collapsed hydro lifter

Westy78 · Post by **Westy78** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:37 pm

Looking for some opinions or experience here. I have a noisy lifter on cylinder #3 that gets louder as the oil gets to operating temp (thinner) No amount of adjusting or new oil (currently Royal Purple 20w50) has quieted it down. Question is, has anyone here ever replaced only one or two lifters without changing the cam as is the correct reccomended procedure? I only need 1500 more reliable miles out of this engine and then it owes me nothing more. Am I asking for disaster only replacing the lifter?

Post by **Amskeptic** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:52 pm

Westy78 wrote:Looking for some opinions or experience here. I have a noisy lifter on cylinder #3 that gets louder as the oil gets to operating temp (thinner) No amount of adjusting or new oil (currently Royal Purple 20w50) has quieted it down. Question is, has anyone here ever replaced only one or two lifters without changing the cam as is the correct reccomended procedure? I only need 1500 more reliable miles out of this engine and then it owes me nothing more. Am I asking for disaster only replacing the lifter?

It is a factory-blessed solution to replace hydraulic lifters at will. The primary issue, in today's non-factory-quality-control world, is going to be how matched the metallurgy is. I replaced an entire set of Febi lifters that were allegedly matched to the cam I bought from BusDepot with another set of Febi lifters from Bus Depot. Based on the wear, I concluded that the lifters were softer than the cam. I replaced them with no worries, plenty of cam/lifter specific assembly lube (TRW red translucent high-zinc-content lube) and broke them in at 2,500-3,000 rpm. We're at 4,000 miles and the clearances are holding

Colin

Westy78 · Post by **Westy78** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 10:13 pm

That's what I was concerned with Colin. The hardness of the cam and lifters being different and wiping out my cam. I guess with todays lifters it would actually be the opposite and the lifters would go flat. So now I suppose I need to pull the offending lifter to see if they are Febi or Meyle? In your opinion, based on what you heard of this lifter last year while you were working on Neal's bus at my place, do you think I could get away with another 1500 miles? Keep in mind that in those miles will be some climbing into the mountains and most likely some head roasting headwinds.

Post by **Amskeptic** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:34 pm

Westy78 wrote:
do you think I could get away with another 1500 miles?

If its only a lack of pumping up, take it apart and clean and reassemble in a bucket of oil. Customer and I used a quart container cut in half last summer to rebuild a couple of hydraulic lifters that subsequently racked up 6,500 miles on a cross-country banzai, you met them at the Lucky Lab.
Bleed and reinstall with the oil hole facing up.
Colin

Westy78 · Post by **Westy78** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 1:40 pm

Oh yeah, Martin and Erin. I'll pick their brains if they're there tomorrow night. I'll try to hold on to the retaining clip though. :smt002

So I pulled #3 and #4 lifters this morning. They are Meyle brand as far as I can tell by looking at the retaining clip. It's a wire and not a circlip like I've seen on the Febi's. If one of them wasn't properly pumping up shouldn't I be able to compress the cup with one of the pushrods by hand? They all seem to be rock solid leading me to believe my noise is elsewhere. All of the valves seem to be even also when laying a straight edge accross them. Peering down into the bore the cam lobes appear to be in good shape also from what I could see.

Perhaps the ticking I'm hearing is an exhaust leak at the header/head copper gasket? I do see some sooty carbon build up around the #3 exhaust valve gasket and I do remember having a hell of a time getting that one to seal when I replaced my exhaust system.

Photos of the lifters etc.

http://community.webshots.com/album/553109989npuqik

Post by **Amskeptic** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 4:57 pm

Westy78 wrote:
Perhaps the ticking I'm hearing is an exhaust leak at the header/head copper gasket? I do see some sooty carbon build up around the #3 exhaust valve gasket and I do remember having a hell of a time getting that one to seal when I replaced my exhaust system.

Hello. We have a winner.
Colin

Westy78 · Post by **Westy78** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 6:15 pm

Amskeptic wrote:
Westy78 wrote:
Perhaps the ticking I'm hearing is an exhaust leak at the header/head copper gasket? I do see some sooty carbon build up around the #3 exhaust valve gasket and I do remember having a hell of a time getting that one to seal when I replaced my exhaust system.
Hello. We have a winner.
Colin

That's where I was leaning when I found all the lifters still solid. Makes sense too since the ticking isn't that noticable at idle only when the RPM's are above 1500 or so. So the next question is am I risking burning the exhaust valve with a leak that close to the head? If I don't have to drop the exhaust on that side I really don't want to unless it's absolutly necesarry. I'd be more than happy to after my two trips that I have to get out of this engine.

Post by **Amskeptic** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 6:29 pm

Westy78 wrote:
am I risking burning the exhaust valve with a leak that close to the head? If I don't have to drop the exhaust on that side I really don't want to unless it's absolutly necessary. I'd be more than happy to after my two trips that I have to get out of this engine.

If it only sounds like a noisy valve, you should be OK.
Colin

Westy78 · Post by **Westy78** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 8:06 pm

And an exhaust leak it was. Got the valve train back together tonight and snugged up the manifold bolts on #3. They were just a bit loose. Fired it up and after the lifters pumped up I'm back to running with that sweet sewing machine music. :dbiggrin:

Post by **Amskeptic** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 9:42 pm

I want to drive it. . . . . . with a quiet transaxle?
Colin

Westy78 · Post by **Westy78** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 9:49 pm

Amskeptic wrote:I want to drive it. . . . . . with a quiet transaxle?
Colin

Not quite yet, but by next June you betcha. Can't have a new engine with a noisy transaxle now can I?

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Itinerant Air-Cooled

collapsed hydro lifter

collapsed hydro lifter

Re: collapsed hydro lifter