[kenkenna]

Recently what I think is one of the hydraulic lifters has been ticking over loudly for ages, sometimes it stops but when the engines warn you can hear it well. and if I've been down the motorway it sounds like a diesel afterwards.

Oil has Been changed making it appear a little less but it's doing my head in. Is there anything I can try to keep it quiet?

Is there any engine additives I could use that actually work?? Any advice please it's irritating me now!

 

[Rabinoz]

I'd ask you to take the cam cover off and have a look.
I had this on a car I just bought for my mum and the valve shim had dislodged and was just sitting in the bottom of the head, hadn't fell down the oil galleries.

Worth checking first before throwing in additives.
If no this, might be worth bleeding the lifters, might be a bit of crap stuck in one of them or indeed, time for an oil change as it could be that the oil is thicker when cold and making it quiet but when hot and thinner, it becomes noisier.

 

[kenkenna]

Think that's a good shout, pretty easy to take the casing off isn't it? Because I haven't before how would you bleed or clean out the lifters?

Hopefully one of them is just blocked!

 

[Rabinoz]

I didnt entirely remove the whole deal.
Just loosened off the the head bolts about 20mm.
That was enough to get the lifter back over the shim.

I'll need new bolts as they're torque to yield and as such, stretch but they're ok at the moment.

Take rocker cover off first, have a look for the shim on top of valve and see if any are missing.
They can fall down the galleries but hopefully not, mine was just sitting next to valve spring !

Used to put the lifters in a vice and squeeze oil out.
Pretty easy, you may find the oil is crappy and needs changed or shim has jumped out.
Couple of possibilities.

 

[kenkenna]

Cheers ill have a good look into the Haynes manual so I can sort it in a day as I'll need the car. Ta for the advice man

 

[taurus]

Is there any engine additives I could use that actually work?? Any advice please it's irritating me now!

Some people have used Wynn's Valve Lifter cleaner and say it has helped.

I read recently of someone who used half a bottle of Redex in his oil and found that worked very well. He reckoned it contains Naptha (Google it) which is a good gum detergent. He'd previously used it in an old Pug 306 which had a bodged HG repair and the Naptha dissolved it :laugh:

The question I don't know is what Wynn's valve lifter cleaner is made of - it may be the same stuff anyway?

I am dead against engine flushes because they can dislodge too much muck at once - but I did take an old dirty engine and lob some of the Wynn's stuff in to see if it would have an adverse effect and it didn't seem to.

I'll need new bolts as they're torque to yield and as such, stretch but they're ok at the moment.

I'll just whisper that on the old 8v engines some people have been known to re-use the old head bolts and never had any problem.

 

[Rabinoz]

Cheers ill have a good look into the Haynes manual so I can sort it in a day as I'll need the car. Ta for the advice man

You can do it in an hour.
10mm rocker cover bolts(10 of them)
17mm head bolts(10 of them)
Mark distributor incase you move it as you'll need to loosen clamp(12mm or 13mm bolt under it )
Cam belt pressure will lift the head up enough to let you slide the lifter or shim in...
That's if this is the problem.
Worn followers will make it tick too, mine are won due to this little incident.
Will grab one from a wreckers.

As for additives, Taurus mentions a good one, wynns. Has Teflon and molybdenum in it.
Slick 50 is one I used to sell in my previous life(auto parts shop ) but. Long time ago, not sure if still available.
They're not really a fix for sticky lifters though....a good clean or replacement is the only real fix.

 

[Rob]

as taurus said, ive built my own smallblocks before and used old bolts with no issues.....

 

[kenkenna]

I've heard a lot of good from Wynns lifter treatment and I think on my age of car it should at least quieter down something. I'm not an expert bit I'm pretty certain it is just blocked, I think I may just try the additive and if it makes no real difference then it seems as though the cover may have to come off..

Have had Slick 50 suggested to me however Wynns sounds more specific so I think I'll try that