Bad lifter tick

[Bryan Hoytema]

Any one know how to do this professionally ?!

The "Noisy lifter" solution

From the day I purchased it to the day I performed the following miracle (I use this word because you will too) my Talon made horrible lifter noises. Anyways here's a "low-buck" solution that's guaranteed to put a smile on your face. BTW, I have 16 new lifters for sale that I prematurely bought before trying one of the oldest tricks in the book (and now, one of my favorites).
Materials You Will Need:

1-quart Dexron II Transmission Fluid
1-quart of cold water
2-feet of Vacuum tubing
4-New NGK BP7ES spark plugs (BR7ES-11 non-turbo)
1-quart of any brand "motor flush"
5-quarts of Fresh Mobil-1 15W-50 Oil
1-New Oil Filter
First, make sure your Diamond Star is up to normal operating temperature. Find the direct-port vacuum line at the throttle body and on the driver's side of the manifold (where the VPC pressure sensor is usually plumbed into).
Have a friend bring the engine speed of the car up to 3500 rpm. Run your vacuum line to the direct-port source at the throttle body. Submerse the other end in the bottle of transmission fluid. Keeping the tube slightly pinched, regulate the flow of fluid into the engine as your friend works the throttle to keep engine speed between 3500 and 4500 rpm. Large puffs, no, LARGE CLOUDS of smoke will begin to emit from the tailpipe and possibly under the hood (if you have any exhaust leaks).
After half of the bottle is used, repeat with the water using half of that bottle. After you locate the vacuum port on the driver's side of the manifold, repeat the process. First use the tranny fluid, then follow with the water.
When you finish this process which will remove the carbon buildup within the cylinder, follow the manufacturers directions for the engine oil "motor flush." Follow with an oil change and replace the plugs (the chamber cleaning process can foul the plugs).
That's it, you're done.
Now, go out and drive the car and feel the power. If your valves were gummed up before, it'll feel like these an extra 20 ponies under the hood as throttle response will be tremendous.
Since my car had so many miles on it, I repeated this process at the next oil change. For the heck of it, I did a cylinder leakdown test. The results were amazing...two percent leakdown in each cylinder. Typically, cars with this kind of mileage would be happy to see 6 to 12 percent.

[Jordan Kruger]

thats cool if it worked for you!     I struggled with ticking lifters even after I replaced the old stokers with 3g lifters.   In a matter of a week they ticked like a mofo in some spots. I swapped out the certain 3g's that crapped out and it still had a light tick...    So the last time I had the head off,  I ported the oil gallery on the head.  That did the trick.    no more tick.

[Jason Harwood]

Correct me if im wrong - but you cant compress ATF which means you could hydro lock.

Regardless, there are more effective ways of doing this with less dangerous results if the above is true.

[John Hartman]

any liquid won't compress. 

However, you just have to regulate it so as to not get lots in there at any one time.

I for one would not use atf that way, but put a liter in your engine oil and let it clean things up.  Its quite high detergent and will spiff it up inside nicely.  If you have seals that are near to leaking this will probably cause them to leak tho so be warned.

I would use Seafoam/MCCC/GM cleenz in the intake/chambers, then water.  It breaks up the crusty stuff better than ATF.  Then the water knocks it loose.


The ATF in the oil may free up the noisy lifters, but its probably not gonna do much for them being burned as its no where near the lifters while its being burned.

If they are really noisy, just replace them with the newer style ones with the bigger hole in them.  Not much luck cleaning them, well at least not permanently.

[Remi Raymond]

Lordco sells seafoam now, its like 8$ a can and I did two engines with a bottle.

[GlenMartin]

Lordco sells seafoam now, its like 8$ a can and I did two engines with a bottle.

i have heard mixed reviews about seafoam...i decided to try it out..........got rid of lifter tick for awhile..then car started puffing a little bit of smoke. turbo went shortly after....could of just been bad luck. lifter tick also returned after awhile. just my experience.

[John Hartman]

yea thats a distinct possiblilty when you really clean an engine.  If any debris is not filtered out it will be in the oil until it hits the filter.

As well, if you let it sit on the pistons and it gets past the rings, you HAVE to change the oil or you will be running oil diluted with a watery chemical.  Not good at all.

[CamWeiss]

If you run meth or water injection, you'll have spiffy clean cylinders. And more power. Problem solved.

(My valvetrain makes noise like a sonofabitch, and not necessarily lifter tick either. I've given up doing anything about it, but 3g lifters might be an idea next time I have the valve cover off)

[Bryan Hoytema]

Haha maybe that's why your valvetrain makes horrible noises lol because of you running meth / water injection , sure you cylinders are clean but I really don't feel like taking my whole motor apart because I decided to run meth just to clean the tops of my pistons haha ,

[John Hartman]

Bryan, please do some research before you post something like this.

its clearly and obviously incorrect. 

There are no negative effects of running methanol/water except the cost and having extra parts on your car.

There is no way it makes your engine noisy.  And it does more than clean your engines internal parts.

you may think I am being harsh but the forums get searched and if people read a post that says something this incorrect, they may believe it.  It doesn't matter if you put "haha" or "LOL" its still technical information for others to read.

[Jordan Kruger]

The only way to fix a ticking lifter is to...

Check oil pressure and make sure its where it should be.
if your oil pressure is good, and you dont leak or burn oil..
Check the oil filter. if its clean then your on to the next step.

its time to pull off the valve cover (easy) 

Once the valve cover is off, press down on the lifters. Running the motor before doing this operation is ideal because you want the oil pressure in the lifters to help you decipher which lifters are the problem.   go over every one just simply pressing down on them.  I noticed the loud ones moved down  a good 3/16" freely. This made the click that drove me nuts.    I noticed that 3 of my 3g lifters were crap. I ended up putting in 3 of my old non ticking oem ones.     the engine purrs now..   
This method works and it doesnt involve chemicals.

note**   lifters can be removed in seconds once the cover is off.

DOUBLE NOTE***    ONLY remove a lifter while the piston is at the bottom of its stroke*****

If you compress the valve and it hits the piston hard enough , you will then be opening a new topic just above this one.   

now my release bearing makes a whack load of noise!  lol   DOH!

[Bryan Hoytema]

Ok ill take that back I was just told that meth /water was a poor mans nos, and it could mess with your motor If you didn't have the proper supporting modz so CLEARLY i have te wrong Idea thanks for clearing that up,  And sorry if I came off to strong didn't mean to sound like a duchè bag lol

[John Hartman]

see, thats the thing.  You were told two things that were incorrect.  its not poor mans nitrous, nitrous is an oxidizer.  Methanol/water helps to control knock and allows you to run more boost.  It also doesn't "mess with your motor"  of course if you are running too much boost because you can you may damage it from the extra boost and if its not tuned well, your engine won't run its best but any mod is that way.

[Jordan Kruger]

dude...  bryan.    If there is one thing I can tell you to "waste" your money on, its a meth kit.  It will make your intake temps less than the ambient air temperature.  Giving you the effect of driving during winter....     but  during summer......     you see what i did there...     ya ...  meth.

if you heard meth was bad, its probably coming from a guy pickin his face. 

[Brett Haviland]

when my lifters tick i usually hold the RPM around 7000 RPM for a couple minutes... after that they are quiet as a mouse.