Lifters...

[Russell]

What should I be looking for that would make a lifter noisy? I got my engine taken down to the lifters the other night, and don't have the slightest clue what I am looking for... It is a 5.7 litre 350.

I will be getting into the valves later, I need to borrow some tools first. What should I use to get the carbon out of my intake and exhuast ports?

[Mike76251]

This is a tough one.............if you break the carbon free it might find it's way into the bearings and if it does.....look out.
That stuff is super hard and will ruin a engine in no time flat.

Oil starvation will make a lifter tick.
Maybe carbon blocking a oil passage?
A bad lifter will also tick.

How many miles on this engine?
Did you use Quaker State in it?

[Russell]

The engine has around 31 000 miles on it, and the oil hadn't been changed much during that time... When I changed it I put in an oil that was actually made somewhere near that time, it was the proper oil, I made sure of it. I also stuck some gunk in the oil to see if it would free up that lifter, but so far, no avail.

[Slonaker]

A new set of lifters does not cost much, and is cheap insurance...

Slonaker

[Russell]

Define "not much"

[phantom dually]

Like $30 or less. Take a screw driver and try to press in the center of the lifter. This is not going to be easy but if the lifter has collapsed you will know. Also I would just buy new.

[Russell]

I'll just get new ones with the new valve seals then.

I heard it is best to put in umbrella style, are the different styles interchangeable?

[1FaastC10]

Originally posted by Mike76251
This is a tough one.............if you break the carbon free it might find it's way into the bearings and if it does.....look out.
That stuff is super hard and will ruin a engine in no time flat.

i sometimes wonder if you think before you post. how exactly does something in the combustion chamber make its way to the bearings? i dunno what kinda engines you're building but the ones i build use these things around the pistons called rings. they keep stuff like that out of the crankcase. for the sludge buildup in the crankcase, it is not carbon. carbon is a combustion by product. cheap oil and/or neglect of the engine will cause sludging.

if it is in fact related to the lubrication system and neglect by previous owners, i've always had good luck with draining off a quart or two of the oil, and adding automatic trans fluid. run it for a day or so, make sure to get the engine good and warm. then change your oil, most of the stuff should come out. as for the intake and exhaust ports, i remember a product that everybody used when i was in college called seafoam. not sure how it worked but everybody who used it loved it.

[Russell]

Seafoam... I'll ask about it at NAPA

I was wondering about that carbon stuff too... How could it possibly get into any moving mechanical parts through the exhuast manifold? doesn't it go straight out?

[86SILVERADO]

Russel,

Get the positive locking type seals these actually seat down on the boss in the head unlike the old umbrella seals which ride up and down on the valve stem and do not keep the oil from running down the guide as well. The seals look like a little rubber hockey puck with a metal band around the outside. you should get the o ring seal as well which go on after the retainer but before the keepers. Use both seals as these prevent oil ontop of the retainer from running down the valve stem. It sounds to me like you just had a stuck lifter and you probably could have freed it up with ATF like Jeremy said or marvel mystery oil works well to. If I were you and were low on cash and have not mixed up any lifters I would re-assemble with new valve seals and do the ATF thing and run the piss out of it and change the oil like many times in the next few weeks of driving.

[soleeagle]

Originally posted by 1FaastC10

i sometimes wonder if you think before you post. how exactly does something in the combustion chamber make its way to the bearings? i dunno what kinda engines you're building but the ones i build use these things around the pistons called rings. they keep stuff like that out of the crankcase. for the sludge buildup in the crankcase, it is not carbon. carbon is a combustion by product. cheap oil and/or neglect of the engine will cause sludging.

if it is in fact related to the lubrication system and neglect by previous owners, i've always had good luck with draining off a quart or two of the oil, and adding automatic trans fluid. run it for a day or so, make sure to get the engine good and warm. then change your oil, most of the stuff should come out. as for the intake and exhaust ports, i remember a product that everybody used when i was in college called seafoam. not sure how it worked but everybody who used it loved it. [/B]

Sums it up pretty good.

[Russell]

Originally posted by 86SILVERADO
Russel,

Get the positive locking type seals these actually seat down on the boss in the head unlike the old umbrella seals which ride up and down on the valve stem and do not keep the oil from running down the guide as well. The seals look like a little rubber hockey puck with a metal band around the outside. you should get the o ring seal as well which go on after the retainer but before the keepers. Use both seals as these prevent oil ontop of the retainer from running down the valve stem. It sounds to me like you just had a stuck lifter and you probably could have freed it up with ATF like Jeremy said or marvel mystery oil works well to. If I were you and were low on cash and have not mixed up any lifters I would re-assemble with new valve seals and do the ATF thing and run the piss out of it and change the oil like many times in the next few weeks of driving.

I only took out one lifter, nothing more, I'll see how much new lifters cost, if not much, I'll change them, if they cost lots, then I will try your idea =)

Which is the best way to get the valve seals changed out? By taking off the heads, or by using the air compressor and compressor tool?

[Low87]

Originally posted by 1FaastC10

i sometimes wonder if you think before you post. how exactly does something in the combustion chamber make its way to the bearings? i dunno what kinda engines you're building but the ones i build use these things around the pistons called rings. they keep stuff like that out of the crankcase. [/B]

Jeremy, your jackassedness cracks my shimp up.

[Mike76251]

Originally posted by Russell


I was wondering about that carbon stuff too... How could it possibly get into any moving mechanical parts through the exhuast manifold? doesn't it go straight out?

The post said the intake ports too.
Where do they go?

Into the chambers and a piece of carbon wedged into a ring gap
moving up and down against the cylinder wall will do NO harm.
Like that better?

[Mike76251]

Good thing people quoted your Immortal words Jermy, as you are blocked!
So sludge cannot cook into rock-hard carbon huh?
What's oil made of?
What's gasoline made of?

You seen not to know thay are made of the same thing.

[1FaastC10]

Originally posted by Mike76251
Good thing people quoted your Immortal words Jermy, as you are blocked!
So sludge cannot cook into rock-hard carbon huh?
What's oil made of?
What's gasoline made of?

You seen not to know thay are made of the same thing.

if you've got situations where the crankcase is getting hot enough to turn oil into carbon, you've got bigger problems than worrying about it breaking loose. i'm well aware of the fact that gasoline and oil both come from crude oil. i'm also aware of the tempratures involved in converting oil into carbon. not likely to happen in an engine that runs decent.

pour a couple of quarts of ATF in the crankcase, and a can of seafoam down the carb, and do a tune up. i'd bet that it runs 10x better.