Ticking from under valve covers Help

Ok i adjusted my rockers a year ago when installing them. Randomly 3 days ago i go to a friends house about 30mi from home. Car drives fine there. I leave to come home and notice the car ticking. Get it home and pull the valve covers the next day to find a few Probe shaft rockers with a little too much play. Adjustment nut and all bolts were tight. I adjust all rockers on BOTH sides AGAIN. Ticking went away!!!

Now i notice the car feels like it has a slight hesitation almost like a misfire. I change plugs and check the wires and cap again which are less than 6 months old. All is fine. Scanned for codes and there are none. But as i was scanning for codes the ticking came back. I'm damn sure the rocker itself didn't loosen up.

I also noticed that at idle i don't have enough vacuum for the brakes to properly function.

Oil pressure at idle is 50psi.

I do know how to properly adjust rockers. I'm guessing my lifters failed but when i started the motor up after adjusting oil came up out the lifter like it was supposed to. Theres no excessive play in the needle bearings of the rockers either.

What would cause me to keep adjusting the rockers that aren't getting loose and also give me low vacuum.

I've put about 20k on the motor mostly easy miles below 3500rpm

Would a failed hyd. lifter still pump push oil threw the push rod?

The low brake problem started when the ticking did.

Chris

Probe 1.7 Shaft rockers.

Feels like a miss at idle. Car has had a very recent tuneup!!! Wires, Cap Rotor. Plugs came out after this issue started and all were light brownish. I changed them anyways. Ticking went away when i adjusted the rockers....bot 24 hours later the ticking came back. Push rods are straight. Brakes are hard at all times. They get a little better if i give the engine a light rev.

I went around the engine compartment and vacuums with starter fluid looking for a change in idle. Nothing. The vacuum and miss feeling is directly related to the rocker sound. None of these other problems existed until i had the rocker issue.

UPDATE INTERESTING

Well took the valve cover off again today!!! Found my problem!!! Now i cant wait to get these ProComp heads off!!!

Seems that i broke a valve spring!!! Yep!!! I looked into the motor and willgel the rocker and noticed the spring was sitting abnormally low. I didn't vend a valve seeing as how the valve slides up and down easily. Luckily i have a stock set of 351 heads i can pull a spring off for the time being. Im going to pull the push rod out and find a way of suspending the valve so i can drive the car 1/8th of a mile down the road where my friend has a Compressor and the air tool to hold the valve up while i change the spring!!!

I swear i cant get these AFR heads fast enough!!!!

Nope no new Rockers....Rockers turned out fine. Swapped out the Spring. Its running great now!!!

The Spring was broken in 2 places!!! Luckily no broken valves!

I'm using a stock spring on there until i get my AFRs and cam from Ed Curtis.

Bullitt95 said:

You were very lucky that the valve lock was still there to keep the valve from dropping down the cylinder. Otherwise there could have been catastrophic engine damage. Glad you fixed the problem.

Click to expand...

Yeah there was a double spring....so the second spring kept it from falling anymore. I always questioned the importance of the second spring!!! the valve locks are larger than the stock ones.