atb

Just got the 4.7L motor back together for my track car.
The 4.7L motor reportedly ran fine when taken out of the donor car, at least five years ago, and sat all that time. While in storage, the motor fell over and broke a cam gear.
The 4.5L motor that came in the track car locked up (haven't done a post mortem so don't know what broke), so I took the cams out of the 4.5L and put them in the 4.7L. I was planning on using the matched lifters out of the 4.5L, but when I squeezed oil out of the 4.5L lifters onto a paper towel, I saw glitter so I went with the 4.7L lifters.
On start up, and the car started up immediately, engine ran fine, but after about a minute started getting very loud lifter noise. Very much like what was in Andrew's video here:



Let it idle for awhile, temp got inbetween the white marks, contour fans fire up, pulls it down to the first white mark. Engine is still ticking away. Decided to drive it home from the shop, probably about 15 miles. Don't take it above 3500rpm on the way home because of the noise, which doesn't let up.

So, I'm ready to try an additive.
Search option shows a few favorites: Rislone, Marvel Mystery Oil, ATF, Seafoam, and Swepco 502.
I would like to hear peoples' experiences with any of these, and in particular what quantities you used, over what period of time, and for how many miles, and any other tips or suggestions in using any of these additives.
And, probably most importantly, at what point do you throw in the towel and start replacing lifters?

Thanks for any input.

Andre Hedrick

That hurt to listen to friend, now I am going to have nightmares.

How does the 4.7L and 4.5L relate to the 5.0L in the video?

jon928se

Can take a few heat cycles to unstick one that hasn't run for a while (6 months is a while in my book) . In fact I'ld opine that you didn't actually get the block and oil up to a steady state hot temperature; coolant yes block and oil no.

Podguy

The lifters will tick a little when they have set for a while. I have one on my 78 that ticks away for while before quieting down. it has always been this way since new. After a few hours of running it quiets down and is fine if I drive it frequently.

The question is how much noise and how long before it goes away. Myself I am a big believer in Mystery Oil.

fbarnhill

Hey,
ON both of my 79s, one low mileage and one a little higher, if it sat more than 2 - 3 weeks, it would rattle to the point of scaring the hell out of you. I learned that running the engine for sometimes up to 30 to 40 minutes, solved the problem every time.

Good luck,

atb

Both use a similar tappet design. Mine is making the exact same sound, and yes its painful to listen to.

So how much do you use, and how long would you give it to work?

I guess I need to adjust when the fans come on to a higher temp to help things along.
I didn't push it all on the way home, but it drives fine despite the noise. Pulls hard, revs freely.... Just noisy. Sounds like its coming from cyl # 3 or #4.

Its odd to me that on start up its not so bad, then it gets louder after about a minute or so.

Lizard928

Look at the cam lobes etc with a borescope.

I use ATF for lifters myself.

Abby Normal

Rislone works great for this.

danglerb

I use Marvel Mystery oil, which I've been told is fairly close to a "fancy" atf, but so far about a pint in the oil seems to do the trick.

SeanR

Fan of Marvel Mystery also. Mine does this occasionally and goes away when driven for a bit.

Jim M.

I used Marvel Mystry oil in the 89 GT. Put a pint in about 500 miles before an oil change. The noise went away in about 100 miles and never returned.

Neil Forn

I have had the same problem with a couple of my cars. Once, the tick just wouldn't go away with normal driving. It really pissed me off so I made a high rpm pass through the gears and voilà the noise was gone. Since then, if I have a lifter noise that won't disappear with normal driving I make a 5 to 6 thousand rpm trip through the gears, on a warm engine, and the tick is gone! I think this is because at low rpm the pressure or flow isn't enough to flush out the air bubble that is trapped in the lifter. This technique has worked for me on both 16 and 32 valve motors.

86'928S MeteorGrey

I use Marvel on any motors that have sit awhile.

In the past, (pre-Rennlist) I had used Lucas oil stabilizer to good effect...

BC

Italian tune-up.

Unless something is truly broken, works wonders.

S4ordie

I have had similar issues with other non-928 engines. MMO, 20% ratio seemed to work after a a day or two of regular running. These were high mileage pushrod engines. I always assumed it was gummed up oil passages in either the hydraulic lifter or the pushrod.

My question has been and still is; What is happening to make the knock and is it destructive, even a little bit? Even though most say it's nothing to worry about, it just can be good. Can someone enlighten me as to why?