Hello everyone, I just fully rebuild a gen 3 5.3ls . I put in new lifters, pushrods, rocker arms , springs etc etc. Everything was all good all of the lifters were springing back and etc. Today, I decided to oil prime the engine, after doing so, I began to check on the rocket arms just in case , to see whether they all got oil after pump in oil through the hole next to the oil pump. I noticed that one rocker arm, wasn’t springy . There was no space between the spring and the rocker arm (just like it should be). But the rocker arm should be at least moving side to side after torquing it to 22lb . I took the rocker arm off, and pressed on the pushrod, and it’s solid. Literally there is no spring to it , like it use to have. All of the other ones were springy, whereas this single one wasn’t. I spun the engine around few times, the pushrod does go up and down as it should, but it’s not springing . It’s literally just solid. What am I supposed to do now ? Just run it ? Or do i have to take the head off .

 

Run it. Evidently its piddle valve seals better than the rest. It's the "good" one.

 

So I should be good right? It’s very weird because they all used to spring back. Also when I moved the rocker arms, there was no up or downplay. It’s only side to side. Whereas with this ONE rocker arm, there is no play at all, not even side to side. I hope it’s supposed to be this way because even after taking the rocker arm off and trying to push the pushrod in, it wouldn’t spring. Is there any way I could test whether or not the lifter is fine? What would indicate that the lifter collapsed or something like that ?