1ImperialSS

iTrader: (5)

i have a horrible noise coming from the engine and as ive already retorqued the rockers, made sure my push rods are in ship shape, i have come to the conclusion that i have one or more bad lifters. this is not your typical sewing machine tap. what are the consequences of bad lifters? i know ill have to pull the heads to replace them and i know im possibly looking at my cam being chewed up but what else should i be prepared for?

ArcticZ28

iTrader: (14)

Metal shavings getting into the oil from the lifters disintegrating and chewing up your cam.

BTW, have you checked your preload?

1ImperialSS

iTrader: (5)

not formally no. i dont have a pushrod checker but i know the basecircle for my cam and im pretty sure i*should* be using a 7.415 pushrod and im using 7.400 so i figured i was close enough. its on a 1.480" BC

ArcticZ28

iTrader: (14)

Did you take into account the fact that your heads are milled? Your preload could be more off than you think, and it's not too hard to check to eliminate that possibility than having to pull the heads and possibly replace lifters that are fine.

GuitsBoy

iTrader: (4)

You can also get a sneak peak of a couple of cam lobes through the valley windows. If the bad lifters are hidden, this wont do you any good, but if they're visible, you know you've got to pull the heads.

1ImperialSS

iTrader: (5)

my heads arent milled yet, thats what i will be doing when i replace the lifters. i have a set of 862 castings that will be milled. i aslo have terrible oil consumption from bad valve seals so im replacing the heads for 2 reasons.

how do you check preload?

BTW, my lifters have 90k on them so i figure i might as well replace them with some LS1 factory replacements from SDPC

blkbird

iTrader: (28)

What do the noises resemble???

glr0212

I'm interested in the type of noise too. I think i had a bad lifter as well. From inside the car it almost sounded like the header was tapping the floor board. It was real quiet at first but after a day and half it gradaully got louder I popped the hood and could tell it was all valve train noise. We took the whole motor apart. everything was fine including the cam so im not 100% sure it was lifters but they had 90K on them and there were shavings in the filter and oil pan. Everything else was fine, springs valve tips push rods etc.

1ImperialSS

iTrader: (5)

its not just your typical sewing machine sound for one. its quiet during low speed low rpm driving but if i cruise down the street, get on the freeway, its extremely loud. its almost like you laid some heavyduty foil on a pillow and started drumming on it with metal sticks. it surely sounds like metal on metal tapping. its not an irregular cycle like it would be if i had a busted ringland or something. its contant once it starts. tapp tap tap tap, increases with rpm. oil pressure is fine, idles at 40 increases with rpm too, cruise at 70 is like 45psi ish. you can hear it over pretty loud radio with the windows up. windows down it echoes off any solid thing thats next to it. me and a buddy did the whole long handled screw driver to the valve cover and it does seem to be coming from there. it seems to be getting worse over the past month.

1sick'98WS6

iTrader: (19)

Hows your oil pressure?

1ImperialSS

iTrader: (5)

its jsut as it always has been. i might check that o ring on the oil pick up tube too while im at it cuz i had my timing chain changed to a double roller setup. i just need a part number to it