97 Grand Am 3.1 Engine

When the engine is cold and I first start it up the lifters clatter terribly but it gradually gets quieter as it runs and when is up to operating temp is quiet. It has a leaky intake gasket that is leaking antifreeze to the outside. I have been thinking about just replacing the valve lifters when I replace the intake gasket, but I read someplace that you must replace the cam with the lifters or it will cause the components to fail. I also been thinking about adding a quart of Rislone to it and see if that will help, but again have heard that can cause other deposits to come loose in the engine and cause even bigger problems. Any ideas from others who have been there already would be greatly appreciated! thanks!

Sorry for the delayed relply!

Lifter tick is a typical problem on these cars.
And it is possible your leaking intake is part of the problem, from leaking smalll amounts of coolant into the engines upper cylinder.

You can change the lifters without replacing the cam, unless the cam is severly worn from the faulty lifters.

You can use Rislone, I usualy use sea foam, which does about the same thing, removes internal varnish.
Then just run it for a few days and change the oil, shouldn't cause any problems with debrie floating around as most large particals wont go through the oil pickup screen.

I am getting ready to pull my GA GT apart to replace my lifters(hoping not the cam), and installing some headers while I'm in there.
It realy sucks because I just replaced the head gaskets/LI not long ago and didnt replace the lifters when I suspected them being bad...its what I get for taking a short cut. :banghead:

One of my lifters has collapsed , causing a valve not to open/close properly so I gotta change it out asap. :crying:


Hope that helps.

Thanks a bunch for your reply. I feel alot better about buying the lifters now. I plan to go ahead and replace them while I got the intake off. I did try the Rislone. It did make it situation better, but still got two that just don't want to pump up like they should. Thanks again for your help!

Would the problem with the lifters make the whole engine shake? I don't know much about cars. My Grand Am was leaking the coolant from the gasket like was mentioned before. We replaced the gasket. It was also doing the rough ticking when the engine started up, as mentioned before as well. Then one day the engine light came on and the car died. It will start, but the engine shakes like crazy and sputters out. I havn't had the money to get it to someone who can fix it. Everyone I know has offered their suggestions, but I thought I would ask some people who had the same car and similar problems if their vehicle did that. I hope ya'll get this as this discussion is quite old.

Thanks,

Margi