Well I've got a 99 WS6 and was driving on a long stretch of highway and shifted from 4th to 1st by accident instead of 4th to 3rd Needless to say RPM's went sky-high, low-traction light came on and then I noticed the infamous "tick" sound from the engine. I pulled over because I knew what had probably occurred and popped the hood. The car is idling real hard and I can hear the tick from the passenger side of the valve cover. I'm pretty sure it's a collapsed lifter. The car has 140k miles on it and it's probably time to replace the lifters anyhow but what else should I be looking for when I get down to the heads? I'm kind of a newbie when it comes to the internal engine part of the LS1. Any help or instructions to removing/installing lifters would be appreciated. Thanks for the input!

 

Probably a bent pushrod, I wouldn't expect it to be a lifter.

 

If you have the tools, it takes 20 minutes to pull your valve covers off. I'd do both and check every pushrod to be safe.

 

 

Yeah, I second the pushrod theory.

 

Bent pushrod. The stock pushrods are very forgiving and will bend themselves intead of damagaing the rest of the valvetrain. If you need a set of stock pushrods i have a set I will sell ya, and I can 2 day mail or overnight them for ya too.

Just pull the valve covers off, lossen the rocker nuts, pull the rocker arms off, and then just lift each pushrod out. Then roll each one on a flat surface to see if they are bent.

Dont worry about the lifters, the stock ones are good rarely fail.

 

I agree, most likely the pushrods. I bent 2 previously that same way (well mine was a missed shift from 6th to 4th that ended up in 2nd). However, the last time at the track with drag radials and a 3-4 shift that ended up in 2nd most likely cost me a few valves. Oh well, good excuse for some ported heads.

 

The OEM pushrods take a bad rap because the are supposedly "thin walled" but, in this case a bent pushrod wouldn't be such a bad thing. Imagine what might have happened had he upgraded to Hi Tech pushrods? I'd hate to think what the next weakest link in the chain would be. What ever it is it certainly would be as easy to change as a pushrod and it would be a lot more expensive.

 

What is the best way to check the pushrods? I have the valve covers all the way off and I had my girlfriend turn the car over and each lifter is functioning properly so it's not a collapsed lifter. Do I just unbolt the pusrods and pull them out or what are the proper steps? I don't want to mess anything up!

thanks again, Nick

 

i would say pushrod ,a collasped lifter would bereal noisey,and would probably lead to a bent pushrod or it coming out of lifter

 

all you do is pull the rockers off, and the pushrods will slide right up. like mentioned before roll each one on a flat surface to make sure its not bent.

 

make sure you use loc tite and torque rocker bolts to 22ftlbs too when you put em back on

 

If you can I would go to spdc and buy a set of hardend pushrods after while. With a M6 that is always one of the best things to do.

 

What's the proper torque setting for the rockers once I pull them off. They are really torqued on there. I just busted my 3/8" to 1/4" socket adapter trying to take the first rocker off...

Never mind on torque setting...I need to learn to refresh pages...

 

Yeah make sure you use a quality socket on the rocker bolts, or you will end up either breaking another socket, or possibly stripping a rocker bolt.

 

Well we pulled the pushrods and well...

http://img248.imageshack.us/my.php?i...ushrodsrp8.jpg

We're going to pull the heads and check the pistons etc and make sure no other damage was done internally. Only 8 more bolts and the exhaust to remove. Better be safe than sorry right?

 

Holy **** batman!!! I never seen one bent so much.

I would just put some new pushrods in first and see how it sounds because thats probably all that bent. Pulling the heads is more work than it sounds like. You would have to get new head bolts and gaskets, as well as deal with coolant everywhere and the tedious job of properly cleaning the head and deck surfaces as well as the bolt holes.

Just try new rods first and if its still jacked up then pull the heads.

 

get some new heads while you have them off

 

Damn that thing is bent to hell!!!



I agree, try the simple solution first.

 

Well, I'm going to take the heads off today and make sure there's no extra damage to the engine. While all this stuff is off, would it be a wise decision to just take off the timing chain and replace it with a roller chain? The engine has 140k miles on it and from what I know the chain has never been replaced. Also, do you think I should do a cam swap? I don't know if I can afford new heads right now so would my stock heads be sufficient? Inputs?

Thanks