I have read that roller lifters wear out very slowly, and they basically last forever. I pulled mine out today, and they look fair, but they do show wear... I was wondering if anyone could give me their opinion... are these roller lifters re-usable, or should I just replace them?



Here's some more pictures if you wanna see more of them before giving me an opinion.

Tips of first few

Tips again

Side View

They all look basically the same, If you count the 5th one from the left in all the pictures, that one looks the worst... I can't feel any grooves on the rollers, they all feel smooth when I run my fingernail over them.

 

As long as the rollers are smooth (no burrs or anything) and they roll freely, as well as no big markings on the side, and of course, assuming they aren't collapsed, then go ahead and use them over.

 

The sides are a little shinny and have a few vertical scores, the scores also do not catch the finger nail when you rub it across the surface. They feel smooth on the sides, all the rollers roll freely and feel smooth.

If they were collapsed I would be able to tell easily, correct? Should I disassemble them and clean them out thouroughly?

I feel pretty much okay with using them myself, but I just wanted to be sure, I might take some better pictures and post them tomorrow.

 

For a collapsed lifter, yea, you would be able to tell. A collapsing lifter would have a failed internal mechanism that would allow the plunger to slam into the bottom of the lifter body, making that tapping noise during operation.

Push down on the pushrod seat. It should depress a tad then hit a bit of resistance. If so, go ahead and use them again. No need to dissassemble unless you really want to exert an effort.

 

Just an FYI, NYC just retired the last caprice taxi not to long ago, and they use the same roller lifters as our cars...

at 250,000 miles they tear the motor down re-ring it install new bearings clean it all and put it back together...after 400,000 miles there either retired or sold off, still running and still using the factory roller lifters

i know this from my buddy who works for the DOT of NYC...he works on the taxis...the new crown vics require motor repleacement after 250,000...


so 100 grand on a set of GM rollers is just getting broken in

 

Well that makes me think even more about re-using them... at most they have 181k on them, since that's what on the odometer, but lookin at this engine, it looks like it was rebuilt somewhere along the way, so they could have been replaced then. They didn't look bad to me, I was just curious.

If I do decide to disassemble them, how far apart do they come, I took the clip and cover where the pushrod rides off of one, and got a small steel plate out, but I couldn't get it to come apart anymore, is there supposed to be more that comes out of them? I would like to clean them out good, since the rest of my engine has this sludge crap in it.