Need noisey lifter miracle cure!

My lifters in my '55 olds 324 are noisey, from startup(cold) to warmed up, and everywhere in between. Not mega loud, like something is gonna break, just noisey. A guy I talked to said they used to drain the oil & put in diesel, run it at a slow idle for 15 minits, then change the oil twice and that would clean it all out & possibly quiet the lifters. Not sure I want to trust my motor to digest 5 quarts of strait diesel, was thinking of 1/2 oil-1/2 diesel. Anyone heard of this? Anyone have any other "miracle cures"? New lifters are $9 apeice, so I want to try what I can to fix it before $144 set of lifters + gaskets.

Later- John

 

Marvel Mystery Oil

 

Ditto, Marvel Mystery Oil ! Diesel straight

 

Or Riselone (spelling?)

 

Back in high school when I had a rocket I used Bardal to free a sticking lifter. Do they still make bardal?

 

I would try this stuff:http://auto-rx.com/

Designed with one purpose, to clean the inside of an engine, it dissolves the crud inside slowly.

It has fixed noisey lifters on a lot of engines, for about $25 it's worth a try.

I've used it and on fairly healthy older engines and perfect-running newer ones too and it sure hasn't hurt anything, it can only help.

 

Noisy lifters never hurt anybody. The straight diesel idea is idiotic. I'm thinking the cure would be worse than the disease. Marvel mystery oil is as good as any mechanic in a can.

 

I'm gonna check out that auto-rx.com, thanks draggin'.

I've thought about this diesel idea over & over.......I think I'll just put it away under "try it out on honda first".

Later- John

 

Hope you realize the bloke is talkin' diesel OIL ,not fuel.Ran both 28 Dodge and 26 Chev on diesal oil for years, had something to do with the viscocity.

 

Old timers trick was to run some ATF in the oil. I did that and it worked well. Afterwards I switched to Rotella. Hasn't ticked in a year or two since.

 

Sometimes changeing the oil and replaceing one quart of motor oil ATF will help. Worked many times at a new car dealer I worked at.

 

As above, Rislone or MMO.

 

I JUST put new rockers (rockerarms.com-good people) and push rods in my 55 Olds, and it makes plenty of noise. Not any BAD noises, (except that clunking sound when it cranks and possibly a cracked piston noise that quits when it warms up)-ANYHOO, there is a fair amount valvetrain noise in mine all the time, and it should be pretty tight and as quiet as could be expected. Kind of a solid lifter noise.. So-if yours is so quiet you can pick out a ticking liftger, I am in trouble. If I am not mistaken, you can use SBC lifters-look up the great rocket thread here on the HAMB. I think you are on a wild goose chase, but at least the ATF or Risolone won't hurt any thing.

 

I would say in my experience, Sea-Foam would be the way to go. If you don't know what it is, look for it on the web, it's works perfect for **** like this. The only thing is, you have to let it do it's job, then change out the oil. No driving around with it. It may even smoke out the tailpipe pretty bad, but it should unstick those lifters, then change back to good ol clean oil.

 

Site..

http://www.seafoamsales.com/motorTuneUpTechGas.htm

 

A few years ago GM came out with a service bulletin to correct rocker arm noise (ticking). Their fix was to put a bottle of positraction rear axle additive in the crankcase (this bottle I believe is about 3 ounces). They recommended putting it straight into the crankcase by pouring it down the dipstick tube. I think they refer to the stuff as a friction modifier. It's worth a try and shouldn't be harmful.

Good Luck
Alden

 

Back when i ran my own repair shop I used a formula that was given to me by an old mechanic and it did the job on noisy lifters especially Buick, Olds and Pontiac non-adjustables.

1. Drain oil (while the engine is hot).
2. Put a new cheap filter on.
3. Put in 3 quarts of cheap 10w, 1 qt. of Rislone, 1qt of ATF
4. Put a cardboard air dam in front of the radiator to restrict air flow but not completely shut it off. You just want to elevate running temp.
5. Start engine and just let it idle (do NOT drive vehicle do not rev engine).
6. Run for 15 minutes (20 if it's not boiling over)
7. Remove filter and drain oil while hot. Remove cardboard air dam.
8 Replace cheap oil filter and put in 5 quarts of 10W30.
9. Drive car about 20-30 miles without heavy application of accelerator (think granny driving).
10. Again drain oil and remove filter while engine is hot.
11. Fill with normal oil and a new good brand filter.

 

I kinda thought it sounded like solid lifter noise, maybe just a little louder though. A friend of mine thought they WERE mech, but I double checked the manual and it says they're hydrolic. I'll try some of your ideas, maybe this is a wild goose chase.....
The guy I was talkin' to was definetly talking about diesel fuel, not oil, I asked him like 5 times 'cause I couldn't belive you could put diesel in a motor.

Thanks guys- John

 

Re: Need noisey lifter miracle cure!
<HR style="COLOR: #999999" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and ***le --><!-- message -->I'm gonna check out that auto-rx.com, thanks draggin'.

I've thought about this diesel idea over & over.......I think I'll just put it away under "try it out on honda first".

Later- John "QUOTE"


Thats funny, --- try it on the Honda first.

 

Use Lucas Oil treatment. Took care of my noisy lifter problem.

 

Lifter noise in a pre '57 Olds is part of the program, just like the greatest heaters ever made, the trans going thru 3 gears before you get thru the intersection, & an exhaust system that sounds the same whether you split the muffler open with an ax or spend $500 for a complete new dual setup ... adding a pint of type"A" trans fluid every oil change is the standard ritual, but it seldom makes any difference. Flushing it will probably lead to bearing & ring failure.

 

Spend The 150 Bucks!

 

Oldsmobiles of that era tend to make valve noise when a bit worn. I've had fair luck pouring a pint of Marvel in the oil filler. I've also resorted to removing valve trains and fishing out the lifters with a magnetic tool in order to dis***emble and clean them individually.
By that time you might consider replacing them. How worn is this motor?
I've filled seized engines with diesel and allowed them to soak in order to free them but personally would hesitate to actually run one that way. Let us know if you try that method.

 

hyd lifters get noisey because of wear at either the cam or lifter contact face. this is caused mostly by poor sevicing long oil change periods and some times poor running in. inside the lifter there is a mechanisim to take up the valve lash in the valve train

heavier oils may help quieten the noise but will hurt the performance buy pumping up early

a new cam and liffters (run in corectly) is the miracle cure

a noisey tappet is a happy tappet i always say but then again i like sold cams

many sellers will tip in a can of STP before they advertize

 

Rislone worked for me on an old Pontiac that sat for a year or two. It took a couple of miles on the interstate to get them freed up. For the money it's worth a try.

 

Noisy lifters in an old Olds are the nature of the beast.

That said....Rislone worked for me in my '66 Electra. Follow the directions !!!

 

NO Olds experts here?
Back when I built my 55, in '81 or so, I was told by the resident Olds expert, that noisy lifters were a fact of life for Olds'. He also told me that a quick fix would be to dis***emble the lifters, and insert a 1/4" flat washer inside, to tighten up clearances. My Olds was very quiet after the rebuild, so i never had to resort to this fix, but he swears that was what all the Olds guys did. Even gave you a bit more power.

 

back in the 50s when i was doing olds, I did what fab32 did. I have bought manyolds with ticking lifters and the 3 qts of oil and 2/3 qts of diesel/kerosene cure all but one. that one had 8 cracked pistons in a 56 olds. I used to cut the olds heads up to .125 , when you did this you hd to shim the same amount under the rocker stands. on the 49-51 I always used the 52 up 1.8 rockers for the extra power.had lots of experience with lifters.

 

I have had Siloo Hydr-valve clean free up some pretty noisey ones.

 

No one's saying anything about valvetrain wear. Almost every early Olds engine I've seen has worn rockers, shafts, and pushrods, which all adds up to way too much clearance. In the old days, even otherwise stock Olds engines ended up getting adjustable rocker arms to try to take up the slack. Rislone won't cost much to try, though.