Dave Miller, who runs the YouTube channel Hemi Garage Hacks, says he has rebuilt more than 2,000 Hemi V8s and has settled on a single cause for the lifter and camshaft wear that gives the engines their notorious tick. His theory points to a 2009 design change in the 5.7-liter Hemi that, he says, cut off an oil path the earlier engines had. It is one mechanic’s finding from a borescope and a workshop bench, and nobody independent has validated it yet.
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The stakes for owners are concrete. A worn lifter roller can chew up a camshaft and scatter metal through the oil, and Stellantis V8s sit under Ram pickups, Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Challengers. Miller is now testing a modified lifter that he hopes will end the problem for good.
The oiling hole Miller says disappeared in 2009
As Autoblog reported on Nov. 9, Miller used a borescope to look inside engines from different years. In Hemis built from 2003 to 2008, he says, a small opening lets oil reach the lifters at the top of their stroke. In engines from 2009 onward, he says, that opening is missing at the critical point, which may starve the lifter rollers of oil. Without lubrication the needle bearings inside the roller fail, and the broken bearing then damages the cam lobe.
The Drive’s write-up adds that Miller ties the missing oiling hole to a block redesign that allowed a longer camshaft snout for variable valve timing, and that a bench demonstration, loosening a bolt a quarter turn, let oil stream out to show how much lubrication the gap admits. Miller published his findings in a YouTube video, which is the only primary record of the claim.
What Stellantis changed in the 5.7-liter in 2009
Autoblog’s background section says the 5.7-liter gained variable valve timing, revised cylinder heads and a wider operating range for the Multi-Displacement System, which shuts off cylinders to save fuel. Stellantis still builds the third-generation Hemi family that debuted in 2003, and the V8 returns in vehicles such as the 2027 Ram 1500 TRX SRT. Neither Autoblog nor The Drive carried a response from the company to Miller’s claim.
Miller is not the first to point at lubrication. Byron Walker of the performance shop Modern Muscle Xtreme wrote in a technical article that the Gen 3 Hemi feeds oil to lifters through an unusual path and that lifter bodies get little oil when the cylinder-deactivation solenoids are idle. Walker’s explanation differs from Miller’s, because he blames the smaller needle bearings and the oil routing rather than a missing hole, and his shop sells a delete kit as the cure, so his piece is opinion from a seller. He also describes the warning signs owners report: a slight tick at idle first, then a misfire code, by which point he says a bearing has usually already failed and the engine should be shut off rather than having coils or injectors replaced.
Miller’s line is a firm one: engines from 2003 through 2008 do not have the problem, while Hemi V8s from 2009 onward do. Autoblog presents that as his assessment, not an established fact, and nothing in the sources gives a failure rate, a mileage pattern or a count of affected vehicles for either group of engines.
A modified lifter, a GoFundMe and a 500,000-mile goal
Miller’s proposed fix is a modified lifter designed to deliver oil directly to the rollers. In his bench tests, lubrication improved at 20 psi without reducing overall oil pressure, according to Autoblog. He is running the prototypes in a Jeep and hopes to sell them as a long-term remedy that could make the engine “bulletproof” and carry it to around 500,000 miles. The Drive reports that a GoFundMe for the project had raised $4,369 of a $5,000 goal when it was published, and that no technical details, test results or availability dates have been released.
The only outside support is anecdotal, a pinned comment from a self-described 30-year Chrysler service veteran who agrees with Miller. Autoblog itself frames the missing oil path as a believed design flaw and says the findings need independent, real-world validation.
Owners already allege lifter and camshaft failures in court
Complaints about the tick are not new. A 2022 class action, Petro v. FCA, filed in federal court in Delaware, alleges that multi-displacement valve train parts in the 5.7-liter and 6.4-liter Hemi cause ticking, camshaft and lifter failures and eventually engine failure. CarComplaints, which covered the suit on May 16, 2022, reported no ruling or settlement, and the filing makes allegations rather than findings.
What would settle Miller’s theory is a teardown comparison by someone with no product to sell, and a statement from Stellantis on whether the oil path changed in 2009. Until then, the claim stands as a plausible, testable and unproven explanation from a mechanic with a large sample of engines.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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