The engine actually ran nice and quiet for the first 2000-2500km and really only got noisy after I switched from running in oil to synthetic. So back on mineral oil now. Agreed. Sender is definitely the next point of call before I look at anything else. I had a look over the old paperwork form the engine reconditioning the other day and it listed the oil pump as being reconditioned. New rings and bearings etc but other items (I assume lifters) inspected and cleaned. I guess this material might also just be blocking some of the little "holes" in the lifters that give them oil. Oil and filter has been replaced 3 times since the rebuild so would have thought that would have taken care of all that. I'll just have to find the time to do the others and cross my fingers that it's all a passing phase
Will do. I'll take it off and soak it in carby cleaner over night. When I remove it will I have a stream of oil com out?
I didn't even use carby cleaner Just the small bit of lockwire. There was dried up/burnt bits of oil and gunk in there. Only a very small amount however, it was enough to make the gauge inaccurate and very intermittent. It took me about 2minutes to do it. The other thing I did was get a sandwhich plate for the oil filter and then moved the sender unit to that location. Worked like a charm straight after. As for a stream of oil coming out, I did not have this happen. I can't speak for others though. I guess a small amount could come out but with only one end of the sender open to atmosphere I'm guessing even if oil was in there it most likely would not come out.
Based on what you are saying the problem is more coincidental than error. On running in small amounts debris can cause these issued. Persist with the maintenance routine of cleaning the lifters and you shall beat it.
There was an earlier comment of the sump being dented on the bottom surface...Maybe this restricts the amount of oil that can be pumped up to the top end causing the lifters to run dry- How is the horse power at higher rpm. Does it seem sluggish? Apart from this, I just had a similar prob and replaced a brand new lifter with an old lifter and picked up my 0 compression cylinder back to being even with the rest of the cylinders. Run a compression test on all cylinders. The lower comp cylinders will match the prob lifters. Also, if you pull it down again, check the intake manifold for blackened soot/greasiness. If there is some blacker than others, your valves might be sticking and causing the lifters etc to slap I feel your pain man. Good luck
Thanks for your thoughts. Sumps look ok and there was no real black sooty marks in the intake. I've actually just been working on it again over the last couple of days. Got it back together this evening so will get her started tomorrow......here's hoping she's all good again. There was one saggy lifter on the drivers side exhaust valves this time.
I decided to only do the ones that were saggy. You might ask why....well for each one that I have pulled out and cleaned, I have to say I'm not convinced they needed cleaning. They appeared to be in good clean condition and I could even see through all of the little pin holes etc. So even though I did clean them, i don't think they needed it. With this in mind I didn't see the point of removing all of the others that were already operating correctly and messing around with them. They were tight (no give at all), so I'm leaving them that way. I probably would have removed them all if the others looked dirty, but they didn't. I suspect the problem may be related to your early comment about the oil....for some reason I cant explain the Royal Purple did not agree with this engine. Some how the lighter oil must have caused some of the lifters to lose their pressure.
It was 10W -40 Rob. Should be fine I know but I'm reaching to explain this especially as the since to lifters appear ok. Oil pressure seem fine now that I've leaned my sender so ...... god knows . These problems did coincide with the oil change though, so that 's about all I have to go on now. Finished putting her back together again today. Sounds a bit better but still not perfect. I'm just going to re-register it now and drive it.....see if it gets worse or better. If it gets worse I think I'll just give up and look to replace the engine (again), if it gets better then great (cant say I'm not an optimist).
LOL.....no this car has already had more than it's rightful quantity of oil in it's life.......it's not getting any more for 5000km, not even GTX-2!!
I suspect the 10W end of the equation is where your problem resides Marcus. I have been running 20W-50 Nulon in my beast for several years, without any downside what-so-ever(but it used to rattle it's head off on 10W-40 GTX).
It's starting to look that way Chili. I've changed it up to Caltex 15w-40 so I'll just have to wait and see how that goes. I got her started again yesterday and although she is running very nicely, there is still a bit of lifter noise. I'm just hoping now that it might clear up after a good long hard run, which will have to wait until I get her re-registered now. I'm away for 2 weeks on holidays now so will get onto that when I get home. Interestingly it never had any noise when I was still on the mineral running in oil, this only started happening when I switched to Synthetic, Royal Purple 10w-40. I would have though that running in oil would be even thinner.
This is no more than a "What if?"(I'm clutching at straws here)but, would it be possible that the residual "running in" oil had a reaction to the Synthetic Royal Purple and became "gummy" and thereby affected the smooth operation of the Lifters?
