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What causes a lifter to collapse?

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Old Dec 12, 2003 | 02:56 AM
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Ryan23silverado's Avatar
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Default What causes a lifter to collapse?

First, collapsing a lifter just means that the plunger inside of the lifter body is no longer working right? Or is there more to it than that? What all could this affect?

Does bad valve geometry cause this....how
Does running a spring that puts too much/little pressure on the pushrod going into the lifter cause a lifter to collapse?
How does preload affect a lifter?
Ryan
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Old Dec 12, 2003 | 09:45 AM
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Originally Posted by Ryan23silverado
First, collapsing a lifter just means that the plunger inside of the lifter body is no longer working right? Or is there more to it than that? What all could this affect?

Does bad valve geometry cause this....how
Does running a spring that puts too much/little pressure on the pushrod going into the lifter cause a lifter to collapse?
How does preload affect a lifter?
Ryan

Your right on the money with pretty much all of this. Bad valve geometry will affect preload on the lifter. A lifter consists of a cyndrilical casing with a plunger and a spring inside. There is also a parameter each lifter has as optimal. If the plunger is set too far down in the lifter it can cause the spring to wear out and it will collapse. Too little, or a plunger that is set too far up in a lifter can cause the lifter to hydrolock. Meaning it pumps up and won't bleed down. This is caused by the plunger getting too much oil inside of it. This can cause a nasty miss and backfire into the intake because the valve won't close properly. Spring pressure doesn't really affect it as much as spring install height. Hope this helps.

Rich
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