Sunfire 2.2 lifters noisy when warm

[tylyon]

I am so tired of listening to the lifters rattle and carry on in this Sunfire. According to what I see in the Chilton's there is no adjustment. Low RPM Tick, tick tick.......Goes away quite a bit after 1200 to 1300 RPM, but still noisey enough I can here it. Should I, or can I bump the oil pressure up. Tried Synthetic route. Should I junk it and save myself the headache?

[hotbug1776]

it's the 2.2L it's going to make that noise, but it will live FOREVER!!!! mine had 200,000 on it and made the noise, I sold it and the kid still drives it (like 350,000 mile now) and it's still making the noise. it's a pushrod motor, the noise is a natural on it, it was designed that way LOL

[tylyon]

Well, I've had the car since new. I haven't driven it a lot, but have been around it off and on quite a bit. Noticed it getting louder along about the 40,000 mile range. It was not well taken care of and I'm thinking the rocker arms or valve stems may have some wear. I doesn't sound bad at all when its cold. Soon as it gets up to running temp, it sounds like a Model T. Synthetic Oil?

[hotbug1776]

if you replce the rockers and pushrods, go for the ratio rockers, like a mild cam upgrade without all the work. and make sure you keep the valvetrain geometry the same or all hell wil break loose. (look it up at google.com)

Most likely (IMO) its just leaky lifters, I believe you can do those with the head off (not TOO big a job) I got mine out in the 2.2L when I still had it. Had to do a headgasket, and while in there I cleaned the lifters and shaved the head .010" (IIRC) to up the CR to about 10:1 MAN waht a difference it made. before the head work and such, I got 93 mph with the pedal to the floor, after, just over 100MPH. of course the fire has hit quite a bit higher, but we'll not get into that.

If you have never done synthetic oil, then dont switch now. regular oil makes gaskets porous, and synthetic cleans out the old oil, so it will have minor leaks if you switch. read that somewhere. it's best to go with synthetic after the initial breakin period to ensure gasket integrity (read that somewhere too LOL)