How to tell if a lifter is bad
How to tell if a lifter is bad Hey guys, long story short I have been trying to diagnose some bad noises and a dying engine. Have the heads pulled and lifters taken out. How do you tell if the lifters are completely shot or stuck? The roller part on all of them looks fine. I've heard that the plunger part on the bottom (part in the tray) should be able to be pushed in. How do I do that? I figure with the lifters out of the car it will be easy to check. Just need the know how. Thanks guys!
Usually you can tell visually... I have seen a couple to where just removing the valve covers you will notice that the rocker is loose but the bolt is tight and torqued. And with it out you will see the plunger side stuck down rather than being up close to the top.
Usually you can tell visually... I have seen a couple to where just removing the valve covers you will notice that the rocker is loose but the bolt is tight and torqued. And with it out you will see the plunger side stuck down rather than being up close to the top.
Did you have a fluttering tick noise that moved with RPM?
What happened was I was going down the freeway at about 80 and accidentally shifted to 2nd when I meant to hit 4th. Started making the sewing machine noise and a couple days later it started making some metal clanking noises. I could feel some of the clanking lightly in the shifter as well. When I tried to fire it back up after that, it started for about 5 seconds and then died on me.
Pulled the valve covers off and found a bent pushrod on the #7 cylinder. I figured at this point it had to be more than a bent pushrod so I took the heads off as well. All the pistons and valves looked fine but I'm going to have the valves pressure tested.
With everything that I've already pulled out of the car (intake, heads, cooling system, headers, water pump, etc...) I'm thinking I might just pull the damn motor from the top and see if I have a spun bearing or broken rod bolt or something. But if I find the problem before then and don't have to do that, that would be terrific.
Were you able to look at your oil pressure before you started taking it apart? If it wasn't there for very long there is a chance it might not have damaged the motor. I think the clanking in the shifter might be a problem in the transmission, can't say for sure but thats where I would look.
I have to agree with John that your may be going overboard by pulling the motor. I'd be more concerned about a bent valve stem than a spun bearing considering what you described about the missed shift. Even if there is no witness mark on the #7 crown I'd at least check the stem on that one for sure. After the engine is back together you might want to make a trip down to Sear Easy Method Driving School. They do a good job teaching the 3/4 shift sequence.
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Were you able to look at your oil pressure before you started taking it apart? If it wasn't there for very long there is a chance it might not have damaged the motor. I think the clanking in the shifter might be a problem in the transmission, can't say for sure but thats where I would look.
I'm going to get the heads pressure checked before I pull the motor but if the valves are ok the motor is coming out. Being a '98 with 100,000+ miles I don't think it would be a bad idea to replace the rod bolts and check out the bearings and crank anyway.
I have to agree with John that your may be going overboard by pulling the motor. I'd be more concerned about a bent valve stem than a spun bearing considering what you described about the missed shift. Even if there is no witness mark on the #7 crown I'd at least check the stem on that one for sure. After the engine is back together you might want to make a trip down to Sear Easy Method Driving School. They do a good job teaching the 3/4 shift sequence.
It was a 6-4 shift and I had a new WS6store shifter on there that I was driving with for the first time after taking off the pro 5.0 shift stick. **** happens I guess.
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I think the clanking in the shifter might be a problem in the transmission, can't say for sure but thats where I would look.
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 22
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From: Oklahoma
did you ever figure out what was wrong?? similar issue here I went to the track this weekend and just installed a tsp tsunami cam and went 12.1@113 then came right back around and ran it again and it ran 12.9@103!!! looked @ oil pressure it was around 20lb's idle where normally was 40lb's and revving 2-3k i could hear a random noise sounded like a rocker arm bolt bouncing around every few seconds but i pulled the whole top end off and havne not found anything wrong and I am not sure how to check the lifters they are so tight I cant get them to push in at all.... thanks in advance
i have heard about this issue and it may sound strange but the o-ring in the oil pump has caused issues such as this. even with the slightest crack or cut. Weird but you may want to inspect that as well. You will still get a pressure reading but will be low due to the lose of oil being pumped from the oil pump.
