Rod/Main bearing? or lifters or ?

[conductr]

I have a 05 (gas) 4X4 ram hemi SLT 44,000 miles,  it had a SMALL tick, (sounded like a lifter)  I could hear awhile ago.   Did my 3000 mile oil change (use Mobil 1 with correct weight) .  Everything seemed normal.  Started truck up, ran fine (still had slight tick).   After several days I noticed after it runs for awhile I hear a knock, almost sounds like a rod knock, but you can only hear it sometimes and ONLY when truck is idling (usually has to be warm to, it does NOT do it on start up).  Gotta work the next 2 days but gonna put it up on jacks and find a stephscope to check sounds.  Any one else experience the same problem ?  Just looking for a heads up to see if I can track this down sooner.  How hard is it to change the lifters in the 05 Rams ?  Could this be a oil pump problem?  I have good pressure, but thinking maybe its the gears in the pump?

[RacingZR]

I have a slight tick on my 03 at startup.  Less noticeable when warm though.  Runs fine so I ain't touching it.........

[spencea15]

Those motors like to break exhaust valve springs.

[aka_chewy]

Probably not the case, but what octane fuel do you run? 

I have an 04 durango and one day looking through the owners manual it said they recommend 89 octane, which we'd been running 87 and always had a tick.  Well, after switching to 89 octane, the tick has pretty much gone away.  Not sure how big of a difference in flash points (if that's the right term) there is between 87 and 89, but i guess it's possible.

[conductr]

As an update, truck is still under warrenty, so placed a friendly call to the dodge dealer and just got back.  Told him using a stephscope it sounded like a rod bearing or oil pump (sounds sort of like gears clacking).

They took it in and both the service manager and the tech claim that this is "usualy and common on all 03'thru 06 hemi's (without the variable spark).  Said they could take it apart but if everything was within spec they couldn't cover it...   

So the question is does anybody else with a o5 5.7 hemi have this tick ?    And is does sound more like a tick unless your in someplace hollow (bank drive thru).     

[Cumminalong]

Ahhhh, the hemi tick.....very common.

Drives folks nut.

It's a combination of a few things, but it's mainly fuel and oil related.

What you're hearing is a few things. You're hearing the valves hitting the seats, you're hearing the injectors ticking from low sulphur in the newer ethanol blended fuels and you're hearing the pistons skirts contacting the cylinder walls as the moly coating  wears off. The pistons tend to rock as the motor wears due to the Hemi pistons having thin rings and shallow lands.

A few things that tend to quiet it down a bit.... a good fuel additive to increase the lubrication in the fuel and adding a zinc additive to the oil.

[aka_chewy]

That's great info....thanks. 

[conductr]

So the question is is this something that should/can be fixed by a rebuild ?    The warranty is good through feb 13, the dealer seems to think that I should let it go and if gets worse then they will tear it down/fix it.   I have it documented ..but we all know how dealers are.    They made it seem like"every" hemi has this.  As for oil I use Mobil 1 synthetic  with regular changes (3300-3500)  87 octane gas.   I haven't seem any other post about ticks like this so I am just wondering....?

[ERT]

You haven't seen many other post's about this because the majority of folks on here have diesels. Yes it is VERY common on "most" Hemi's. I wouldn't worry about a rebuild, I've seen it done with very minimal improvements. I would go with Rich's recommendations and see what kind of results you get first.