Boneyard motor, unknown miles. I have 70lbs oil pressure on a mechanical gauge running. I dunno if its a knock or lifter noise, but theres no oil getting to the pushrods/top of rockers. I have the valve cover off and loosened the rockers with the motor running. I got a random tiny squirt out of one rocker, and another barely bubbled to the top and stopped. Engine has been run maybe 5 times for less than a minute, once for 3ish minutes. There is the tiniest of exhaust leaks at the manifold to down pipe, barely feel a puff on one side w motor idling. Hard to tell w a 5' long exhaust system lol. Cousin said it sounds like lifter tick. Gonna drain the oil this weekend to check for metal shavings. Im thinking the engine is done for and looking for a replacement, but dunno if it would be worth throwing a set of new lifters at it. Lifters are cheap. At 70lbs oil pressure theres a chance the bottom end may be ok. Before installing I did pull the pan and check the rods for play, everything was tight. Dunno what else to look for. Any advice appreciated!

shem

If your running a Fram oil filter that's the first thing you need to get rid of. Just remember when it comes to Fram, Nooooooooooooo filter is better.

Spoon

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"Kilgore Trout once wrote a short story which was a dialogue between two pieces of yeast. They were discussing the possible purposes of life as they ate sugar and suffocated in their own excrement. Because of their limited intelligence, they never came close to guessing that they were making champagne." - Kurt Vonnegut

Lol no fram buddy, got a pos stp filter on there lmao! Put a cheapo on for the first warm up, then was gonna change everything. Got a wix sitting here waiting for that. Ordered a set of rockers, worst case ill just get a new motor. Either way not the end of the world. Seeing tons of threads about the same issue, or just till it warms up then the ticking stops. Many threads saying run the motor for 15 mins and see if theres any change lol. Im pretty sure the change will be a lot louder ticking after 15 mins. Ill post some carnage pics when I get the motor opened up.

Shem

are you positive that the lifters are filling up? I've had a handful of 3800 mysteriously lose oil pressure to one rail of lifters before.

Think the Lifters are "Pumps" to lift oil to the rocker via the push rods.

Lifters need a load from the rods to work. Use web search to see how they work internally.
The P-rods need load just to "seal" the lifter end and drain w/o that rocker loading.
So loosening the rockers often stops oil pumping and takes awhile to start pumping out the top after.

If lifters has oil pressure to start with... Lifters and/or rods can get dirty and stop pumping.
Take out each rod and look inside. Should easy see thru them.

You can clean the lifters but can take time and effort that many can't be bothered.
Example: Inner piston get stuck in crap and hard to remove w/o doing damage to it, outer shell or likely both.
That's after you removed the clip which is harder then many think even when inner parts are new. Worse when have Roller Lifters because rollers make it harder to compress the guts to unload the clip.

I cleaned 2 lifters and said F'ed this and bought roller lifters on RA for my l4 only have 8 of them.
But Note: Putting new Roller lifters on old cams isn't same as Flat lifters. Flat lifters and cam often get dish and egg shape wear that then "eats" the lobes and new lifters.

Ever still you must carefully look at roller tips for odd wear and bearing issues that means trouble. If you can look at the cam lobes too. I used a cheap USB bore scope to inspect the lobes on l4 in the car before installing new roller lifters.

If you can... "Flush" the lifter holes 1 at a time to make sure lifters have flow and engine isn't you problem. Do this before just removing all lifters. 1 at a time so only 1 hole gets a lot of flow to push out whatever crap maybe blocking oil to the lifter(s). If can find the oil flow map and find where lifters get oil start at the lifter(s) near/at first started.
Use a drill to run the oil pump. Using the starter can fry it and pump doesn't make much pressure anyway.

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 12-05-2022).]

Thanks for the replies fellas! Much appreciated! Did a lil digging and found that car got to the boneyard 1/31/22, so its been sitting almost a year. Did a bit more diggin, found the car had 212k on it, dunno how accurate but most websites gave an estimate of 105k. I dunno if the lifters are filling up. Pulled the rear side valve cover and rockers, every pushrod had oil in it, and was clear. Didnt see any debris in the lifter hole. Pulled the blower and rear vc, every rocker had oil on the top of it. Lifters show tomorrow, still need to drain the coolant to pull the mani.

Darkhorizon- I think the lifters are pumping up slow because I havent let the motor run long enough to thin out the oil. Kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place now lol.
Ogre- This things got a gerotor style oil pump so the ol spin the pump shaft doesnt apply to this I jacked up the opposite side of the oil pump, added a few extra quarts and I got 60lbs pressure. I cant find an oil map of the motor either. Ill do smore diggin now and try to find which way the oil comes into the lifter galley so I can do the flush u mentioned. Gonna drain some oil n check for glitter, cue the jaws music........

pics tomorrow
shemmy

OK I got everything apart and the lifters out, lifters had some oil in them. All looked good except for one that has a small scratch. Front side rockers had less sitting on them than the udder side. ZZP sends their stuff out fast! Stayed up late and installed the new lifters and rocker bolts. Saw many threads that said dont soak em overnight, so I pulled em from the soak after about 2 hours, drained, and installed. Dunno what all that rust is on the heads.



Going to leave the intake off, pull the plugs, douse the lifters in oil, and crank it a few times to see if I get some oil to the lifters.
Fingers crossed

shem

Many Times the lifters won't pump much oil if any running the starter.
Not enough oil pressure/flow from the pump and cam RPM is too slow for this.

Since can't use "the drill trick" to run oil pump w/ you setup.
if didn't use assemble grease... Put some oil on the rockers and lifters.
disable ignition by pulling main power to it.
Run the starter to see if system tries some pressure. Should see a little after starter runs a few sec's unless you charge the oil too.
⚠️ Warning: Running a starter too long can kill the starter and more. most have 20-30 sec run time then must cool down for 5-10 Minutes Or More.
then recon ignition to start engine and watch gauge and listen.

If lifters get oil may make a little noise then stop after engine runs a few sec's.
Rockers may make noise then quite in a couple minutes.
If make noise after that, is likely the rockers not adjusted right for engines that need adjusted.

Rust on engine maybe a "low spot" that allows "rain" water to sit next to gaskets.
Not sure how to prevent this problem w/ this engine.
For now likely need to remove it so new caskets will seal.

Thanks for the reply Ogre! I got it all reassembled and cant get the injectors to seat properly on the rail. The motor was missing the injectors and their electrical connectors when I got it, and I noticed 2 strange looking clips near the motor. After a few tries w the rail, I remembered those clips and figured out they hold the injector to the rail. So I cant start the motor till I get that resolved. I dont crank the starter for more than 10 seconds, but it didnt have the steam to spin it fast enuf to get pressure up top. Spending lotsa time cleaning things up in the engine bay, and making more room around the motor. Ill post again when I have the clips.

shem

Got the clips, got em installed. Still got 1 injector leaking. O-rings are shot, ordered new ones. Got the o-rings in today, fuel system is good now. Went to start it, batterys dead lol. Put it on the 8amp charge for a lil bit, cranks but only tries to start. Have time to play with it tomorrow, will post updates.

shem