Lifter Failure

[Sawz]

Buddy has a 90 Ranger 2.9 and had the engine rebuilt a while back. after a thousand miles the lifters started acting up then it got worse and finally would hardly run. Took it back to the machine shop and they told him "only one or two manufacturers of lifters for this engine and they are junk, we will fix it this time but not anymore" Interesting.

So anyway he gets it back and drives it for a while. Starts sucking coolant into the oil. He takes it back and they basically tell him to get lost the gaskets we use are premium and it has to be something he did ( overheat the engine or some such) he argued with him a while. took it someplace else. They told him it was Intake manifold gasket. Im going to assume put on in a hurry to get this thing out of there shop.

Back to the earlier comment about the lifters. Is this true the only available lifters out there made are junk?

 

[Big Jim M]

Nope! I'd be reporting to the BBB and maybe even taking out an ad in the local paper about that shop..
I'm betting it is a really cheap rebuild with many USED parts..
Big JIm

 

[Psychopete]

The ones I bought from Napa were fine..

Keep in mind the heads need removed to get the lifters out, not just the lower intake manifold. Pay attention to the alignment of the heads and intake, were the heads resurfaced? Could have just done a crap clean up job, hard to say for sure. Might check the torque on the intake manifold bolts, but I suspect this won't resolve the issue if loose.

 

[jhammel85]

Thats terrible service..and I don't believe the junk story one bit.

Those guys need to learn how to build an engine right.

 

[90B24wd]

The lifters is not the problem. It's the people whos putting engine together.

 

[gaz]

Lifter choices

"Sawz",

I used Sealed Power lifters on my last rebuild. They were very high quality and I will most probably used them again for the price point. I do remember having a nice selection of manufacturers to choose from (Ford Motorsport, Sealed Power...)

Get that company! I have found that MOST builders include either a 12-24 month or X-thousand miles with the build. I am under the impression that the builder didn't replace the lifters or didn't use all new parts.

 

[Sawz]

What the builder said was he only had a couple sources, one being from China, he used those. Then made my buddy feel like a heel for having the engine in the first place. they replaced the lifters with what we dont know. After the intake and or head gasket failure from thier own lifter redo, they told him to take a hike. He said he is going to meet with the owner sometime soon and give him an opportunity to make it right. If he refuses, hes off to small claims court