Ram hemi engine tap

daugen · Oct 9, 2017

truck home, ran fine. Service manager said they heard a noise that wasn't right, and
said several "rollers" had too much play. 22k miles?....
She said it was normal to replace all of the hydraulic lifters on one side once they got in there.

And....please start your truck regularly. No, I didn't badger her if that was in the manual but yeah, do you think the sales guy said that would be part of the hemi experience?

Hopefully from now on no news will be good news.

update: just reread the bill carefully. They seemed to have replaced only two hydraulic tappets, one 5038785AC and one 5038786AC tappet. That sounds like two...not all of them. Plus a lot of seals, gaskets and an oil change.

ok: here's the diagnosis: rocker number 3 and 5 have play in them

crazyal · Oct 15, 2017

Keep all your receipts. If they didn't fix it (I have my doubts) then you can force them even after the warranty to repair it. Hopefully it was just poor workmanship and the two lifters were junk and the rest are just fine. I'm not trying to bash Dodge but they don't have a track record of always doing the highest quality work.

mrmikey · Oct 16, 2017

Keep all your receipts. If they didn't fix it (I have my doubts) then you can force them even after the warranty to repair it.

I' wouldn't want to bet too much on that, least ways if you have a Ford. Had a problem with an Explorer transmission at work, took it back and they ended up replacing the valving or some such, worked fine for a few months or so then same problem. It only had 60,000KMS on it but was over the warranty time by 3-4 months.
No go, since the problem was reported as fixed, it's a new claim and being over the time, there's no warranty, 'We'll do a goodwill transmission replacement, your portion of the repair would be $6,500".......Mike

daugen · Oct 16, 2017

I have a file for the truck, all the receipts go in there. There is why each time I took it in for service I made sure to go on record of the hemi tap.
Three times....and when it did not stop for ten minutes, it was time to force the issue. Since I sure haven't abused this truck, having two valve train components have "too much play in them" is not encouraging. Will the others develop the same play or is this just poor manufacturing?
Either way, if it happens again, the truck is gone. I'll start it once a week, but if it taps for more than a few seconds, it's going back into the shop immediately. While I go shopping for a Ford or Chevy.

tjkubota93 · Oct 30, 2017

If a vehicle has 3 repair attempts for the same problem is it eligible for lemon law buyback?

daugen · Oct 30, 2017

tjkubota93 said:
If a vehicle has 3 repair attempts for the same problem is it eligible for lemon law buyback?

yes, if they consider it disabling I suppose; don't know the fine print. When I complained at first I was told this was normal.
Normal?
only if you are drinking FCA koolaid.

Here's the good news. Since they replaced those two parts, no tap. No "normal" hemi tap, no tap at all after sitting for four days.

dodge man · Oct 30, 2017

Good deal, I hope that fixed it for good. I just drove my Challenger yesterday, first time I started it in about a month, no hemi tap.

hawkeye08 · Oct 30, 2017

daugen said:
yes, if they consider it disabling I suppose; don't know the fine print. When I complained at first I was told this was normal.
Normal?
only if you are drinking FCA koolaid.

Here's the good news. Since they replaced those two parts, no tap. No "normal" hemi tap, no tap at all after sitting for four days.

If it was rockers they replaced, that should have been pretty easy (much easier than replacing lifters).

coobie · Oct 30, 2017

dodge man said:
Good deal, I hope that fixed it for good. I just drove my Challenger yesterday, first time I started it in about a month, no hemi tap.

I have my 2018 challenger scat pack 392 shaker built at my dealer just waiting to pull the trigger.Maybe mid april or may when the michigan weather gets a little nicer..

aeblank · Nov 1, 2017

My wife's car is the Hemi (5.7L) AWD Charger, 2008. It's had what I can only assume is the hemi tick for *thousands* of miles. It happens under heavy load, low RPM. I guess it's there at idle too. It is *all the time* though (not just startup). I've tried various oil types and various additives. A few different times it was gone for a trip to work (45 miles/minutes), but came back. At least it *seemed* gone. I've read all the normal forum stuff from ACES IV additive (magically rebuilds your engine, apparently) to oils to just deal with it. Turning off MDS used to make it go away, but doesn't seem to anymore. Seems like I never hear it when it's on cruise control (maybe an RPM thing?). We do have the lifetime powertrain warranty on it, at least.

Your experience has me wondering for sure.
lifter replacement?
rocker adjustment (or replace with roller rockers, any benefit to that?)?
Motul Oil (but it's 5w30 not 5w20, as recommended) or Redline Oil.
Give ACES IV a shot?
(for sure) Inspect exhaust manifold bolts at next oil change or winter tire changeover.

Glad yours got fixed. Dodge seems to have these issues a lot.... Thanks for posting. I happen to be a GM guy, but hate to hear about such engineering-type issues (especially as an engineer....) regardless of brand. They're all within a few % of each other in every possible way, IMO.

so yeah, maybe I shoulda started my own thread. Sorry.