I think good oil will prevent issues with lifters. But nothing will help the completely defective batches of lifters that have affected both ram and gm. This has been a problem since mid 2000s. Hopefully they've taken care of it by now but I've heard reports of issues in new trucks the last couple years.Red Line 5W-30 is called "HEMI Honey" for a reason...
2020 Ram 1500 (DT) - 25,000 mile update
- Thread starter The Critic
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That was just sarcasm on my part, with the Red Line 5W-30.
One of the best things to do for these questionable HEMI lifters is not short trip the vehicle. That goes a long way in preventing issues. If the lifters "get wind of water" so to speak, it's game over for them. That's just one of the triggers that can cause these "Made in China" lifters to fail.
They're not the same quality as US made lifters, and occasionally the supplier will slide in some of questionable build quality. That's why lifter failures are so random.
If you’re going to alter behaviors, I think avoiding idling is a “better” practice than avoiding short tripping.
I know you're replying to the critic, but personally I prefer to avoid idling but I spend a significant amount of time sitting in the truck doing paperwork, when I just came in from suffering through minus 20 and my fingers are frozen or it's 100 degrees with the humidity and I'm pounding steel into the ground with an 8 pound sledgehammer...so sometimes my personal comfort wins over engine run time. Also sometimes we're outside 5-10 minutes back in the truck to drive everything up the road a little, warm up for a few minutes then back outside another 5-10 minutes. So we tend to leave it running for those times plus we can dry wet gloves on the dash in the defrost.
Other guys just run the truck all day without thinking about it (that's why my truck has 10,500 hours - crews that used it before me) but personally I sometimes idle longer if it was a shorter drive to the site, but if it was a half hour to one hour drive to get there I shut it off immediately. I'm just trying to average out the runtime so it doesn't have a lot of short runs but I still try to keep unnecessary idle time down. Starters are cheap for this truck and the original lasted until a couple of weeks ago.
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Idling a HEMI is not an issue. That's another myth that's right at home on Ram Forum and some other places.
The rollers are small bearings. Bearings have to be manufactured from quality and properly rated "bearing steel". The Chinese like to cut corners, especially when it comes to supplying us with quality components. They will slide in the ones who're not up to the contracted quality standards. Just like they run a "third shift" in some factories where they manufacture extra product without the knowledge of the contracting party. All in all, they do a lot of shady stuff.
Anyway, bearings don't like dirt and water. Quality lifters can survive a lot of abuse. Improperly manufactured lifters with rollers made from subpar materials will not.
All in all I wouldn't worry about idling. Excessive idling is bad for any engine. Normal idling is fine. Don't go crazy obsessing over this or starting the engine and taking off without letting it warm up for a little bit and circulating oil. I've seen people do more harm than good to their HEMIs over the years while obsessing over lifter failures and maintaining them to death.
Yikes.
