Completely Stuck Lifter - What Kind Of Options Do I Have?

[jhammel85]

Welp...The ol' 2.9 ticker is starting to live up to it's name.

For the longest time, years actually, It's ticked at start up as they all do. it goes away in about 5 seconds. The truck sits for a few days at a time and I'm starting to see that it really doesn't like to sit...... I've found that when I'm driving it around town, when 1st started, it'll tick pretty loud after being quiet for a while. Just around operating temp. This happens every now and then and it doesn't always happen.

Then this morning, on the highway, it started out of no where. It was a very, very loud lifter tick that sounded like it's completely stuck. The truck didn't quiet down for a few miles and once I let it idle a bit at a stop light.


So I'm wondering what my options are. As much as I'd like to, I can't pull the heads off for a lifter. If i was to do that, I'd be swapping in the better castings too but I'm out of cash at the moment. I'm thinking about dumping in a bottle of Marvel Mystery Oil to hopefully loosen it up a bit before changing the oil. Another idea is to dump a quart of ATF in there and drive it home before changing the oil. I'm currently running 10w30 Mobil 5000. Looks like I'll be trying 10w40 next. Probably back to valvoline....

That's about all I have...Does any one have any experience with this? The last thing I want to do is wear out the cam lobes or something with this lifter how it is. Even if it's not very consistent.

 

[RangerSVT]

I would run half a quart of diesel in the oil, run for 5 minutes, drain and fill with 5w30, the lighter weight oil will get into the lifter easier than the thicker oil will. I run Castrol, i have personally pulled apart 2 motors that have run nothing but mobil one oil, and it wasn't pretty. One of them only had 149k miles, spun a bearing bad. Castrol is designed to be anti sludge. Also, your filter, run Motorcraft if you don't already...

SVT

 

[adsm08]

We just switched chemical companies from a company that I think sold us water and mineral spirits to Valvoline. They make this stuff for oil system cleaning that is supposed to clear blocked lifters, quiet noisy ones, and potentially unstick stuck ones. It also is supposed to clean up the inside of the engine really nice.

We haven't tested it on stuck or noisy lifters, but since those are usually caused by crap in them I can sorta believe it might work. I have some pictures of how well it cleans.

We replaced this 5.4 for a noise on cold start that we think was caused by a spun bearing. It started a few thousand miles after the guy had the oil changed with 20-50. The 5.4 calls for 5-20. We ran this oil system stuff through it, changed the oil again, and tried it. It didn't fix the noise, so we put a reman in it. After we took it out we pulled the pan and valve covers to see how well the Valvoline stuff worked.

New engine:


Old engine:


Back of a piston in the old engine:


You can see how well it cleaned the stuff out, that just wasn't the cause of the problem in this case. It might be worth a shot if you don't want to pull heads to replace lifters.

You drain the oil, change the filter, pour the stuff in, top off the oil with the thinnest stuff possible, and then let it run for 10 to 15 minutes, drain oil, change filter again, and fill it up with whatever oil it calls for.


Here is a link to the stuff on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/351113515692?lpid=82


It's just 4 qts of 0-20 oil with a really concentrated detergent pack.



I'm not really trying to advertise for Valvoline, but you already brought up their products, and I have seen for myself that this stuff does something.

 

[jhammel85]

Thanks for your input! I run Motorcraft filters too.

I'll give the thinner oil a shot. I think I'll try Marvel Mystery Oil 1st to see what happens. I already have some in the back of the truck. I'll drain the oil to make room for a quart and put it in. Makes me a little nervous to replace a whole quart with the stuff but their website says to use "no more than 25% of your oil capacity" so I'll be fine there....I think..

 

[adsm08]

If they say you are good to 25% you should be fine running one quart, that's only 20%.

 

[jhammel85]

We just switched chemical companies from a company that I think sold us water and mineral spirits to Valvoline. They make this stuff for oil system cleaning that is supposed to clear blocked lifters, quiet noisy ones, and potentially unstick stuck ones. It also is supposed to clean up the inside of the engine really nice.

We haven't tested it on stuck or noisy lifters, but since those are usually caused by crap in them I can sorta believe it might work. I have some pictures of how well it cleans.

We replaced this 5.4 for a noise on cold start that we think was caused by a spun bearing. It started a few thousand miles after the guy had the oil changed with 20-50. The 5.4 calls for 5-20. We ran this oil system stuff through it, changed the oil again, and tried it. It didn't fix the noise, so we put a reman in it. After we took it out we pulled the pan and valve covers to see how well the Valvoline stuff worked.

New engine:


Old engine:


Back of a piston in the old engine:


You can see how well it cleaned the stuff out, that just wasn't the cause of the problem in this case. It might be worth a shot if you don't want to pull heads to replace lifters.

You drain the oil, change the filter, pour the stuff in, top off the oil with the thinnest stuff possible, and then let it run for 10 to 15 minutes, drain oil, change filter again, and fill it up with whatever oil it calls for.


Here is a link to the stuff on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/351113515692?lpid=82


It's just 4 qts of 0-20 oil with a really concentrated detergent pack.



I'm not really trying to advertise for Valvoline, but you already brought up their products, and I have seen for myself that this stuff does something.

Wow, that's great. Thanks man! I always had good luck with Valvoline, especially their Maxlife. The reason I switched to Mobil 5000 is because it didn't burn off at all. With Maxlife, I would find about a quart missing after 3000. In my opinion, that's great for the age and mileage. Mobil 5000 lasted well into the 5000 mile range without ever leaving the engine.

 

[jhammel85]

If they say you are good to 25% you should be fine running one quart, that's only 20%.

Yeah I know...It just still seems odd to me. I'm usually against these kinds of things and I usually live by the "fresh oil is the best cleaner for your engine" mentality.

 

[jhammel85]

By the way...What's everyones consensus on oil thickness?

I'm torn between going easy and keeping the 10w30 in it but I also wonder about the thicker oils mentioned too. Even 10w40 like I was thinking...I'm just not sure!

 

[jhammel85]

...and I have Antifreeze in my oil. For what it's worth, it's ALWAYS looked like that from my memory. I always figured it was because I used the same oil pan for everything. This is a clean one from work.

I'm not sure how I feel about it. If it's been like this for years (literally) and I'm right, then fine. Run it till it blows. It'll probably keeping going forever. If I'm wrong and its dead in no time, then I don't know what I'll do...I don't really want it sitting around immobilized. I don't know when or if I'll ever be able to afford a project truck. I'm afraid that if I got upset and sold it, I'd regret it like I always do... especially this one. I've put way too much into it to give up...after all, this was going to get a v8 after this motor blows. I just expected it to last much longer than this given the fact that it's still so strong.

The radiator is almost always losing a small amount of fluid. It's been like that since the day I got it. The oil always looks clean on the dipstick without anything on the cap. Even when I did the valve covers, It looked fantastic in the valve train. It's most likely at a jacket and seeping it's way in.

I put in 10w40 and a bit of mystery oil. It's very quiet now though. I drove it for over an hour with no ill effect and no more noise.

I guess we'll see what happens...Stay tuned. I'm pretty bummed out about that..

 

[adsm08]

Block test that bitch.

 

[jhammel85]

That's probably what's going to happen. I'm going to do the latex glove test tonight and hope it doesn't move. I might even do a compression test if I have the time as well.

But, a block test is a good idea. That'll probably come soon enough because I'm sure I'll still be wondering. Just need to go pick one up.

One question though - Someone mentioned that it could be a lower intake gasket leaking. It's a valid point that I totally forgot about. There's not too much in the oil but it's hard to really tell how much is really there. I only put in a quart or so every few months.

My only problem with that how to properly test the engine to determine if it's the gasket. Frankly, at 10 bucks, it's worth a shot anyway. I would just rather leave it be if it's not leaking.

 

[adsm08]

There are coolant passages through the lower intake, and they can let coolant into the oil.

If the glove test (basically the same as the block test) doesn't show anything coming in from the combustion chambers then I'd look into the intake gasket.

 

[jhammel85]

Good news. Absolutely no movement from the glove. I ziptied it on, pulled the coil off and turned it over multiple times. No movement at all! I turned it over for a very long time, each time....Come to think of it, a little bit more than I really should have. Either way, a block test will happen soon. Im going to rent one today.

Looks like the intake is at fault. Im relieved but I'll feel better when its done and it's clean again.