OK

I redid the head on my stock 951 and fired the engine today. The lifters are real loud and dont get any better when warmed up. I took the lifters out and just put them in a bag without marking which one came from where. Is this a real no-no? Haynes manual says to mark them. I replaced 3 soft lifters (push on the button test) with good used lifters from my turbo parts car.

Would swapping lifters from one hole to another be that detrimental to the point of sticking, binding, screwing with the cam? Should bad lifters always only be replaced with new lifters?

I hate to think I need to buy 8 new lifters now ($400) and redo the timing.

TIA

 

um yeah, this is kind of a boo boo.

it is my understanding, that cams and dirctly related components (lifters, tappets, push rods) develop their own wear pattern to each other. it sounds crazy, but thats the reason they say to mark the lifters for position, and when you replace the lifters, the cam needs to replaced as well and vice-versa. once the new cam and lifters develop this pattern, it is very unusual for them to wear much more. however, if you mix and match, they wear like crazy and you will get premature failure.

this is just what is was tought is school though, and it could be bad information, but i trust it. i hate to give you bad news like this, so if anybody else knows otherwise...

take care
brian

 

I'm assuming your oil pressure is good, etc...I marked mine when I took them out and placed them in a pail of oil...You might try adding transmission fluid or rislone to your oil and running it for a short time...Might help clean the followers and quiet them...A number of people on this list have had success with that.

Either way, Good Luck!

 

"I took the lifters out and just put them in a bag without marking which one came from where. Is this a real no-no?"

Hmmm, maybe... The cam-lobes are offset from the center of the hydraulic-adjusters. So they spin them all around when running, so the wear patterns should be pretty even all around. I wouldn't worry about that too much.

As for the noisy lifters, use some BG stuff in there...

 

My mechanic put some good used lifters in my old car, so it can't be that bad.

 

I replaced 2 bad lifters in my 84 without replacing the cam. Although I didn't remove the ones I knew were good...
Haven't had any lifter noise since doing it.

 

Yeah

I've done a head gasket before and mixed them up onm my 2.7 - gets quiet right after oil pressure gets up to over 2 bar on start up.

In the same vein, I lost a top end rebuild on a 2.0 914 engine by mixing up the lifters. I kept adjusting valves and still got real noisy valves and a gradual loss in power. The cam ground down 3 lifters to powder - which circulated through the engine an toasted everything else. You'ld think I would have learned.

But the design of a 944 valve train is very different. I

I will try the BG stuff - I was thinking that route as it worked relitively well on a friends 928S. If that doesnt work, perhaps trans fluid and I'll get back to you on it. Thought I might help the next person who does their headgasket some greif.

 

I replaced all the lifters in my '88 when I did the head gasket and rebuilt head. They clattered a bit when I first started the car but they quieted down soon after. Now there's no lifter noise at all. Just give it a couple days.

Bryan

 

Yes,

Started it up today and little to no clacking! It got better the warmer the engine got. It was totally gone by tonight.

I guess I rushed to judgement, all depressed I had to take it all apart and buy new parts.

Swapped lifters will work, but I suggest saving your valve train the shock by keeping track of which go where. But, if you have a soft lifter, it's totally fine replacing it w/ a good used one

Happy!