valve tapping

i had my valve lifters replaced a while back. ever since then i have had the annoying and most dredful valve tap. should i take it to my mechanic and have them re adjust the valves? or am i stuck with this?

Is it constantly happening or only on startup?

constantly. it is loud the 5 seconds after start up then gets quieter..

How often do you change your oil? What weight oil do you use? Generaly when an engine needs lifters it is due to lack of oil changes. Any debris in engine will block oil passages and cause this to happen. If this was the problem than it will take many oil changes with HD oil to clear this up.

constantly. it is loud the 5 seconds after start up then gets quieter..

What oil filter are you using?

i change my oil every 2500 miles. my lifters went on me like 6 months ago due to overheating. i wasnt driving, my retarded brother took my car for the day. i use 10W-30 with a AC Delco filter. i used to use a fram

First of all, don't change your oil every 2500 miles.

HUGE waste of money and oil.

Change it at 5000miles.

Other than that, on your next change, run an engine flush treatment through it to clear up any restrictions.

and maybe try a purolator filter, stay away from fram, not sure about ac delco but purolator seems to be best...

Try relashing it... It may be nothing more than a loose rocker. Re-lash it and see if it quiets down. If it doesn't you could have a bad valve seal that's causing the valve to stick open (until the piston taps it shut)

You are kidding right? Piston hitting the valve and shutting it? If the piston it the valve 99% of the time it will bend it.

I think there is just some gunk in the oil system that needs to be cleaned out.

Engine flush treatment works wonders and really quietened mine on startup.

It is -31c here yerterday and not even a click from the engine compartment.

I think there is just some gunk in the oil system that needs to be cleaned out.

Engine flush treatment works wonders and really quietened mine on startup.

It is -31c here yerterday and not even a click from the engine compartment.

HOW COLD? And I thought 4f here on the farm this morning was cold.......

You are kidding right? Piston hitting the valve and shutting it? If the piston it the valve 99% of the time it will bend it.

He has to be kidding. A bad valve seal should have no effect on valve travel or causing it to stick open. However, he could be right on readjusting the lash.

which engine flush treatment works best??? ill try doing this tomorrow, being that it is 2 degrees right now. not something i want to be in working on my car.

oh, two degrees there, you need to switch to 5w30 for starters.

Engine flush I would use would be the one from the Gunk brand of products.

Just floow the instructions on the bottle and add it to warm oil and idle it for 30 minutes.

Also, I would swap a new filter on during the treatment so it will catch all the sludge being removed from the system.

Then drain the oil completely and and drain thoroughly and install another new oil filter and 5w30 oil.

Just my 2 cents but if engine is really gunked up a fast flush is a bad Idea. There is no way to get it all out and it will block the pick up screen. Have you checked the oil pressure? If the engine got that hot to need lifters if might have wiped out the bearings and is now allowing the oil to bleed off back to the pan and not get to the lifters. If you change your oil every 2500 miles it wont be sludged up no way. It may need the valve lash set and if you have never done this make sure you dont over tighten them or the valves will hit the pistons and that aint good.

The engine probably isn't gunked up badly, but it will need a good cleaning. Engine flushes are not something you do all the time, but should be done every 100,000 miles just to rid the passageways of any restrictions which could be hindering the flow.

The hydraulic lifters in his engine are automatically adjusting and always maintain zero lash. What will hinder then from adjusting properly is poor oil flow.

The screen will not get plugged up seeing the filter will catch most if not all of it and remove it from the system.

The deposits won't be hard gunk, more like thick sludge.

ill try doing the engine treatment today. it does have 184000 miles so this should be donw anyways. if that doesnt work then i will try the relashing. since i have no idea what im doing with that process, ill probably have my mechanic do that. thanks and ill post replies.

As I stated before, you cannot relash hydraulic lifters.

They automatically adjust.

No, you re-lash the valves

How do you relash valves?

He said it goes away once the engine is warmed up so I am thinking it is a oil flow problem.

If the valves were that bad, they would tap all the time.

The original poster stated in his second post that it got quieter. I would take that to mean that it is still there but not as loud.

cubanlorenzo, care to clarify?

Ok, but even with that, if the valves were out, the tap would not get quieter.

Crank motor to exaust sequence then tighten to proper torque (actually over torque slightly than back off) in sequence

This is directly from the Service manual:

Exact Quote:

"Like other GM 4.3L engines, the CPI version uses hydraulic valve lifters with roller followers to keep all parts of the valve train in constnat contact.

Each lifter acts as an automatic adjuster that maintains zero lash in the valve train.

The splash shield over the balance shaft acts as a retainer to prevent rotation of the roller lifters."

End of quote.

You cannot adjust anything, the hydraulic lifters do it for your through oil pressure.

When oil pressure and flow is hindered due to a blockage, the lifter will not be able to adjust properly.

Come on LT, I'm not going to slam you. What you quoted was how they function. If you have ever done valve seals on a 4.3, you still need to tighten down the nut to torque while running. If the mechanic that did this didn't do it properly or did not change the locknuts out then the poster could still have a problem. The lifter will only pump up so far and this would not be the first time a self proclaimed mechanic screwed up. This is just a possiblity, not a probability.

Gads lt, do you know how many 4.3 heads I've worked on? If you've never done this kind of work, don't bother to comment please....

Yes, I have done this type of work and yet everytime I have had this problem the tapping never went away when it was warm, it always happened whether cold or completely warmed up.

And don't tell me not to comment, I am only helping and I don't apprecaite my contribution put down. I am only giving an opinion on what could be the cause of it.

If you got a problem with it, I don't give a fuck, I don't care about you, I care about helping the guy that started this thread.

kthx

If you care so much then don't give information on something you don't know anything about, much less a procedure... This is so typical of your constant bullshit and why most people hate you on most other boards...

Oh god , here we go. I am not going to be sucked into you defiling my character. Sign of a low life.

cubanlorenzo,

PM me and we will talk about this. I won't be wasting my time here anymore seeing rlith likes to bash people and put them down.

sorry, was at work all day today. to clear things up. The tick is VERY loud when i first start the car up after it sits over night. then about 4 seconds later is gets more quiet. it is still there but more quiet. you can hear it from 20 feet away. it is very annoying for me to hear all the time. i didnt get to do the engine treatment today, but it will be done tomorrow.

PM me if you need advice, I won't be posting in this thread anymore just to get flamed and slammed for helping.

You know where I am if you need me.

We just replaced valve springs on a 94 s10 4.3 and had to adjust the valve lash. These were not a torque spec.

Boy everyone is missing the big picture. Why where the lifters replaced ?? Because of overheating????? What caused the overheating??
Thats strange. The engine overheated and did what to the lifters?? No damage to the cam? strange, Sounds to me like the cam is worn. And the oil pressure is low. Cam bearings are a big factor in oil pressure

my oil pressure isnt low at all. there wasnt any damage to the camshaft as far as i know. He over heated because the water pump went bad, and he never pulled over, just kept driving.

So I have to ask Why was the lifters replaced ????? What reason was given for this and what was it doing that showed the lifters needed replaced. An over heated engine is not a reason to replace lifters.

dont know why the replaced them. the told me that they were bad. also teh camshaft position sensor was shot too. i also had the push rods replaced because some of them were bent. and one had a small crack. and the water pump was shot. since then my car has run strong. besides the valve tap

I still think you have a blockage.

Valve tap(if that is what it is ) is caused by a few different things.
1. Low oil pressure on start up. ( weak pump , pump pick up screen covered with gunk, very dirty oil filter also with out a bypass valve.
2. Worn parts , Cam lobe worn just a little bit, roller rocker sticking , Lifter sticking or weak , Broken valve spring or seat (I would look for that 1)
3. Loose parts
What side of the engine ticks? What cylinder ??
Only cold start up or all the time????
Its easy to pin point the cylinder that is ticking

Yea, this is what I am thinking. I think one of his lifters is sludged up.

definitely passenger side. im thinking cylinder all the way by the firewall. it does it louder on every start up, whether it is 100 or 5 degrees out. then after 5 seconds it gets more quiet.

That sounds like a oil shortage to me.

Have you done the engine flush yet?

i just did the engine flush and no change at all. Tapping is still there and just as loud. now what?? any help is appreciated. thanks in advance

pin point what side of the engine is making the ticking noise.
Reomve that valve cover and remove fuel pump fuse (so the engine dont start) crank the engine over and see if you can hear the tick while cranking. Also check all the rockers to see if any are loose, if you dont know how to do that then just ask. make sure all the rockers are going up and down the same amount

yea not too sure about that. ill take off the valve cover and check out what you said, to hear if there is a tick while cranking. il post back

Since the lifters were replaced, and the tap comes and goes, the problem may be a slow closing valve. Friction and sticky residues on the valve stem may slow it snap closing such, a space occurs and the lifter will smack the valve stem, creating the tap.

This can come and go. Rarely, goo from blow-by will gel the oil and this gets inside the lifter - and holds open its check valve, causing the lifter barrel to collapse, until forced out. When free, the lifter check valve will allow oil pressure to again pump the lifter barrel up tight against the stem - holding pressure, ending the tap. Special products for ending all three conditions: blow-by, friction drag, sticky valve stems, may be worth a try...

Valve treatment additives like Mega Power's Valve Treatment end those 3 and other internal problems by friction modifying, and with special cleaners, and oil conditioners, that go where oil cannot to end valve tapping. Source: http://www.auto-tune-up-and-repair-options.com/Car-tune-up.html