Sad noise story

[illesg]

A few years back, I bought a reman Jasper engine 4.0OHV. Ran fine, but at about 400 miles it lost a cylinder and made big clattering (valve) noises. No loss of oil pressure. #6 plug was completely sludged up with oil.

Turned out there was a gasket fault and it had lost all but 2 quarts of oil. Fixed the gasket, but the valve noise remained, only when cold.

Now, the valve noise is really bad when cold, and <mostly> disappears when warmed up, but occasionally clatters like made. Lifters? Sticky stems?

I've tried Rislone oil additive, ATF in the oil, and various intake-valve cleaners. They all help a little bit, but nothing is a real cure.

BIG QUESTION: if I have to pull the heads (damn), should I consider replacing them with performance heads? I've heard too many stories about heads cracking, gaskets blowing, etc. My old engine had both things happen.

Any and all suggestions appreciated. I love the truck, it's highly modified, and lots and lots of new parts (like the entire drivetrain). I want to save it, but the valve clatter is making me crazy.

 

[Denisefwd93]

sounds like a bad break in procedure.

About 20 years back I bought a Jasper 2.8 for my Pontiac. ran like clock, the oil was always nearly clear like when first poured, 60K on that engine when I sold the car.

Was this a long block you put in the truck?

Better find what the problem is/was before getting new heads.

camshaft wiped?

performance.. on a 4.0....no comment

 

[Dirtman]

I guess I have to ask, if you bought a reman engine and it had a major failure after only 400 miles why you didn't have it repaired at the time under warranty?

How many miles/years have you been driving it with this issue? Like Denise said there's not even any point discussing what to do until you tear it apart and find out what the actual problem is. Obviously something was damaged when the gasket blew because of a loss of oil to that part(s). You could start simple and just pull the valve cover and do a visual inspection of the components on cylinder #6. Then pull the intake and check the lifters and cam lobes for that cylinder. You may just find a scored lifter and have a 10 dollar fix.

Personally I think buying "performance" heads for a 4.0 is a waste of money but it's your truck.

 

[Bgunner]

Since you used up all but 2 qt of the oil there is a high likely hood that engine suffered damage due to oil starvation. I agree with Dirtman to check the lifters, cam, push rods, rockers and tops of the valves for damage caused by the lack of oil.

Some times using a stethoscope will help point you to the area of the engine the issue is in, like if the noise is in the top end or bottom end, front or back, so you know where to start looking. I am assuming that something similar has been done since you are looking into the valve train.

 

[Macneil87]

You could try doing a leak down test on your number 6 cylinder. That may give you a better idea of what’s going on before tearing too far into the engine. All you need to do is pull valve cover and make sure there’s no pressure on either the intake or exhaust valve and pull plug and install leak down tester tool.

I do this at work more often then I’d sometimes like to talk about and it’s saved me huge amounts of labour time in the past (fleet mechanic on a buncha ferds)


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[illesg]

Hmmm, all good thoughts. More info: the gasket was in the intake, and the oil was sucked through #6, which then fouled. Valve noise began right away, but always disappeared when just barely warming up. So I was lazy, and didn't pursue warranty work. In addition, the guy who did the job for me had a major cancer issue and went out of business -- not a blocker, just a delay.

Dirtman, can lifters be replaced without removing the heads? I was told not. My first reaction would be to replace the set, because they certainly got oil-starved and cooked.

One last thing: Using intake cleaner significantly reduces the problem, but does not completely eliminate it. That points to sticky valves (a likely cooked-oil scenario), and I don't know how they can be cleaned without head removal.