A man reports that the Dodge Rebel his parents bought has a troubling ticking noise when it starts up cold. He contends that the dealer they brought it from isn’t taking care of the situation.
The video about the truck—a 2019 Dodge Ram 1500 Rebel—comes from creator Damian (@hotwheelsdamian). The clip got more than 399,000 views on TikTok since going up on Aug. 5. The video alleges in its on-screen caption, “The dealership sold us a lemon,” and explains the situation he and his parents uncovered.
“Yeah, it is not supposed to make that noise,” he begins, noting a ticking sound that’s clearly audible when the car first starts up. The noise eventually went away, but was concerning enough for them to bring it to the small dealership (as Damian described it) that they bought it from. He claims that although they have a warranty that should cover whatever repair is necessary, they’re not cooperating.
“Even though my dad paid an extra 5k to do warranty on it, they still don’t want to do it. It’s been like that for a while, but it’s progressively getting worse,” he says.
Damian’s plan was to take it to a different dealership and see if they’d honor the warranty.
@hotwheelsdamian Guys are we cooked? 😂#creatorsearchinsights #ramrebel #dodgeram #carsontiktok #liftedtruck #dodgechallenger ♬ My eyes slowed and reverb – Octive down
What the reviews say
According to Car and Driver‘s review of the truck, which has a Hemi V-8 engine, “The Hemi V-8 produces a deep-throated growl from its dual exhaust outlets and ample shove when you wood the accelerator. We wish Ram had developed a dedicated performance-oriented setting that sharpened the transmission’s attitude for off-road driving (Ford and GM both include a Sport driving mode in their latest half-ton pickups), but the eight-speed remains smartly programmed in its standard tune and downshifts fairly quickly in response to throttle inputs.”
MotorTrend praised it, saying, “It is the perfect mix of luxury, tech, comfort, capability, and reliability. In fact, other than scheduled service, the Ram had no issues during its stay (although there were a few minor recalls that the dealer took care of during scheduled maintenance).”
That article added, “Overall, the Rebel proved itself an exceptional family hauler that was ready for a weekend of warrioring whenever the spirit moved us. It was impressively quiet around town, and one would never guess this truck came with aggressive tires and a commensurate amount of off-highway capability.”
What the issue could be
Commenters had theories on what was causing the tick, which Damian was sure to test out.
“Check the exhaust manifold bolts,” one suggested. “They like to break on the 5.7L and the exhaust leak sounds like lifter tick but it will go away when warm.”
Another simply said, “Exhaust manifold gasket leak.”
One reassured, “The manifold is broken. I fix those trucks all da time. It’s an easy fix.”
Another gave an alternate view: “Check the exhaust manifold. If [it] looks good then it’s gonna be lifters.”
Damian responded, “Yeah we checked, it’s for sure the lifters.”
But a follow-up video revealed that, indeed, it was an exhaust manifold bolt.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Damian via email and TikTok comment and to Chrysler/Dodge via email.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
