26 replies to this topic

[Rockoz]

Check the lifters. Had some years ago where the retaining clip let go.

Easy to check through the side covers.

[Rockoz]

How long since youve oiled the distributor?

[Rockoz]

Pull off the rotor button and put a few drops on the felt in the guts of the shaft. This lubricates the weights etc. Had some funny noises come from that ages ago. Had me stumped until I talked to my mechanic

Edited by Rockoz, 05 October 2013 - 01:35 PM.

[S pack]

Cheers guys. I pulled the side covers to inspect the lifters and the retaining clips are all in place so can rule that out.

 

Pulled a few of the lifters out and the bases appear fine. None of the valve springs or retainers look broken.

 

So I've put it all back together again. Haven't run it yet cos I don't want to wake up my folks. Hopefully when I run it in the morning it'll have miraculously fixed itself.

Hydraulic lifters can be faulty internally but look fine on the outside. The best way to determine if a lifter is OK or faulty is to perform a leak down test.

[71xu1]

hi if its just a runaround car just take the bridges off and file them down a few thou as there only soft metal
thats what i used to do back in my days as money was scarce, this will fix your problem

regards aldo

Yep that's exactly what I used to do good little trick

[S pack]

And if it is a faulty lifter then filing the rocker bridge down to compensate for presumed wear won't achieve much.

[rodomo]

Pull the rocker cover off and run the damn thing dammit! (It's gunna get messy!)

1st thing to check is that every pushrod is going up and down roughly the same amount. This will tell you about worn cam lobes and/or lifter bases.

Next, firmly hold the ball of the palm of your hand on each rocker at the pushrod side, then the valve side as it goes up and down.

This will isolate which valve as the noise should disappear

Unless........................

It's a chopped out valve guide? Stop the engine, grab each valve spring at the top, and wobble the valve  (drivers side to passenger side) and check for excessive play.

You can use a big screwdriver to lever the springs if you have to..........

 

 

 

You owe me beers.

Edited by rodomo, 05 October 2013 - 09:14 PM.

[Uncle Chop Chop]

Surfacing the rockers using wet and dry on a surface plate or a sheet of laminate glass would get a flatter finish to the bottom of the pedastels. I picked up a new granite surface plate for around $60 a couple of years ago, so they are not that expensive. But an offcut of glass from a glazier would be even cheaper.

[rodomo]

Rodomo in the case that I'm checking for a chopped out valve guide do you mean to slightly compress the spring?

The guides wear drivers side to passenger side. If they're bad enough, you'll be able to wiggle the valve in the guide with the valve closed.

[S pack]

I put some of that lifter treatment crap in with the oil and drove the car about 80kms last night. Touch wood it has stopped making the noise.

That would seem to suggest you may have at least one hydraulic lifter that is leaking down faster than the others.

[S pack]

In that case would that likely be caused from a bit of crud inside the hydraulic lifter interfering with its function? From what I understand the 'lifter treatment' additives contain something like a a detergent to try and remove built up contaminants?

Hydraulic lifters have a check ball inside them that works like a one way valve, however they are designed to have a set leak down rate.

A bit of crud on the check ball and/or the ball seat will allow the lifter to leak down faster than it should.

 

See how it goes for now and if the noise returns then do Rodomo's feel the rockers trick to isolate which lifter is causing the noise.

[Dave6179]

That's the way to do it.

Or, you could drain the oil while you do it, not messy then.