So I've been having a loud lifter and am trying to cure it without shutting it down for a number of days and paying a wad of cash (daily driver). So i'm going the additive way for right now. I'm currently using 5W 30 High milage oil (279K). The engine runs great (2.9L V6), starts great and have no other issues. The lifter starts to get loud after the engine warms up. I went to a local lube place and used some of their name branded stuff to help solve the issue. It's been a few weeks since with no luck. I wanted to know if anyone actually used an additave that actually worked? Or know of one that will help me out?

Thanks.

 

I would bet a few pennies that your cam bearing are gone, thus allowing very low oil pressure to the lifters. If you can, check the 'real' pressure with a real gauge. The lifter apparently works, but is allowing more oil to leak out than is being replaced when hot. That means either the lifter is bad (leaky valve) or the oil flow is not enough. The 2.9 was known for noisy lifters, and IIRC, the cam bearing were the culprit. I may be wrong.
tom
p.s. mechanics in a can are worth about as much as you pay for them. The only thing you can do if the bearings are loose is add some artificial viscosity improver such as STP.

 

After the engine warms up & the noise begins, is the engine at idle, or at ? rpm & is the engine under load when it's noisey????

Also what have you added in the way of aftermarket additives so far. What all is now in the crankcase????

 

It happens at idle or rpm, doesn't matter. I only drive the truck around town so there is no load on it. It seems to get louder when I'm going faster, it's basically a loud ticking noise. I took it to a friend and he said it's the lifter causing the noise. As for oil i'm using 5W 30 high mileage oil and I used a lube shop's own brand of additive. The can was pink/white and said "removes lifter noise, valve noise and adds performance to older engines." The oil is only about 4 weeks old and I had the additive in about 3 weeks.

 

Put some lucas oil in there, or some STP. The stuff is like molasas, if it shuts it up, then bingo, you know its from bad bearings. Otherwise you may have a collapsed lifter, and might want to freshen up the ol 2.9 a little anyway.

 

Yes, that's the stuff. I remember my neighbour said to try Lucas. Does it matter I already added stuff a few weeks ago? Should I wait a month or so for my next oil change and then try the Lucas?

 

You can add it now, just remember to drain about 1 qt of oil out of your crankcase, so you dont overfill it. Lucas comes in 1 qt containers, and it has the consistency of really cold maple syrup.

 

1 quart of lucas replaces 1 quart of oil. my 86 2.9l lifters only chatter at start up. but even after running a few min you still hear a light tick like a sewing machine, every 2.9L i have ever owned (5 all together) and everyone elses that i have heard run has always had a noise from its valve train. my truck is bone stock and 22 years old. it has a 145K miles on it. i run 1 quart of lucas + 4 quarts of 10w30. i ditched the stock oil gauge years ago and got a real mech. gauge from autometer. at start up (dead cold) it has 55~60 psi once fully warmed up to 190 deg F @ idle it has 35~40 psi. and still it has the same cologne lifter tick. even my exploder with rebuilt top to bottom 4.0L Pushrod engine has the lifter noise. first few things i would do if i was you, is ditch the stock oil gauge, it only takes 7lbs to make it go full swing and doesnt give you a real reading. once you find out what your real oil pressure is, then you can tell if you have bad bearings or bad oil flow. most of the time if a cam bearing goes it KNOCKs rather loudly than ticks. also if you have a bearing go out, you will have super low to no oil pressure. the 2.9L has a design flaw in its oil flow from the heads to the cam and down the block. this is well known issue. so no matter what you do the cam will slightly starve for oil and will have lifter noise. now if its real loud and super excessive you may have a full oil blockage, dead or dieing lifter(s) or your cam is about wiped out. but usually if you have a bad lifter or wiped out cam you will notice a performance decrease as the valves arent fully funtioning.

 

My ranger is a 90 Short box 4X4 5spd with almost 280K. The power still seems to be there, the plugs and wires were changed recently. I'll definatly look into putting an aftermarket oil gauge in it. The performance doesn't seem to decrease after the noise starts so I don't think it's very major (yet anyway). It's just mostly annoying due to the fact I didn't have a stereo in it up until last week so It's all I could hear after it warms up. If I had to guess i'd say it's more of a steady tick than a knock. I'll gets some Lucas tomorrow and give that a shot. Thanks for the info guys!

 

Well if you know the engine is clean in side, not all sludged up from deposits, but maybe you have some light deposits iike some varnish, causing a lifter so stick, maybe AutoRx would be worth consideration.

It's a ester based lube with good lubricating & detergent properties over time, that can SLOWLY dissolve deposits & tidy up an engine inside.

I've not used it, nor personally know anyone who has & it's not inexpensive, but I've not heard any bad reports on the net about it. You can read about it here, to see if you think maybe it's for your situation.
http://www.autorx.com

 

Dang I omitted a - in the URL & can't edit because it locks up my computer, what the heck is up with that!!!! It hould be

http://www.auto-rx.com