I'm getting suspicious of the shop where I took my car. Don't want to name names (yet) but wondering how common several lifters going bad is when there are no other apparent problems with my motor. I had tried resolving what I thought was a lifter noise coming from only one lifter by using Rislone and a bunch of other additives, cleaners etc but finally took the car in for repairs. Now the mechanic is saying I have a bunch of bad lifters. This just doesn't seem to make sense. Is this a common problem? If so I'm surprised I haven't read many more posts about this problem. Seems very odd. Anyone had lifter problems that affected more than 4 at one time when there didn't seem to be any oil pressure issues? I'd like to hear what others have experienced. I already know what Jeff thinks about all of this....anyone else?

 

The only car I ever had with bad lifters was a ford with a 5.0. After putting in new lifter, it turned out the con rods were on the way out, and while oil was getting to them, it wasn't getting to the lifters as the rod bearings were bleeding off oil pressure. Oil pressure read fine at the gauge, if a little low. Eventually a lot low. This completely stumped me and several good mechanics.

I have recently seen several OB engines on ebay for around 1000 USD. Consider this before you go chasing ghosts out of your engine, and try to imagine the look on my mechanics face when he had to tell me the all new lifters sounded as bad as the old ones. It is hard for me to imagine a bad set of lifters in an engine that is not completely shot. Broken lifter yes, gummed lifters yes, but as always, YMMV. Good luck with this one, and be sure to tell the mechanic that if the lifters don't fix the problem, you are only paying for the parts.

 

My take: he wants to shotgun in several lifters as there's obvious noise and he can't tell which is bad.

If he replaced one and it was still noisy, would you pay for another tear-down and re-build? I think you should go with it.

 

You can call it bad lifters, if the definition of a bad lifter is that it makes noise but functions perfectly.

 

I have a little lifter noise in my car and Greg at Precision Motorwerks told me it is no big deal. Risolene quiets it a bit. Sounds like this guy is taking advantage of the fact that you are willing to spend money on something that isn't necessary.

 

My lifter noise went away when I changed to Mobil1 0W40 oil.

 

We had a local Old Bugger with lifter noise. Mechanic did the same thing, and suggested the owner replace them all reasoning that if one goes, they rest may not be far behind. Whether you buy into that reasoning or not the owner went for it and was happy with the result. If you want a quiet motor, it may be worth the price. If you don't mind the noise, (which was pretty loud on this particular car), I don't think any harm will come from running it as is.

 

i agree with the other posts here. is there anything else wrong with the lifter aside from noise? if its only noise you can leave it but if not then i would take your mechanics advice and replace as many as possible on the side of the engine youve torn down with the reasoning already given in these posts, costs not withstanding.

 

Aren't you fixing this just to sell the car? If the only problem is noise, forget about it.

 

On my former '79 I had to have 6 lifters replaced at 150k miles.

 

Several years ago, on my '78 (125K miles) I had to replace 3-4 lifters. Made a lot of noise when cold. Once you pull the cam off, it pretty easy to tell which ones are bad (they will be the ones that push in easier than the rest, not scientific, but worked for me....)) JS

 

The motor is apart on one side at the moment. 4 lifters are bad. Mechanic thinks more are bad on the other side. I think only a few and maybe only one was making the noise but I just don't know. If he closes this thing up just replacing what he's found so far it should be quieter BUT he may not have started with the noisiest side (if in fact both sides had bad lifters).

Randy,
Once you replaced the bad lifters did any others go bad on you?

Again from a "seller's" perspective I don't think I'll get dollar for dollar for what I spend so I'm trying to minimize this cost if possible. The only thing is if he puts this all back together and it makes more noise or the same noise I'm screwed! Obviously it makes sense to fix everything while its apart but I question just how fast other lifters are likely to fail if I don't do them all. I just want a quiet car. I HAVE TRIED TONS OF DIFFERENT ADDITIVES DIFFERENT VISCOSITIES ETC ETC before I went down the road of opening up the motor. Nothing worked in quieting things down for more than 50 miles or so (or less). There ARE bad lifters and no getting around it. I just didn't think so many were bad and was surprised to hear there were 4 on one side alone! So maybe this mechanic isn't trying to screw me on this but it sure surprised me to hear how many were bad. Again my budget was supposed to be $1000 for fixing a lifter or two on one side, not $2700 to replace all of them. The total budget to fix for sale was supposed to be $2000 and I'm looking at minimum $2250 I think if it gets 4 lifters and buttoned back up. Not a pretty scenario for a car that may only sell for around $5K or $6K (based upon the responses in the other thread I posted)

 

BTW the reason the cost if I stop where I'm at would be $2250 is costs for new battery and a few other things that were done already at the shop. This figure would go to somewhere around $3300 if I do all the lifters.

 

here are some lifters...."used"...but way..way..less than 1 new one .

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsc...spagenameZWDVW

I also found 2 complete, running, engines... in very good condition, with all accessories... on Ebay, for less than $1500 that would be a direct fit for your car. Why not pursue this type option...rather than replacing a bunch of expensive parts with new ones..."hoping" you hit the one or ones...that were causing your noise ??..You'll be big money ahead, and then you can post your engine on Ebay...and most probably recoup 1/2 or more of the investment it took to fix your ride to your satisfaction... .

heres one...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/928-P...spagenameZWDVW

another...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsc...spagenameZWDVW

 

What the hell kind of oil were you using "prior" to the Mobil1 (0W-40) ??? I can't believe the lifters "knew" and responded to a different brand...or viscosity, resulting in a 'Now you hear them....Now you don't" result, simply by introducing the "Mobil 1" in the motor....NOW....if that was the 1st oil change you had ever done on the car...and the oil you replaced, was 3 or more years old...Then "maybe"...the change ended up in "quieter lifters"....A shot of Seafoam...might be a good idea as well