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Hemi "Tick" Theory:

10K views 15 replies 11 participants last post by  O_Racing 
#1 · (Edited)
I've read through threads and watched about 100 videos of "Hemi Tick", and I'm beginning to wonder if at least 90% of these cases are just the GDI system.


Some, obviously, are a rapping, tapping, clanking noise in the valvetrain, which would obviously suggest a lifter, bent rod, or some other issue.


But for the majority, I'm finding that a little clicking may not be what everyone thinks it is.


I had a 2012 Hyundai Accent, 1.6L GDI (gasoline direct injected) and it had a dry intake, with the injectors mounted in the head. It would make a ticking noise at idle and everywhere else in the rev range. It sounded like a little sewing machine.


*Jump ahead to the 5.7L, dry intake, injectors at the heads.... light ticking noise, which doesn't put me off one bit, because I came from a car with a similar.


I'm wondering if this "new technology" is what is throwing so many people off, and why dealerships are saying it's a non-issue... because it's not really a metal-on-metal noise, it's just the injectors firing.


Just a theory, but I'd like to hear other thoughts on the matter.
 
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#3 · (Edited)
Then why the need for a catch can if they're not direct injected? The whole point of a catch can is to keep oil form baking onto your intake valves from the PCV. Seems kinda silly to have a catch can if the oil vapor can't bake onto a surface not being doused with fuel.


Granted... I did look up a pic of the head... no GDi. I stand corrected. See edit in post above.



Allow me to rephrase my hypothesis.... the TICK is your injectors, regardless of injection system. Thoughts?
 
#4 · (Edited)
PCV isn't a product or factor of DI and neither one has any bearing on the other.
I dont believe the tick is just injectors. Too many have been corrected by changes to the valve train.
I do suspect that the tick may have more than one cause..
 
#5 ·
PCV isn't a product or factor of DI and neither one has any bearing on the other.
... ok, now you're talking crazy.


In my Hyundai, for example, the entire intake track was dry... the PCV vented into this dry intake... when you shut the car off, the oil vapor in the intake will bake onto your valves creating excessive carbon build up. This has been a factor for MANY years on VW's as they've run GDI for longer than most other companies have.


The PCV being passed through a catch-can in a GDI will prevent said vapors from baking onto said valves. In normally fueled vehicles, the fuel/air mix passes over the valves preventing this buildup, and common fuel additives can help to alleviate the carbon.


I understand the catch-can situation in the Hemi, only because it's doing the same thing... kind of. It's not preventing carbon buildup but it is preventing excessive oil vapor and condensation from being plastered to the intake runners and ports prior to where the injectors are located. Basically just keeping your air and fuel mixture as pure as possible.


I see your point on the "multiple" factors... but from the things I've read... and un-chaseable, in-curable, audible ticking does not mean your lifters have collapsed.
 
#13 ·
PCV isn't a product or factor of DI and neither one has any bearing on the other.
... ok, now you're talking crazy.


In my Hyundai, for example, the entire intake track was dry... the PCV vented into this dry intake... when you shut the car off, the oil vapor in the intake will bake onto your valves creating excessive carbon build up. This has been a factor for MANY years on VW's as they've run GDI for longer than most other companies have.


The PCV being passed through a catch-can in a GDI will prevent said vapors from baking onto said valves. In normally fueled vehicles, the fuel/air mix passes over the valves preventing this buildup, and common fuel additives can help to alleviate the carbon.


I understand the catch-can situation in the Hemi, only because it's doing the same thing... kind of. It's not preventing carbon buildup but it is preventing excessive oil vapor and condensation from being plastered to the intake runners and ports prior to where the injectors are located. Basically just keeping your air and fuel mixture as pure as possible.


I see your point on the "multiple" factors... but from the things I've read... and un-chaseable, in-curable, audible ticking does not mean your lifters have collapsed.
Yeah, the HEMI definitely has sequential multi-port injection, not direct injection.
 
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#7 ·
Interesting theory and I agree, I Had a RT and the injectors ticked like a sewing machine. Have a SRT now and the injectors stil tick, but only about half as loud. The SRT injectors have better insulation on them and thats why they aren't so obnoxious. At least that is what I was told. I'm sure there are other factors that contribute to some engines as well.
 
#10 ·
This is why I have stayed with Chrysler, port injection not direct injection. Ford's 5.0 is the only other engine left with port injection. As far as the Hemi tick, not injector tick, IAMAWILD1 needs to chime in here. She went through hell getting her shaker to stop ticking. I don't recall what was replaced, the thread is too long for me to go through. But she is the only one I know of to find a definitive cure, and it involved aftermarket parts.
 
#11 ·
So why did the Mobil 1 oil & filter change reduce the tick in my 14 R/T from constant sewing machine/always there to only randomly barely audible?
 
#14 ·
Interesting points of view on the Mobil 1 cancelling the tick. Again, I'm not saying it's NOT the lifters in some cases... I'm just saying some of the noise could be attributed to other sources. It was just a theory that the injectors themselves could be loud enough to cause an audible tick and could me misconstrued as valve line noise.




I'm sure there is lifer noise in some of these cases, the point wasn't to downplay any real issue, but just to explore options of other sources of what could be considered a "tick".
 
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#16 ·
this is what dealers tell you to go away; at least mine said I had my covers off so this why I had the hemi tick because my covers were off and what I could hear was not valve train noise but injector noise....I laughed and drove my car away

when you see the training the mechanics get it is not surprising these clowns come up with stupid answers;

there is some good dealers like Steve White and Landmark Jeep Dodge in Morrow, Ga but damn for the few good there are a 100 clowns out there

ODP
 
#15 ·
marshalling the car is what creates most of the hemi tick conditions (SRT8); and there is a way (driving) to refill the lifters so the ticks goes away

given the fact that if you drive the SRT8 like a puss or marhsall the car like a teenager in heat, the hemi will tick at you like a cheated girlfriend

so drive like a man and pump some decent constant psi pressure in that block and stop whining or drive like a teenage boy, get the tick and take the corrective actions to make the tick go away

Mobil 1 is the number one tick killer but still when I marshall the car Mobil 1 or no Mobil 1 it ticks anyway;
so I need to do the prescribed driving to refill these lifters up

if it ticks still, then do it again; if it is still there, then something is up and needs to be checked; but I would do the driving method to refill the lifters 3 times before opening up the valve covers or worse taking off the manifold and wrenching away

Pennzoil works similarly as Mobil 1;
Red Line Oil will make the engine tick 24 hours a day so not good for the hemi

Next is RP for me on 0w40 and see what is up; if it works; seems to be a great oil

the injectors have a clicking sound not a ticking sound and it is very subtle due to very small coils actuating several hundred times per few seconds, check your rpm for reference

when I come from a day at the track keeping the rev between 4 and 6.5k for 120 miles, there is no ticking because there is constant 66/70 psi pressure in the oiling system going through the lifters so these lifters are filled and happy

after all this, there is MDS issues and the timing chain horror show so that part of the story I am leaving aside for all to argue till the cows come home

Cheers All, Happy Winter

ODP
 
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