Is the 2004 HEMI good?

[gordonlovitt79]

I just sold a 2003 Dodge w/ the HO Cummins diesel. All of the Dodge's I have owned were diesel and I am now thinking about buying a gasoline Dodge Ram. I do not know anything about the HEMI's other than I have been told they are very powerful. I am looking at buying a 2004 Dodge 1500 w/ the 5.7 liter hemi that has 72,000 miles on it. Does anyone know if this was a good year for the HEMI? What are the known problems? I have read something about sludge in the motors and then having to replace the motor. It appears that this mainly occured in the 4.7 liter and I have not read anything about it happening to a HEMI. Do you think this would be a safe buy? Your comments and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

[BigJ]

I'm a big fan of the 5.7 HEMI you're considering. I have the next versions of it (the MDS version) and if I had left it alone I have zero doubts it would have been a rock solid performer for years and years. As it turned out, I blew it up (totally my fault) and decided to stroke it up to a 392, and have been smiling like a fool ever since.

I've never heard of the 5.7 having any sort of sludge issue (I'm ad admin at LXForums.com; a 21k+ member site that has a huge 5.7 owner population). There was a run of 4.7s that had the issue, but that was fixed eventually by Chrysler (to the best of my knowledge).

Assuming the one you're considering has been properly cared for, I'd be pretty confident she'll treat you right for a long long time.

Just out of curiosity, why are you moving away from the diesel? I'm thinking just the opposite; if Dodge ever produces that 1500 diesel I'd probably sell my Dak and grab me one.

[gordonlovitt79]

The Cummins is a great motor that has done me well. I had a 97 model with the 12 valve and an 03 with the 24 valve. The only thing I ever had to replace on the motors was the water pumps and this was under $100 and only took about 45 minutes to replace on both of them. I am going away from the Cummins for right know because I don't need it anymore. I don't pull any big trailers like I use to and I decided to sell mine while it still had a good resale value. I'm just ready to get a smaller truck with and automatic transmission. But, if I ever need a diesel truck again there is no doubt I would go back to the Cummins. If all of these power stroke fans would ever drive a Dodge Cummins than they would know what real power is!

[Tbird100636]

I'm a big fan of the 5.7 HEMI you're considering. I have the next versions of it (the MDS version) and if I had left it alone I have zero doubts it would have been a rock solid performer for years and years. As it turned out, I blew it up (totally my fault) and decided to stroke it up to a 392, and have been smiling like a fool ever since.

I've never heard of the 5.7 having any sort of sludge issue (I'm ad admin at LXForums.com; a 21k+ member site that has a huge 5.7 owner population). There was a run of 4.7s that had the issue, but that was fixed eventually by Chrysler (to the best of my knowledge).

Assuming the one you're considering has been properly cared for, I'd be pretty confident she'll treat you right for a long long time.

Just out of curiosity, why are you moving away from the diesel? I'm thinking just the opposite; if Dodge ever produces that 1500 diesel I'd probably sell my Dak and grab me one.
And I'm one of those 21,000 members, having a 5.7L HEMI Charger.

No matter what engine you have, if you neglect oil changes, it will sludge to a certain degree, and most likely lead to failure. But as far as which one will sludge more, the 4.7L (or even 3.7L V6, a 4.7L with 2 cylinders cut off essentially) will, due to the more moving parts of the SOHC design, it will have more possible points of failure.

In general, the early 4.7L's, from 1999-2001, were more prone to sludge failure. The early 5.7L's, from 2003-2004 sporadically had valve guide or valve seat issues, resulting in some internal damage when either of the 2 would drop into the cylinder. You will here a tick noise at idle, but this is a characteristic of this engine. Otherwise, these are great engines.

[bccamper]

I have a 2004 Dodge Ram Hemi which I recently purchased and noticed the tick noise at idle.
What causes this and is this something to worry about?

Do you know if there is anything I do to correct this?

[Tbird100636]

I have a 2004 Dodge Ram Hemi which I recently purchased and noticed the tick noise at idle.
What causes this and is this something to worry about?

Do you know if there is anything I do to correct this?
According to our Local Service DM (Northeast Business center) it is an exhaust valvetrain noise. Due to the design and valve angle of the cylinder heads, a tick is heard. It's nothing to worry about, I've heard it on every 5.7L I've ever worked on. Some are louder than others. The 5.7L HEMI in my 06 Charger R/T makes this noise. No fix.

[BMFC09]

I just sold a 2003 Dodge w/ the HO Cummins diesel. All of the Dodge's I have owned were diesel and I am now thinking about buying a gasoline Dodge Ram. I do not know anything about the HEMI's other than I have been told they are very powerful. I am looking at buying a 2004 Dodge 1500 w/ the 5.7 liter hemi that has 72,000 miles on it. Does anyone know if this was a good year for the HEMI? What are the known problems? I have read something about sludge in the motors and then having to replace the motor. It appears that this mainly occured in the 4.7 liter and I have not read anything about it happening to a HEMI. Do you think this would be a safe buy? Your comments and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.
hey dude. i have the exact truck you are interested in buying. i currently own a 2004 dodge ram 1500 quad cab 5.7 hemi with 78000 miles and i will tell you, i have had no trouble with it at all. my hemi is very powerful and smokes every truck(and some cars) i have come in contact with at red lights. lol, but if you do end up buying this truck, i suggest gettin flowmaster super40s on it. they sound awesome. i bought them and brought them out 45 degrees at the bumper and i could not be happier. hope this helped.

[JollyDodge]

I have the exact same truck with 135,000 on it and it still runs perfect. T-bird, always worried about that tick noise. Glad to hear it's nothing to worry about, whew. Lol