Lifter Ticking - Let's do some thinking and try to understand - Page 4

awelliott · 12-04-07, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by murderotica

Mine died and my engine fried. =[

It's no fun winning the reverse lottery.

stephen · 12-04-07, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ophidian

I asked my Acura mechanic wtf can I do to get rid of the engine tick, like many others mine only ticks for about the first minute after a cold start, then goes away...Mechanic said it would be like $1600 to fix because there's 16 of something in the engine and he'd need to replace all of 'em because you can't tell which one is bad by looking and they run $100 each...I said i'd live w/it, lol.

There are actually 24 lifters and I thought they were about $50 each.

To replace them you need to remove the timing belt and cam shafts, so some labor costs as well.

If it only ticks when cold I would try cleaning them out. There are various options including.

1. 8 oz of Sea Foam mixed with 5 quarts of oil

2. 1 quart of ATF mixed with 4 quarts of oil

3. 1 quart of Marvel Mystery Oil mixed with 4 quarts of oil

as well as other products.

In any case run the additive for a few hundred miles and change the oil and filter.

BubzBeats · 12-04-07, 11:51 AM

i used 10w 30 and this stuff called CD2. now the ticking only comes back wen ots time to change it.

tinton · 12-04-07, 06:55 PM

Dangit sons, I've been watching this thread for days and not one of y'all even mentioned adjusting your exhaust tappets. WTF!!?? It's an adjustable thing for a reason! Factory method is Loosen while cold, tighten until contact, then tighten 1.5 turns more. Of course I left out the TDC part - look at the manual under our stickies. The lifters have a little spring loaded valve just like a grease fitting. They CAN get air inside, especially the exhaust which are not vertical. Air can bleed out the intakes easier because they're vertical. Air inside changes the lift dimension - so adjust them!!! (could you tell I wrote that with tough love?) Different fluid viscosity will change both pressure from the oil pump and flow at the lifters and thus the ability to bleed the air out. So will any detergent and special solvent. But BEWARE of special low friction additives because it changes the oil pump sealing and thus its ability to pump and also ring sealing and thus compression.

murderotica · 12-04-07, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by awelliott

It's no fun winning the reverse lottery.

I swear I've won that lottery like six times. haha

Interesting Tinton... Did you end up hanging on to your coupe or no?

sam o nela · 12-04-07, 11:14 PM

I just had an idea! You could try adjusting th exhaust valve too! Do a search for exhaust valves and youll see that we have mentioned and discussed it before in the past...

Of course if you do use some kind of cleaner and they stop...I would imagine that mechanical adjustment is not your problem...

The Exclusive · 12-04-07, 11:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sam o nela

Actually Zoom...I would think that having quieter lifters in hot weather would mean Situation A with the clogged ports....as would the opposite (having noisier lifters on a very cold day) The reason being that in very hot weather, the oil would be flowing faster in the warmer than usual weather...making it easier for the oil to get into the lifters...and in very cold weather (where the engine and oil may never fully reach normal operating temp) the oil will run slightly thicker and may not be able to adequately lube the lifters.

Here's something I did...for some reason, my lifters have been total bi@tches since my last oil change about 1500miles ago. I had finally had enough...I bought some Seafoam. I had my hesitations about using in on my engine though. So I ended up putting it into the Brake Booster vacuum hose to the intake...followed the instructions from here on the forums and now my lifters are DEAD SILENT even on the coldest start-up...I didn't put any into the crankcase nor any in the gas tank...just the intake. And I ONLY USED 1/3 OF THE BOTTLE SO FAR...It may not work for everyone's car but it did silence mine!! I am no longer embarassed to leave a parking lot in front of large groups of people (especially the ladies!)!!

Yeah i know that feeling pulling out with the by-standers lookin on..So where can i get my hands on this seafoam stuff? Ive tried using Lifter Free sometimes it works but sometimes it aggrivates it!

sam o nela · 12-05-07, 12:50 AM

Wow that sure is from a while ago lol...here in the states, Seafoam is available at pretty much any auto parts store....

Let me let you guys know one thing that I have found over time however...(I spoke with Ferjie about this at the last CrazyBlueCivic meet)

Using Seafoam, and Restore does actually quiet the lifters, however on my older engine, it also seems to dry up (shrink) my seals causing my engine to burn oil after a long red light...

So then I have to use a High Mileage Engine 10w/40 oil that will swell up the seals again (over time) and stop the oil burning....but then the thicker oil brings back the ticking lifters

SO...quiet lifters with additives/cleaners = Burning oil on cars with already bad seals...

Swollen seals causes no more oil cloud puffs but also = Ticking Lifters

In my case...it has gotten the point of a trade off

Also...this evening I left school, and heard some FAINT ticking for a few seconds after startup....I wonder if they may be creeping back...

I'll keep you guys updated...

pnoye2 · 12-05-07, 12:36 PM

I too have tried several methods but Sea Foam works best; at least with my experience... I've done it twice now and I am happy with the results, although everybody has there own methods of addressing this "lifter tick" issue.

You either cough up some serious cash to properly solve this or band-aid the problem until the engine totally crap out, but as Gabe stated; it's a trade off

tinton · 12-05-07, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by murderotica

Interesting Tinton... Did you end up hanging on to your coupe or no?

Sold the CRX Si. Replaced the 5MT, re-covered the driver's seat, reinstalled the CD clean with DIN adapter, putting 5.25's in place of the 6.5's now, pulled out the WEAPON-R DRAGON + K&N (FS in AfterMarket list) crap on the intake for stock. Replaced the cracked Centerlines in the photo with BBS knockoffs and General Tire Exclaim UHP. It runs dual exhaust with 4" silencers and sounds so good it can't be a Honda - but the trunk resonates from 1800-2k. Prior owner didn't adj the tappets - was ticking when I traded titles ('89 Civic 4dr - LOL) - now it's just normal engine valvetrain sound = beautiful. Next is to find the cause of the early cutout - possible voltage/alt issue or sensor failure. Seems to change depending on fuel/additive etc. 5k on premium, 4.5k on regular. Freakish power - might have larger injectors. My previous '88 sedan auto didn't have this much power.

paulo57509 · 12-05-07, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pnoye2

I too have tried several methods but Sea Foam works best; at least with my experience... I've done it twice now and I am happy with the results, although everybody has there own methods of addressing this "lifter tick" issue.

You either cough up some serious cash to properly solve this or band-aid the problem until the engine totally crap out, but as Gabe stated; it's a trade off

The method I used, although I didn't realize it would help at the time, was using a heavy duty engine oil (HDEO), read: diesel spec'ed oil that was also spec'ed for gasoline engines. The only thing is that it took a real long time for the ticking to go away. Now I just get about 30 seconds or so of ticking on cold start-ups.

Chevron Delo 15w-40 was my choice. Lots detergents and anti-wear additives; at least the anti-waer additives were higher than gasoline spec'ed oils at the time. I read now oil companies are cutting back on the anitwear goodies because of emissions.

The original intent of using an HDEO was to extend my oil change intervals without going to a synthetic. I figured tractor trailer rigs go huge amounts of miles before dumping their engine oils (of course they usually have luberfiner filters, etc.).

Now I just run regular old Pennzoil 10w-40.

murderotica · 12-05-07, 11:31 PM

Niiiiiice. =] Glad to hear a success story. haha

potter223 · 01-14-08, 11:24 PM

Good for you using 5 weight oil in cold weather. Earlier in the zombie thread someone mentioned heavy weight oil. in cold weather this is a nono. I want 5w-35

Quote:

Originally Posted by belfast_acura

I have ticking in my 90 Coupe L 5Spd and i use 5W30 because of the cold weather. I live in Maine and we don't have pleasant winters. I mean my lifter noise goes away after my car warms up. But i don't know my car has 204K miles on it. How much would new Lifters cost? anyone know!

dblanehopr · 11-07-08, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinton

Dangit sons, I've been watching this thread for days and not one of y'all even mentioned adjusting your exhaust tappets. WTF!!?? It's an adjustable thing for a reason! Factory method is Loosen while cold, tighten until contact, then tighten 1.5 turns more. Of course I left out the TDC part - look at the manual under our stickies. The lifters have a little spring loaded valve just like a grease fitting. They CAN get air inside, especially the exhaust which are not vertical. Air can bleed out the intakes easier because they're vertical. Air inside changes the lift dimension - so adjust them!!! (could you tell I wrote that with tough love?) Different fluid viscosity will change both pressure from the oil pump and flow at the lifters and thus the ability to bleed the air out. So will any detergent and special solvent. But BEWARE of special low friction additives because it changes the oil pump sealing and thus its ability to pump and also ring sealing and thus compression.

I NEED INFO ON THIS!! GOT A BAD TICK, IT'S GOT TO BE BAD TAPPET OR ROCKER. anyone got a good laman's way of testing the tappets? i see the dipping them in oil and pushing the testball but i don't get how they're constantly pressurized. but the FSM tells you to bleed them in oil. anyone know more about Tappets?

Knoxlegend · 11-07-08, 08:14 AM

I started to have this little lifter tick upon start up in the morning and also when I left work after letting my car sit for awhile. So when I changed my oil the last time I replaced 1 quart of oil with Lucas oil stabilizer and no more lifter tick. I don't know if that's bad or not but to be quite frank I dont really care. The noise is gone and car seems to run quite good. I have used Lucas in pretty much everything I have had from differentials to manual transmissions to high horsepower 502 c.u. boat motors and it seems to work pretty damn well. I am by know means trying to sell Lucas or anything like that it has just been what I have used.