying to keep me from having these dreaded hemi problems. I am retired and can no longer afford to throw money at a problem so I try to stay ahead of them... Good luck with whatever you decide to do. I can't offer any more suggestions then I already have.
If you merely show the mechanic the youtube video, then take off the valve cover on that side, it is fairly easy to visually see what the problem PROBABLY is and using your stethoscope verify exactly where the noise is coming from... no guarantees but certainly not a complete engine tear-down is not yet in order. Again I say probably... as the video points out, until you start getting misfire codes the engine is going to run decent... just annoying noise and further engine damage from the frozen roller bearing on the lifter
Yes heavier weight oil., maybe not jump to 50 weight, but certainly 30 weight or 40 in your HOT climate. The effect of using 50 weight is to quiet the lifter, not fix it. Maybe a different brand, maybe, but I again point out to you MotorKote Hyper Lube. Using this MAY have kept you from having this problem. Certainly if ONLY two lifters are involved, then you want to protect the other lifters that are not damaged with the MotorKote. $30 keeps your motor good for another 6,000-8,000 miles (using their 3,000 mile recommendations). I change my full synthetic oil every 6,000 miles and use 14 oz at the change, then add another 3-4 oz at about 4,000 miles. A 32 oz jug costs about $30 at my local store that stocks it.
MY story that made me a believer... I said before I have used MotorKote for 20+ years in all my engines. Once, about 13-14 years ago, I forgot to refill the oil in my wife's car after an oil change ( I always do my own) when I got interrupted. Hours later she drove to do grocery shopping, never knowing that I did change her oil. This is a 20 mile round trip. Further later I used her car to drive somewhere and about 3 miles down the road I noticed the OIL LIGHT on. I turned around, trying to figure out what may be the problem, then swearing at myself all the way. No place to buy oil between me and home, so I drove slow. Got home... and filled with my normal Mobil 1 oil and the MotorKote I always use. I then did the driving, about 30 miles, I started to do, and brought it home and looked under the hood. Never had a problem with it, never even told the wife of my goof-up. She never noticed the oil light, so no harm there. I traded it 3 years later after she used it as a daily driver 35 miles round trip in heavy traffic.
This is all just my opinion, based on my investigations into trying to keep me from having these dreaded hemi problems. I am retired and can no longer afford to throw money at a problem so I try to stay ahead of them... Good luck with whatever you decide to do. I can't offer any more suggestions then I already have.
Thread Starter
|
Amateur
Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
I am not going to argue with you, but I do want to point out that your retired mechanic is probably not up on the use of social media to communicate in real time about evolving engine problems. Two hemi videos point to lifter problems and dozens of hemi-tick threads ( not all tick noises are lifter failures) that you can hear that eventually cause a ground down cam due to roller bearing failure on the lifter which eventually causes misfire codes to be thrown and check engine lights to come on. If ignored the damage becomes greater and eventually an engine tear down is in order to replace the cams.
If you merely show the mechanic the youtube video, then take off the valve cover on that side, it is fairly easy to visually see what the problem PROBABLY is and using your stethoscope verify exactly where the noise is coming from... no guarantees but certainly not a complete engine tear-down is not yet in order. Again I say probably... as the video points out, until you start getting misfire codes the engine is going to run decent... just annoying noise and further engine damage from the frozen roller bearing on the lifter
Yes heavier weight oil., maybe not jump to 50 weight, but certainly 30 weight or 40 in your HOT climate. The effect of using 50 weight is to quiet the lifter, not fix it. Maybe a different brand, maybe, but I again point out to you MotorKote Hyper Lube. Using this MAY have kept you from having this problem. Certainly if ONLY two lifters are involved, then you want to protect the other lifters that are not damaged with the MotorKote. $30 keeps your motor good for another 6,000-8,000 miles (using their 3,000 mile recommendations). I change my full synthetic oil every 6,000 miles and use 14 oz at the change, then add another 3-4 oz at about 4,000 miles. A 32 oz jug costs about $30 at my local store that stocks it.
MY story that made me a believer... I said before I have used MotorKote for 20+ years in all my engines. Once, about 13-14 years ago, I forgot to refill the oil in my wife's car after an oil change ( I always do my own) when I got interrupted. Hours later she drove to do grocery shopping, never knowing that I did change her oil. This is a 20 mile round trip. Further later I used her car to drive somewhere and about 3 miles down the road I noticed the OIL LIGHT on. I turned around, trying to figure out what may be the problem, then swearing at myself all the way. No place to buy oil between me and home, so I drove slow. Got home... and filled with my normal Mobil 1 oil and the MotorKote I always use. I then did the driving, about 30 miles, I started to do, and brought it home and looked under the hood. Never had a problem with it, never even told the wife of my goof-up. She never noticed the oil light, so no harm there. I traded it 3 years later after she used it as a daily driver 35 miles round trip in heavy traffic.
This is all just my opinion, based on my investigations into trying to keep me from having these dreaded hemi problems. I am retired and can no longer afford to throw money at a problem so I try to stay ahead of them... Good luck with whatever you decide to do. I can't offer any more suggestions then I already have.
If you merely show the mechanic the youtube video, then take off the valve cover on that side, it is fairly easy to visually see what the problem PROBABLY is and using your stethoscope verify exactly where the noise is coming from... no guarantees but certainly not a complete engine tear-down is not yet in order. Again I say probably... as the video points out, until you start getting misfire codes the engine is going to run decent... just annoying noise and further engine damage from the frozen roller bearing on the lifter
Yes heavier weight oil., maybe not jump to 50 weight, but certainly 30 weight or 40 in your HOT climate. The effect of using 50 weight is to quiet the lifter, not fix it. Maybe a different brand, maybe, but I again point out to you MotorKote Hyper Lube. Using this MAY have kept you from having this problem. Certainly if ONLY two lifters are involved, then you want to protect the other lifters that are not damaged with the MotorKote. $30 keeps your motor good for another 6,000-8,000 miles (using their 3,000 mile recommendations). I change my full synthetic oil every 6,000 miles and use 14 oz at the change, then add another 3-4 oz at about 4,000 miles. A 32 oz jug costs about $30 at my local store that stocks it.
MY story that made me a believer... I said before I have used MotorKote for 20+ years in all my engines. Once, about 13-14 years ago, I forgot to refill the oil in my wife's car after an oil change ( I always do my own) when I got interrupted. Hours later she drove to do grocery shopping, never knowing that I did change her oil. This is a 20 mile round trip. Further later I used her car to drive somewhere and about 3 miles down the road I noticed the OIL LIGHT on. I turned around, trying to figure out what may be the problem, then swearing at myself all the way. No place to buy oil between me and home, so I drove slow. Got home... and filled with my normal Mobil 1 oil and the MotorKote I always use. I then did the driving, about 30 miles, I started to do, and brought it home and looked under the hood. Never had a problem with it, never even told the wife of my goof-up. She never noticed the oil light, so no harm there. I traded it 3 years later after she used it as a daily driver 35 miles round trip in heavy traffic.
This is all just my opinion, based on my investigations into trying to keep me from having these dreaded hemi problems. I am retired and can no longer afford to throw money at a problem so I try to stay ahead of them... Good luck with whatever you decide to do. I can't offer any more suggestions then I already have.
I’m not sure why you would assume my retired
mechanic doesn’t get on social media. What does social media and YouTube prove? Actually, what my guy told me is very similar to what you just said and have said in other comments. He told me that this could be more than lifters. He said unless you went in and looked into the engine, there is no way anyone can listen to the noise my truck is making and determine what is causing the noise. He said it may be lifters but it also may be something deeper in the engine.
His suggestion is to try running a heavier weight oil. He said If the noise stops, then more than likely it is just a lifter. If the noise doesn’t go away or get worse, then it’s going to be something deeper in the engine.
Since i I am not a mechanic nor do I know the first thing about how to remove a valve cover, I have no choice but to rely on someone else to do the work for me and I have to pay someone to do that. Nor do I even know what a lifter looks like. And even if I did know, I don’t have a clue what a bad lifter looks like.
So for me, trying a heavier weight oil is an easy thing to try. Also much cheaper. Then if the noise goes away, I will know I only need to decide if I want to spend he money and replace the lifters. And since Dodge is famous for lousy lifters, why wouldn’t I just replace them all with after market lifters?
As far as the MotorKote goes, I actually went on the website you provided and read the reviews on it. Many people swore by it. And many people said they would not recommend it. You see, everyone has an opinion. Some things seem to work for some, and then sometimes those things don’t work for others. Everyone has an opinion of the brand of oil they like. Doesn’t mean anyone is wrong. Just means that sometimes something works for one person but not the next person.
I do do appreciate your information. I do appreciate you taking the time to reply. It means a lot and gives me some things to think about. I wouldn’t consider it arguing. It’s just differences of opinions. And also communicating via the Internet isn’t quite the same as being there face to face to see what is really going on. Things get worded wrong or typed in such a way to not really get an accurate feeling of what someone is trying to say. But again, thanks for your input.
Thread Starter
|
Amateur
Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
UPDATE: I did the 20W-50 racing oil. Didn't change a thing. Noise was still there. Truck ran just fine. Just had this hemi ticking noise. However, when my husband drained the oil to change it to 20w-50...he said the bottom of oil pan that he put all the oil in when he drained it, had a silver film or something that could be metal in the pan. The pan was a bran new pan so it wasn't dirty. I decided to get rid of the truck. Took it to a dodge dealer, and traded it in on a used 2015 Toytota Tundra 5.7 V-8 with 38k miles. I was afraid when they appraised my truck for the trade they might say there was something wrong with the engine. Since they said nothing....I said nothing. I also figured if any dealer would snap to the ticking being an issue, it would have or SHOULD have been Dodge. I have no idea exactly what was wrong with my truck. I didn't want to spend thousands of dollars to fix it. So I got rid of it!
I decided on the Tundra because we have 3 guys that work for us that all have toyota trucks. One has a 2004 tacoma (4 cylinder) with 230k miles and the truck is still running and giving him no problems. The second guy has a 2008 Tundra (V-6) with 183k miles on it. He said the only thing he's ever done to the truck other than regular maintenance was to replace the alternator at 80k miles. He says it runs perfect. The third guy has a newer Tundra (don't know the exact year) but his is a V-8 and has 180k miles on it. He too has no issues with his truck. He's a young kid and honestly, I'm not sure he does regular maintenance on it. But bottom line....all of them have trucks with super high miles and no issues. So I decided I needed one of these trucks. For me, I will never buy a vehicle with a hemi engine again. At least not until dodge resolves the issues with the hemi's.
I decided on the Tundra because we have 3 guys that work for us that all have toyota trucks. One has a 2004 tacoma (4 cylinder) with 230k miles and the truck is still running and giving him no problems. The second guy has a 2008 Tundra (V-6) with 183k miles on it. He said the only thing he's ever done to the truck other than regular maintenance was to replace the alternator at 80k miles. He says it runs perfect. The third guy has a newer Tundra (don't know the exact year) but his is a V-8 and has 180k miles on it. He too has no issues with his truck. He's a young kid and honestly, I'm not sure he does regular maintenance on it. But bottom line....all of them have trucks with super high miles and no issues. So I decided I needed one of these trucks. For me, I will never buy a vehicle with a hemi engine again. At least not until dodge resolves the issues with the hemi's.