Whats going on...I have a rebuilt 235 chevy six (1954 powerglide w/hydraulic lifters) runs great, but at idle i can hear a slight rocker arm to valve clicking (probly need to re-adjust my lifters...hydraulic) THE problem is when i drive about 20 min. or so on the highway a lifter calapses and and the inline six turns into an inline 5 (after the lifter calapses i get lots of valve train clicking) It's always the same lifter and cylinder...Oil preasure reads 30 psi at idle and 40-45 psi on the highway. When hot oil preasure reads 15 psi at idle and 25-45 psi on the highway. I run heavy duty ROTELLA T truck oil for the ZDDP...does anyone have any ideas??? It did'nt do this at first...thanks...any advise would be greatful!!!
What you might consider is pulling the valve cover and finding out which cylinder has the suspect lifter and either take it (the lifter) apart to see what is wrong or replace it. It sounds like it is just collapsing after the oil gets hot. I suppose it is possible that the suspect lifter isn't getting any oil. Pull it apart and you should have a better idea of whats wrong.
Another thing that you might try, after the engine is hot and the lifter is clicking, put the valve cover and see how much oil you are getting to the top end of the motor. I always seemed to have problems with oil to the top end of these motors.
It has nothing to do with the top end. This is a common problem when running hydraulic lifters in the 235 type engine. Some guys have been able to run a 20W50 oil with success, but it's best to run solids. If you can pin it down to which one it is, some have taken the offending lifter and cut a very small vertical groove on the outside of it to allow the air to dissipate, but I wouldn't do it, personally. It is possible to run solid lifters on a hydro cam, if necessary, but not the other way around. Make sure the tips of the rocker arms have been resurfaced also. That will help with the noise.
Does anyone have any opinions about running solid lifters with a hydraulic cam in my 235 inline6 as Snarl stated??? I am running ROTELLA T 15W30...should i up the viscosidy to 20W50? It's a 1954 powerglide model...I know the cam material varied during those years.
It does not work well ,solid lifter cam's have "clearance ramps",hydraulics do not. you end up running smaller valve clearances to keep the noise level down.
It may be crud built up in the oil galley feeding that lifter. Either run some diesel through the system or ream it and then try it out. A solid source of reliable info for those motors is a site called www.inliners.org and they were great help with my '54 235. Give 'em a holler and get yer inliner runnin' reliable.
I found that my engine has 3/4-1 quart to mutch oil in it...could that be a possible problem? Maybe the crank is whipping it up and creating air bubbles in the oil? Like i said it runs great till i hit the freeway...thats when it all happens. Has this happend to anyone else?
Check top end for sticky valve. If that is ok, check for bent push rod. Then if nothing else replace the lifter. I don't recommend using solid with a hydraulic cam. It has been done though.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> <o></o> Oil shouldn't be the problem. All of the lifters are connected, unless the oil feed on the lifter is plugged up or it has **** in it. I have worked on several of these engines and found several brand new lifters that internal were bad. Sometimes the lifters were ground down too small and oil was bleeding down the sides of the lifter even thought the pressure on the main oil gallery was good. What a pain...<o></o>
I have the same exact problem. runs good in town but when oils get hot it starts making a loud clicking noise,did you find out what the problem was.
Did you take the lifters apart when you did the rebuild? I had one that would collapse and it had trash inside of it. They are easy to take apart and clean... During my rebuild I decided not to get new lifters after reading horror stories about poor fitment and lackluster quality on the new ones. Before the rebuild, they tapped really bad, and (at least) one would collapse at high RPM. One never would pump up right. After cleaning them all (and the bores) I have no problems.
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