Noisy lifters!

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The hydraulic lifters in my engine are starting to get very noisy! It started getting noticeable last year at around 130,000kms and I thought it was because I let Dino oil go to over 20,000kms before a change and I overheated it in that time (May have started it)
This past year or so I started changing my oil every 7,500kms with the odd change at 2,000 or so yet the lifters are louder than ever! I only use top brand 10w30/40 as recommended in the manual and written on the filler cap

Should I worry about the noise or will it cause no harm?
What are the long term effects of driving with rattly lifters?
 
I dont know how your valvetrain is set up, but the noise could be wear related(too much valve lash)or like you said it could be the lifters are getting sticky.

I have fixed a couple sticky lifters in a pushrod activated engine with Marvel Mystery Oil, but you may need to have the valve lash checked to fix the noise.
 
How are valve train adjusted now a days?hydraulic like in the old days?could be lifter had very hot oil and cooked the oil in the lifter .wich would stick the lifter.or if oil too thick for engine was used .like honda recommend 0w20 so if you d use 5w40 it might be a problem.
 
Could be many things. Id give b-12 chemtool a careful application and see how that does, as well as restore csl. These worked for me, it seems.

My advice on this topic though is that this can happen even on strong running, well maintained engines, and the gentler solvents can't necessarily do the job.
 
Originally Posted By: yvon_la
How are valve train adjusted now a days?hydraulic like in the old days?could be lifter had very hot oil and cooked the oil in the lifter .wich would stick the lifter.or if oil too thick for engine was used .like honda recommend 0w20 so if you d use 5w40 it might be a problem.


This seems the most likely, I ran the car for 20 minutes once with no coolant and the temp gauge was off the scale! These engines have a fail safe cooling sytem (fires on coolest cylinders) and a dual head gasket which means they can be run without coolant but I guess the oil can't withstand these temps even if the engine can.
Also I added a full bottle of Lucas additive shortly after this which gave me a cold start knock so I changed it.
Maybe both these took their toll on the lifters!

Also these are self adjusting hydraulic lifters
 
Originally Posted By: 19jacobob93
Originally Posted By: yvon_la
How are valve train adjusted now a days?hydraulic like in the old days?could be lifter had very hot oil and cooked the oil in the lifter .wich would stick the lifter.or if oil too thick for engine was used .like honda recommend 0w20 so if you d use 5w40 it might be a problem.


This seems the most likely, I ran the car for 20 minutes once with no coolant and the temp gauge was off the scale! These engines have a fail safe cooling sytem (fires on coolest cylinders) and a dual head gasket which means they can be run without coolant but I guess the oil can't withstand these temps even if the engine can.
Also I added a full bottle of Lucas additive shortly after this which gave me a cold start knock so I changed it.
Maybe both these took their toll on the lifters!

Also these are self adjusting hydraulic lifters


Those lifters are only self adjusting if they are in the range that gives them room to adjust. I'll bet there is a procedure in the workshop manual for initial setting. I would give that a shot, if I were you. Either that, or the lifters are collapsed, from the overheating.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: 19jacobob93
Originally Posted By: yvon_la
How are valve train adjusted now a days?hydraulic like in the old days?could be lifter had very hot oil and cooked the oil in the lifter .wich would stick the lifter.or if oil too thick for engine was used .like honda recommend 0w20 so if you d use 5w40 it might be a problem.


This seems the most likely, I ran the car for 20 minutes once with no coolant and the temp gauge was off the scale! These engines have a fail safe cooling sytem (fires on coolest cylinders) and a dual head gasket which means they can be run without coolant but I guess the oil can't withstand these temps even if the engine can.
Also I added a full bottle of Lucas additive shortly after this which gave me a cold start knock so I changed it.
Maybe both these took their toll on the lifters!

Also these are self adjusting hydraulic lifters


Lucas?

Oh dude. That stuff is utter garbage.
It's nothing more than very thick non additized oil therefore all it does is thicken the oil in the sump and dilutes the oils additive package.
If you used that then overheated there is absolutely no doubt in my mind it's created deposits and could very well be restricting oil flow.
Nothing is better than tearing it down and cleaning it manually however if that's not an option then I suggest using an idle flush type product and following the instructions to the letter,then using a conventional oil 1 grade thicker than specified and substituting a quart of oil with either mmo or seafoam or whatever your can find locally and run shortish intervals,like 1500-2000 miles,and monitor the oil daily to see just how quickly it blackens.
If it's very fast you can assume there is a deposit problem,so from there you can assess just how many times you need to repeat the process.

Overheating the engine fried the oil in some spots creating deposits,and those cooked on deposits may not even clean up with a flush type product,it may require manual cleaning.
 
Flush or MMO. Could also be low oil pressure from worn main bearings. A mechanical test gauge would be a good idea.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Could be many things. Id give b-12 chemtool a careful application and see how that does, as well as restore csl. These worked for me, it seems.

My advice on this topic though is that this can happen even on strong running, well maintained engines, and the gentler solvents can't necessarily do the job.


+1 The B12 will do it. Then do a rinse with cheap 15w40
 
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