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Lifter noise help

25K views 33 replies 12 participants last post by  Gearhead13 
#1 ·
ok well ive been haveing a ticking noise for a little wile now. the car had been sitting for a long time before i bought it and now its being ran as a DD. well this ticking noise is a hit or miss deal. i had it in a shop for a day and the guy couldnt get it to go tick tick tick. well today at school it was cold and it was ticking so i thought i would drop by and show him this sound.

sure enough he said that sounded like lifter noise. he said the hydraulic lifters could be leaking out when the car sits so they have to be represurised with oil presure. he did say this wasnt like life threating but if it does it when your actuly running and not cold start or havent got the thermastat to pop it should be replaced. also he said to try that lucas oil stuff that should help restore or thicken up the oil a little to help the lifters out. i was wondering what all you think about this? also how hard is it to replace the lifters yourself?
thanks
 
#2 ·
You have a v6 right? Sticky lifters is common in the 3.8s. I have it on cold start ups, then it goes away. I heard seafoaming the car can help.

If you've worked on an engine before, I dont think its that difficult.
 
#3 ·
a good seafoaming? yeah it dose that but i drove from school to the car place and thats 8-9 miles and shut it off started it back up and got her to go tick tick tick again. do they need replaced or do they need adjusted? or seafoam will clean the seals and make them not leak?
 
#4 ·
try seafoaming first...
 
#6 ·
well ive been haveing a nice ticking noise. came out to be a stuck or deflated hydraulic lifter. my car has only 71k miles so i dont want to replace the lifters. i will seafoam it 1st and try the lucas oil stuff. my question though, is that lucas synthetic oil stuff bad for our cars? i hear it will help reconditon the seals and maybe help keep that lifter inflated. any ideas guys? i will try and get a hand on some seafoam 1st
 
#7 ·
ok got a can of seafoam going to put it in 2moro or try to. yeah its got some stickin lifters on start up then it goes away but when u rev it and let off it ticks down. gona seafoam this on halfway good oil then change her out again. i dont mind aslong as she runs for a long time. the guy at my store also said if the seafoam dosnt work as well as it should he said take 1 quart of oil and put ATF in and it will fix the lifter tap. now you dont run crazy with the ATF u just light drive it short distance and it will go away then change the oil. i thougt it was kinda crazy but maybe anyone else head of this ATF trick?:dunno:
 
#8 ·
no, have not heard of this atf trick.....so you should put atf in you motor oil, then change your oil? Or do it after you changed
 
#9 ·
inflated lifter??? Am I missing something here? I just took apart my engine and there's no way you can pump air into those lifters :lol:

It's not too hard to get to them... You just have to take off the fuel rail, valve covers, upper and lower manifolds and there they are. There's about 30 bolts altogether though, and the fuel rail is a little tricky. Then take off the rocker arms and you can slide them out. Just make sure you keep track of where they go or else you're screwed.

You shouldn't need to take your engine apart though at only 71K miles...
 
#10 · (Edited)
im seafoaming my car its never seen seafoam. then im going to change the oil and run lucas synthetic oil treatment in it for a oil change and see if that help keep my lifters fine. and im not talking about inflated lifters. im talking about my lifters arent keeping there oil. there deflateing and on start up it taps goes away.OR my lifters are sticking. one of those two but when you rev to about 2500 and let off it starts taping back down to idle. the seafoam got 50 miles today gona change it wensday and finish the rest next weekend IE brake booster fun:icon15:
 
#11 ·
soo i seafoamed the thing, changed the oil put lucas oil treatment in and it still seams to have lifter noise. im stumped? i do have a question about my oil pressure? it stays a little above 60 then goes to 60 at running rpm 2000~ i looked in the book and it looks to me like the pressure is a little low? is this normal? also when its warmed up and idleing it goes below 60 maybe about 50 it wont drop low but it dose have a good amount of drop to it. is this normal or could this be why my lifters wont stay solid?
 
#25 ·
Seafoam goes in the intake... it would never even reach the lifters. Although its a good thing you seafoamed it, It wouldn't fix your problem anyway. Get a stethoscope and see if it is actually hitting the valve covers or coming from somewhere deeper in the engine.
 
#12 ·
my oil pressure goes up and down a little. I dont think thats the problem
 
#15 ·
.....that sounds like a good deal to me. I'd do it, you have nothing to lose. :dunno:
 
#17 ·
Amsoil engine flush is easy to do. 1. Remove your current oil filter, do not drain your oil. 2. Install a new clean filter, I use WIX for flushes. 3. Add the pint of Amsoil engine flush to your oil. 3. Run the engine a little above idle (1000-2000 rpms) for 15-20 minutes without driving. 4. Drain oil while hot & remove the filter. 5. Add Amsoil engine oil & a new Amsoil EAO oil filter.
Then let us all know if you notice a difference in the ticking or other noise. After it does get better, you can take that Castrol advertisement off of your signature!!! :lol:

I am willing to pony up for the Flush, the WIX filter, the new Amsoil oil & the Amsoil filter, if you are willing to do the labor and the "research" for me, as well as posting your results. I would love for you to have a way to make a before & after video & post on "you tube". I have had several people do that in the past for me, It's always easier for people to believe the results, good or bad if they can see it for themselves.

It's about $85 worth of stuff, retail price. Offer stands, if you would like to give it a try, PM me your shipping info and then we will all look forward to hearing if it made a difference for you or not. Thanks, Gabe
 
#19 ·
well.
i got a bad feeling but i think im going to need to do my lifters. they are geting so horable. also i think my PCV has gone bad. i smell gas and there was oil comeing from the tb the other day. poor car. it has been running/ feeling a little slugish and i got 2 vids for SLS for his amsoil products. thank you very much man i think im really screwed here though. im did some reading and lots of people are saying its bad when they are constantly ticking like mine are. its not just a normal coldstart tick tick gone.. its ticking warmed up after a 20 mile drive. i think its a bad thing. i cant decide to DIY or have my local mechanic do it.

YouTube - 1998 firebird lifter tap
YouTube - 1998 firebird lifter tap
 
#21 ·
yeah i might pull a easy valve cover. its comeing from both sides now. its been getting worse and worse. i think i might have my local guy do it for me. its still in my dads name and he use to do all this but were soooo stressed/busy with life right now its easyer for us to just have it fixed. also if i do this might see about while its down and out like it is. get a abbot? abott? NA cam. installed while its all open.

i dont mind it if its a cold startup but this is at 180degrees after a 20 mile drive. they arent inflateing. also was going to see if while the manifolds are off. if i or he can clean them of all the carbon crap in my intake. the tb is clean or was clean..
but its taping alot more and it smells like gas when i get out of the car somedays. theres some oil passing my PCV and it needs some help.
 
#22 ·
well took it in guy said its not bad. its just is what it is. it be 700$ to get new lifters in if he did it and im like uhm.... for 300$ more i could do a LS1 swap. then he took a look at it said they aint bad drive it like yeah stole it. said the fuel injectors could be cause of crap gas mileage so ima put a can of seafoam in the tank and drive it. the pcv valve im sure is shot got a new one for it today. and im going to do the manual fanswitch soon since warmer temps are on the way. so yeah things are feelin a little better. thanks guys. life's kinda sucking atm.
 
#23 ·
well took it in guy said its not bad. its just is what it is. it be 700$ to get new lifters in if he did it and im like uhm.... for 300$ more i could do a LS1 swap. then he took a look at it said they aint bad drive it like yeah stole it. said the fuel injectors could be cause of crap gas mileage so ima put a can of seafoam in the tank and drive it. the pcv valve im sure is shot got a new one for it today. and im going to do the manual fanswitch soon since warmer temps are on the way. so yeah things are feelin a little better. thanks guys. life's kinda sucking atm.
Sorry, but if you can do a running and drivable LS1 swap for $1000 or less without any donations (like your friend giving you his LS1 car that got rear ended), than I am Jesus. :lol: Shops charge what they want to charge because they usually know how to do it right. How much is your cars well-being worth to you?
 
#24 ·
oo lol well i thought somewhere i saw a ls1 swap list that added to $1000? guess not lol. dont quote me on it i was just thinking in my head for 700$ i could get a donor motor for that much. thats all. and the guy at the shop told me. it dosent need to be done. it be a waist of cash. he has a chevy that has this lifter sound from day one and its got 250,000 miles on it so im not worried. my bad gas milage was cause my injectors i think got unhappy with our crap gas. put a can of seafoam in the tank and the needle is like a dead stop now. much better.
 
#27 ·
Thanks for posting those videos. That is the exact noise I am getting on my 97 Camaro. Were you able to get it fix, or at least figure out what it is. I have had the car sit in the garage for about 6 months now. I removed the valve covers, removed the push rods cleaned them up. Put some lucas oil down the holes where the lifters would be. put everything back, adjusting everything. the noise went away for a day, then came back and now it is just as noisy again.
 
#28 ·
hey welcome to the forum. its kinda there off and on. whats the millage of your camaro? i still have my amsoil in and gone 2,600 miles lol. schools over and been driving the 79 around more. but its kinda the nature of the beast so say. if everything seems sound and you put it all back together and it isnt making that sound when your driving at anything higher than idle i would just leave it alone. if u must get rid of it your looking at buying a new set of lifters maybe comp cams sells some i was looking around but then installing them is more of a bitch, and when your at it you will then want new heads and cam and so on. so i left mine. you can run a thing of lucas oil stabilizer in it it kinda helped recondition and make a little more oil pressure to pump the lifters up a bit. just try seafoaming it to keep it running strong and let it be. i think it has to do with running 10W-30 older motors ran heavier oil more pressure thicker just things weren't made like they use to be. my 79 camaro runs great and its 10W-40 but thats me and my dad being old school.
 
#29 ·
Thanks. The millage is quite high 135k, but mostly highway here in Florida. I just came back from a fun drive, a couple of burnouts :lol: these cars are so much fun. I put some seafoam stuff in the crank case. That did not seem to do much. I will be looking for a new engine to put in it, the engine also felt very sluggish today. I am starting to suspect a spun rod bearing.
 
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