ive got a 91 firebird v6 with a tapping lifter (im sure uve seen my posts!) it does it when its cold at least thats when its really visible..but..it does have 132,000 on it. so..perhaps its worn?? and if it is will it hurt 2 just leave it alone. i really dont have time or money to replace that, the cam, pushrods and all...i can live with the occasional tap as long as i know it wont kill the life of my engine..i hope 2 keep it for a wile..

IN the end
Limit your revs!
Keep them at 4,000 range.
How long will "it live"?
GOOD PROBABILITY many many miles.
AND THE WORSE PART IS
IF ya do any "engine cleaning" THAT COULD "loosen up" anything else that "may MAY MAY" cause a future problem.
Try a thicker engine oil grade (like three-10/30 & one-20/50). That'll help ya real quick & simple.
Again, kinda leave it alone. Just limit revs.
Why?
SIMPLE the valve spring may break & then.........

you know how I fixed mine?

I ran 1/2 quart of ATF in the oil JUST before I changed the oil. I warmed up the engine, dropped in the ATF, then let it idle for 5 minutes, then changed the oil. DO NOT drive it like this. It thins out the oil and driving it could cause some major damage.

This is a risk just because of how it thins out the oil, so it's something that you have to take upon yourself to try out. I did it, and it got rid of the lifter tick and gave me a smoother idle. I heard it from this old-timer and he said that it cleans out the lifter oiling passages and the ring grooves. In the short term, it worked bad-***, but we'll see about the long term

ATF? anti-freeze?

ATF? anti-freeze?

NO YOU DO NOT POUR VODKA INTO YOUR CRANKCASE!
Opps Wrong country thought you were from Russia! LOL!

Auto Tranny Fluid

Thanks, I may try that out

Just remember that it is risky. Whether or not you do more damage to the motor depends on a lot of things. Overall condition of the oiling system, milage, bearing wear, and a lot more. It thins out the oil, but most of the time doesn't really make a difference.

The only reason I'm saying this is because it's not my motor, and I don't want to see anything bad happen, but in case it does, I don't want you to be mad at me for it. It's a risk YOU take.

yeah, i'll have 2 try it too...in 2500 miles. changed it 500 miles ago, hah...but, im glad it isnt much to worry about. because the car runs great. everythings clean, like the spark plugs and all (they were just worn out when i replaced em! sorry..ive never seen clean, old spark plugs, my old cars sucked). and now im starting to think the gas i was using screwed me up. my friend (before i realized what i was doing!) told me he uses plus in his car (rebuilt engine) and his milage is better. and he was told its cleaner...i did ran that regularly for a few months. then i read about it and saw that i wasnt benifiting from it at all...IM STOCK! so.....his car has a tapping lifter and so do i. u think its a possibility?

Why would you have to replace the cam and pushrods etc? It's much easier to replace the bad lifter(s) and hope it hasn't damaged the cam. I would get it taken care of soon. They are accessible when you take the manifold off.

'

...then just find out that it has messed up the cam (non-roller eh?) and replace it all later on. There's no reason to not replace the cam when you do the lifters. If you're going to do something, do it right.

I don't know how lifters making noise would really hurt anything other than performance. After it gets real bad it'd probably backfire and stuff.. set codes.. etc.

I used the wrong valve lash directions (3/4 turn vs 1.5 turns)when I rebuilt my 3.4 and mine has been making valve train noise since. Probably a bit over 10k miles I guess. Sounds like a timebomb now when it's cold, but it still runs fine. Doesn't throw codes unless I cruise on the interstate and the SES light will come on sometimes. Doesn't have a lot of power, but still way more than my stock motor had.

Can't wait to get rid of it.


-Bud

On his budget he can replace the lifters and hope the cam is fine. It's not a big project to do it. It's a bigger project to change the cam. I gave my 2 cents based on his financial condition. You want to run a car that wasn't put together correctly...go ahead. That's your business. You should've gone back and reset the valve lash. It isn't hard. Why would you leave it that way?

The cam and lifters should be replaced at the same time.

If he can't afford to do both, then.. in my opinion he should wait till he can afford it. Anything that's worth doing is worth doing right.



Never said I didn't reset the valve lash. The cam and lifters were broken in with the wrong lash so resetting the valve lash didn't help a whole lot, at least in my case. PM me with any further comments about this Captain. Thanks.

-Bud

Use MMO it does wonders it made my lifter tap moure quiet.

If I could disagree with you for one minute....

Having the ATF in there is NOT bad. AS long as you have regular oil in your motor, it's not causing a problem. ATF is hydraulic fluid... and that makes it perfect for things like lifters and such which are hydraulic.

I put a half-quart of ATF in my car every 30k miles and I've had engines run well into 200k miles.



As far as fixing the problem, you CAN rebuild lifters. Since your cam is worn in with that particular lifter, you don't want to replace it... but you CAN buy a new lifters, and pull the guts out of it and drop them into the new lifter.

A machine shop can do this for you easily for like $20 bucks.

Basically, you take snap-ring pliers, remove the snap ring that's holding down the plate, which in turn holds down the spring.

They'll remove the old spring, and install the new spring. You'll keep the old lifter casing and the pushrod seat.


Another thing you might want to try is switching to a lower motor oil.

I don't mean to insult you, but I suspect you might be using heavy weight oil.

It's a major misconception that heavier weight oil is BETTER.

It's not.. the oil passages in your motor do not enlarge... bearings may wear down... but oil passages do not. Therefore thicker oils will have a harder time going through passages with which they were never originally designed.

The V6/60 was designed specifically to be used with 30 weight oil, whether you choose to go with Straight 30, or 5W-30, or 10W-30... that all depends on how much cold-startup protection you want. But the motor was designed for 30 weight oil, not 40, and not 50...


You might also have a blockage... if you choose to rebuild the lifter that's causing the problem, you might want to inspect the pushrod for blockage too...

67 camaro 88: The cam and lifters should be replaced at the same time.

If he can't afford to do both, then.. in my opinion he should wait till he can afford it. Anything that's worth doing is worth doing right


....thats what i have planned. if its no big deal..i'll leave it....if my timing chain goes or the water pump or something, if i have enough,and alot of time, i'll do it all then. but...if its not hurting anything, its fine. i use 5w 30 btw. before i used 10 30....i think.

I am not implying that thicker oil is better.
As your statements are quite correct
The thicker oil is a band aid solution.
Better is no ticking problem at all!