Noisy Hydraulic Lifters - Any Fix Ideas ?

Edster · Jan 17, 2009

Are they Rhoads lifters? They have a certain bleed down rate at low rpms to give bettre vacuum and low end torque and pump up at higher rpms giving you full lift and duration giving you the full power characteristics of the cam. This may be why you have lower power output w/ the new lifters.

KiwiGT · Jan 17, 2009

We're still no further ahead at the moment. The oil pump pickup repair has not made any difference, the tappets are as bad as ever, and the engine is still way down on power.

Logic says it is an hydraulic problem, but the oil pump (which has only done 5000 miles) has been inspected and sems ok, there is plenty of oil getting to the lifters, and from the lifters to the roller rockers.

mrmustangman357 · Jan 17, 2009

what is your idle oil pressure?

D.Hearne · Jan 17, 2009

I wonder if the forward oil gallery cup plug is missing behind the cam gear? That would net you low pressure at the lifters, enough to lube em, but not enough to let em pump up.

C0V3R · Jan 17, 2009

Excellent point dhearne.

When I built my motor I forgot to check the rear oil gallery and had zero pressure so it could be easy enough to happen at the other end of the engine.

KiwiGT · Jan 17, 2009

Thanks for the reply D.Hearne. Will check the forward oil gallery cup plug.

mrmustangman 357 - idle oil pressure is 55psi

D.Hearne · Jan 17, 2009

If your idle pressure is 55 lbs, then I doubt you're missing that plug.

jcode68 · Jul 18, 2009

KiwiGT - do you have any updates on this issue? I too have very noisy rocker arms (hydraulic roller, 1.6 ratio arms) despite multiple adjustments. Just wonderring if you were able to pinpoint a problem and how you resolved it?

2+2GT · Jul 18, 2009

Years ago I used Rhoads lifters in a bunch of stuff, including offshore power boats, and love 'em.

An important thing I learned with them, and have since used on conventional lifters, is instead of spinning the pushods, wiggle them up and down. With a Rhoads lifter, or 'soft' hydraulic, they can compress while you spin them and you never know you've eliminated the lash. Then tighten 3/4 turn and you're good, with Rhoads or conventional. BTW, my stock 97 5.0 has hydraulic rollers, very quiet and smooth. My 289 High Performance 66 has 'solid' lifters, of course, and you can hear them, all right. I like it.

Rapid · Jul 18, 2009

I fixed the rocker noise I was chasing by finally doing a proper valve adjustment. I found it very easy to get mixed up on intake and exhaust while rotating the crank.

bikefreak600 · Jul 19, 2009

are you using flat tappets or roller lifters ?

jcode68 · Jul 19, 2009

bikefreak600 said:
are you using flat tappets or roller lifters ?

Using roller lifters. I have adjusted them twice following detailed instructions from Comp Cams website. The only thing I was thinking about recently was that I did not run the engine prior to adjusting, so it is possible the lifters were not pumped up when I adjusted them. Engine would have been sitting at least several hours, probably over night, but I cannot recall. Have been thinking I should just do it again to remove this possibility. Comment?

jlangholzj · Jul 19, 2009

set them with the engine running, messy son bitch...but its the best way I've found

/thread

jcode68 · Jul 19, 2009

jlangholzj said:
set them with the engine running, messy son bitch...but its the best way I've found

/thread

I agree, this is probably the best way to do it, but I am not willing to have oil spew all over everything and make a mess of my engine bay. That said, I have read that some have cut the tops off old set of valve covers, leaving enough room to make adjustments. Does this prevent oil from getting everywhere or is it still pretty messy?

2+2GT · Jul 19, 2009

jcode68 said:
I agree, this is probably the best way to do it, but I am not willing to have oil spew all over everything and make a mess of my engine bay. That said, I have read that some have cut the tops off old set of valve covers, leaving enough room to make adjustments. Does this prevent oil from getting everywhere or is it still pretty messy?

Jeeze, just do it the way I suggested and you'll be done in an hour, with no mess at all.

htwheelz67 · Jul 19, 2009

one thing and comp should have told you, their xe cams are a bit noisy because of the aggressive ramps, they will never be quiet.

Nicoleb3x3 · Jul 19, 2009

mine make noise too...and I re-adjusted them also
i don't have allot of miles on my engine yet, but if you wanted to have this for reference:

YouTube - noise in brand new engine...5.0 93 mustang -video 3; noise fixed

these are 1.7 trickflow roller rockers

Nicoleb3x3 · Jul 19, 2009

one thing and comp should have told you, their xe cams are a bit noisy because of the aggressive ramps, they will never be quiet.

I have an XE (266hr) comp cam also

jlangholzj · Jul 19, 2009

jcode68 said:
I agree, this is probably the best way to do it, but I am not willing to have oil spew all over everything and make a mess of my engine bay. That said, I have read that some have cut the tops off old set of valve covers, leaving enough room to make adjustments. Does this prevent oil from getting everywhere or is it still pretty messy?

try laying towels over the inside of everything...that seems to hold it rather well...

although...if you want to get creative, get some flexible plastic and cut it to wrap around the inside of the head (inside of the rocker cover baisically) and cut it so it sticks about 6" up from the top of the head or so. then take some of the small 90* braces that they use for shelves, a few small bolts to attach them to the plasic, and then bolt em to the head, and your ready to go! catches all of the oil, and it runs back into the head.

2+2GT said:
Jeeze, just do it the way I suggested and you'll be done in an hour, with no mess at all.

ya know...I've tried that...but for some reason, for the life of me, i CANNOT get them set that way. lol...i don't know why it is...cause my cam isn't much off of what would be considered the "hi-po" cam. same with my buddies 350 we got done with....tried setting them that way...and ended up going the route of taking the covers off.

i know its messy, but after a while of working on my motor(s) i've found that each one is just a little bit different, some can be a lil more cantankerous than others, and the best way to get them all set perfectly is by listening with a scope/rod/tube while the engine is running, or by feeling the rocker stud.

its just how i do it.

woodsnake · Jul 20, 2009

Over on small block ford tech dot com, there is the single best write up on how to adjust roller rockers I've ever read.

When I first went thru my 289, I had "noisy" valve train issues as well. Then I found after an hour or so of run time, that I had wiped a lobe.

There is NO reason for roller rockers to make any noise. I've read the three or four guys here that say it's OK, but my experience is most very different!

Do you see the wear pattern across the valve stem? How wide is it? How centered is it?

Noisy Hydraulic Lifters - Any Fix Ideas ?

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