Would Marvels Mystery oil do about the same thing? I've heard that transmission fluid is good for removing gum from an engine but have also heard that its not good to leave in for extended periods of time.

 

Interesting read.

An acquaintance who works for a local shop mentioned that in a few cases of noisy LS engines he's found some of the push rods were plugged with grime and gunk.

​​​​​​I agreed with the idea that a dirt and gum leads to more noise.

My 02 Z28 has some "piston slap" on cold start that lasted for a couple of minutes and burned oil at least a quart every 1,000 miles. I bought the car with 238,000 miles on it. Several aggressive 1,500 mile Mobile 1 synthetic 5w-30 oil changes later and the oil consumption issue is gone. The first two 1,500 mile oil changes the oil looked very nasty jet black. Burnt a half quart of oil over ~4,500 miles last oil change. The cold start "piston slap" noise remains but is usually gone within a minute or two of of start up. It's slightly reduced. Has right at 250,000 miles now.

 

Most likely the issue with the lifters making noise even after the o ring was replaced was due to clogging of the passages and or inlet holes on the lifters. That's why running a cleaner in the engine worked. One way to test this is try thinner oil, thicker will make the problem worse.

They make specific engine cleaners for this that work as good or better than ATF, and are made to be in an engine.

Ran some engine flush through one a couple of weeks ago that the motor sounded like it was coming apart the lifters were so loud. Ran it at about 2500 rpm for approx 3 minutes and now it's quiet as can be again. It was a little 4 cylinder car though, not an LS. Same principles apply though. If you can't get the lifter pumped up they are going to be noisy.

The videos I heard here all sounded like upper end. I know this was sorted out years ago but figured I would toss that in there in case it helps anyone.

 

Is there a specific cleaner that anyone would care to recommend?

My C5 if my first LS powered car, and the shop I took it to for pre-purchase inspection told me the noises from the engine bay are normal, but I still wonder about that every time I drive it.

I like the idea of trying an oil additive, especially an additive that isn't ATF.

 

Knowing how the inside of the engine is before you clean it is important. If it's not too nasty just run an engine flush through it in the drive way and change the oil then go. If it's real nasty inside and you clean it you risk breaking a lot of the build up loose and clogging up the oil pick up tube screen. I'd pull a valve cover and look inside, if it's fairly clean run some cleaners. I don't have a particular brand but I do like seafoam, 3M, and berrymans products. Lucas of course is always a good name brand.

 

Why? You think any other oil additive is any better? Is one better because someone on this forum says it is? I can only relay my experience, ATF works and so does the synthetic Lucas oil treatment. If you want to try exactly what I do change the oil to Pennzoil 1-30 high mileage and add 3 ozs TransX or ATF your choice with 8ozs of Synthetic Lucas oil treatment<it has the be the Synthetic Lucas......... NOT THE THICK SNOTTY LUCAS

With this mix my LS1 is dead quiet cold-hot-running hard etc, I can tell ya why too, the lifters have too much clearance in the plungers so they leak down and get nasty sounding with air in them. The air is very hard to get out so you end up with constant noise that changes and gets louder softer etc enough to drive you nutz. The TransX will clean um and the Sythetic Lucas will seal um....its that simple. Oh change your oil every 4k too. Any farther than that any you will start building deposit's IMO.

 

I'm to the point now where I'm just about done with hydraulic lifters and going with a LLSR setup.

 

Yeah mine drove me nuts, when the car was new all the dealers claimed it was piston noise<biggest crock of sheet the dealers ever dreamed up. At about 75k I found a dealer that told me the truth about all the dealers blaming lifter noise as piston slap. Trouble for me is I'm not familiar with the sounds of all aluminum engines. If it were a cast iron engine I would have known. Cast iron is very good at hiding the normal cold piston noise. Aluminum engines you can hear the slight rocking noise for a few mins until the pistons expand. Now how they transformed lifter noise into piston slap is easy..................people don't know squat about noise in a aluminum engine.


Long time ago I drove a low mileage like 10k z28 at a dealer and it rapped and tapped for about 10 mins then it got suddenly quiet. They said no worries it just normal piston slap. Yeah BULL PUCKY

All my lifters would get so noisy at time you would want to turn the engine off. Local dealer with the TOP out 600 GM mechanics stood there claiming its normal piston slap. When I went back a few years later with the same engine after running TransX in it they just stood there looking bewildered. I wasted ALOT of time on this just to find out everyone was full of ****!

Real piston slap NEVER goes away and you can find which cylinder is slapping very easily. Lifter noise sounds like its all over the engine. I found on mine once the lifters had air in them it was almost impossible to get out.

 

Even new they piston slap. The problem you ran into is people not knowing the difference between the sounds. The lifter tap and piston slap are completely different sounds.

Piston slap isn't a crock, they definitely do it. I had an LS1 for 5 years, drove it daily and put 70k miles on it, had a iron motor truck for 6 years and drove it 110k. They both piston slapped and it sounded the same. I'm a tech and I hear the same noises on customer cars.

 

Sorry but my opinion stands, I sold plenty of L82 corvettes. I know what real piston noise sounds like. Piston SLAP is a whole different thing. Until they train you guys better it will be the biggest BS story ever told by GM. I'm going to say it one more time....REAL PISTON SLAP doesn't go away. I ran a Chev dealership service dept for many years I know what I'm talking about.

 

Ok, whether you want to call it "piston slap" or "piston noise", with some pistons in an iron block there is some "noise" until the engine warms a certain degree and the pistons expand in the cylinder, and the "noise" goes away for the most part. Aluminum pistons expand more than cast iron, and so tightens the clearance gap. In an aluminum block it could be different. I have experienced this many times on different vehicles with iron blocks.

 

Hi, special manager RockinWS6 here reporting for duty! I know everything cause I sold a corvette. I can't turn a wrench on my own car but I can run around the internet telling everyone I know more than them because I was the manager!!!!! I'm more specialer than you guys and y'all are stupid and I'm not. And GM is stupid. And the actual real men that work on my car cause I can't are stupid too!!! Idiots!!!!!

 

Good one, Pooter!
Yeah selling Corvettes (L82's!) is a sure-fire piston-slap expert qualifier! While running the service dept. likely told them to reuse LS head bolts too....

 

.....

 

Nice


Well. My 2 cents... lifter noise can sound crazy in these engines. Then when you mix in exhaust leaks the trucks can have with lifter noise and claimed piston slap I honestly have no idea what to call it.

BUT, I bought a 00 Sierra 6.0. At 187k miles it developed a noise that was so bad, hot or cold, I bought a junkyard 5.3 off Ebay. I rebuilt the 5.3 for boost apart from pistons, just new valve springs, lifters, oil pump, head gaskets. Before installing it I said screw it and did b12 to the 6.0 lifters. Pulled valve covers and sprayed the lifters twice in 24hrs. Dumped oil down there before restart and got complete silence. It sounded like the engine was toast befor that, after a few weeks of the sound never returning I sold the 5.3 i rebuilt, truck was still quiet 2 years later and I sold it. I was so sure I had rod knock from lifter issues that I bought a new engine.

My ls1 makes noise on cold start up. But its quiet when hot so I say whatever. Blaming techs, gm, or thinking you know more then everyone has nothing to do with anything. If you found an oil concoction that keeps the engine clean and quiet that's all that matters. Personally I was skeptical about the b12, reading horror stories of it being a terrible idea because how it can displace oil and cause bearing failure. I changed my oil minutes after start up with the b12 and I used it fairly sparingly trying to shoot it through the pushrod directly on the lifter.

What I take away from this thread is oil with a concoction of Lucas and atf may be a great way to keep the lifters clean and atleast have one problem area prevented.

 

Edit: never mind, it's all a futile effort.

 

I think the largest problem is people not having a lot of experience hearing each sound enough to know the difference between them, or confirming what they assume. To me all of those noises are very distinct, but I've heard them all countless times. I'm a tech and see multiple cars a day, 5-6 days a week, for 20 years. You definitely develop an ear for it. That being said, even then, they can sometimes run into each others territory and can be confusing.

The most tale tale sign is usually how it sounds. If it's tingy/clacky it's a lightweight part (upper end), if it's clunky/thud it's a heavy part (bottom end). Also a sign is if it changes with temperature or not. Loud cold and quiet hot is from expansion, what parts can expand and help the noise level? And then there's also the speed. Cam rotates half the speed of the crank so sometimes the frequency of the sounds is a give away. Then of course there's several tools and tricks for finding/eliminating the source.

Officer doofy thinks you can have one piston slapping, when all the pistons and all the cylinders are machined to the same clearances... He doesn't even try to sound like he uses logic.

 

Yeah. 'Nuff said....

 

I'm just too chicken to put something in my crankcase oil that was sold for a very different purpose. ATF and LSD friction modifiers were designed (and are sold/marketed) for specific applications, and this isn't one of them. I'm glad you had good results, but I remain suspicious of how that stuff is going to affect my engine.

Lucas oil treatment, on the other hand... that's something I can get behind. I'll do an oil change with it and see how that goes. I notice they even claim it helps quiet noisy lifters. Thanks for the tip.

 

In my 20 years as a tech I've heard a lot of people say just run some ATF in it and it'll clean it!

Then later I heard from some of the guys that did and the wished they wouldn't have. Some were fine some weren't.

I think it's dumb as hell to put trans fluid in an engine when they make cleaners for engines.. Why purposely put the wrong **** in there... oh that's right, people that do it think they're smarter than everyone on the planet and anyone that says use the right product is an idiot.

Just because you can hammer nails in with a brick, and it works, doesn't make it the best tool for the job.