you want the one on the left. That's a high end aftermarket lifter made right here, also notice the much larger oil port.
The one on the right is Hencho en Mexico.

you're right, it is oil starvation. Mostly due to prolonged sitting. When I say prolonged, I mean even a few days can be the limit. This is another facet regarding the importance of nano lubrication and high quality oil. It's really needed at startup especially for an excessively preloaded lifter configuration. However, there is something to be said about the lack of Zinc, but I'm no expert in the field of nano lubrication properties. I just roll the dice and buy a "snake oil" additive. I've experienced real results so I always keep it in the oil to fend of any bad Juju.

10 years @ 70k mi. = needs to be started up all the time regardless of destination.

 

Could this be what ford is seeing in the testing of the new oil spec? Lifter failure? Seems plausible

 

Quite frankly, this is what worried me a little when my iron went up to 86 ppm in my oil analysis. I saw it go up with one oil, stayed up when I switched to another, and then when I went to Mobil Delvac 1 ESP, the iron came down. Seems that it stays down with the Mobil 1 TDT also. It is in the mid 30's now and it may still be coming down some. I have never seen an iron number less 21 ppm. Regardless, I can't complain much at 193k miles.

I PM'd Anthony w/ the question about the possibility of elevated iron (and only iron) being connected to lifter wear. Haven't heard back though.

 

The last two oil changes, including the last one about 1,500 miles ago have been Delvac 1 ESP.

I had a conversation with a gas motor guy today as we've both been brainstorming R&D guys in our lives. His thoughts were since I always thought I heard a tick, and it it was valve train, this may have been a defective lifter in its hydraulics since birth. And the trend being I've heard it more during the lasted part of oil life. It's been bleeding more then it ever should have, miles in service isn't helping that, and the last two oil changes with a synthetic with a 5w rating may just be too thin. The recent addition of Archoil which he has no knowledge of its modifying properties, may just make it worse. And the long sit at the wrong lift just bled it down. It did minimize after startup.

His suggestion was if I felt it was not the roller, and brave, to put it back together, put a higher viscosity oil in it to reduce the flow and see how it does. I'm mulling that over.

I've also been thinking about pulling the HPOP so I look down and see the lobe. I'm not sure I could get a good view pulling the turbo drain and fishing around with a borescope.

There are a lot of lifter failure threads out there, so I can't see the "new" oil being an issue as yet.

 

What I did on mine was to put a strait edge across the rocker box and measure down to the pushrod with the rocker removed. Then measured 2 more, my bad one was over an eighth inch lower than the others. that's when I knew I had a problem.

 

cam

I just went out to check my engine, both lobes are easy to see on #8 with the HP pump removed.

 

Just a comment Jack: So it looks like you could both see the cam lobe for wear and see if the lifter roller is rolling (with someone's help). What was disturbing in the other thread on lifters was the play Anthony was showing in the roller bearings for the lifter... I don't think you could tell the extent of that play w/o pulling the lifter...

I don't know if both looked good, I think I'd go with a longer pushrod and maybe start some oil analysis and just drive it...

After BW's comment on these sitting around and that being a root cause, I feel once again like I'm driving a time bomb...

 

Thanks Steve, for the info and picture. My Google pic search came close, but not as good as yours.

Scott, not denying he has a point, but the farm has a lot of motors not run, and we had test vehicles parked for sometimes longer periods then we realized. Of course, none of those asked their lifters to push open the force these do.

A lot of what Anthony shows are the same stories I've heard from Ford people about the 6.0 within FDNY in emergency service vehicles with tremendous idle hours vs miles. Ambulances, support services, etc. IMO, it's not a motor than should be idled the way it shears oil, or its hot oil pressure. All my hours are high speed, so low hours for the miles.

 

This is the kind of problem that sure can generate a lot of thought about oil and the oil circulation system. One thing that isn't frequently discussed is the ability for the high pressure pump to pump more than the low pressure system if there is a big leak (say a failed STC fitting or a stuck open IPR valve). Also, using the wrong oil filter could have the same effect - reduce the flow of lubrication oil to the engine. I have thought hard about installing an actual oil pressure gauge - I still might the more I think about it! I have all of the fittings for it! Just need a sensor.

 

My 6.0 is an ambulance, 400k on it. Not the original engine, but one I bored .020 and studded and put a BPD remote oil cooler on 4 years and 130k ago. I also have 2 2010 E350's that lost lifters a week apart from each other at 75k under warranty. These 2 have about 150k on em now and have 18000 engine hours on them. I have even seen this on one that was a year old with 17k on it, tech doing oil change came up with a needle bearing stuck to the drain plug. That one didn't last 2 weeks before it was a no start and towed to dealer for a new engine. The difference being the high mileage ones are commercial use with high idle hours and the other was a volunteer rig that sat in a garage till needed then used hard on a cold start.

 

Mark,

I did it for a short period since I have the aluminum caps for both fuel and oil, so it was an easy move. This is with an isspro electric fuel pressure gauge, one I don't recommend. But the thought peocess was one day to put sensors on fuel, oil, and coolant, with a multi contact rotary switch so I could cycle through all with the same 100psi guage.

Steve, that's an impressive amount of lifter failures.

All during the day I kept thinking this is a lot of work to change out a $10 lifter.

 

rocker ball


rub

I found a few pics of 6.0 rocker problems I found if you haven't pulled yours yet. The ball on the end of the rocker was frozen crooked, this pushed it off center on the valve bridge and had a little rub problem.

 

An oil pressure gauge is a simple install with the sender in the port for the idiot light switch. I use an Isspro gauge and sender, pretty sure the adapter for the sender, metric to 1/8 npt, came from McMaster. I left the original sender in the valley hooked up with a with a cap and small rivet to push on the switch so the dash gauge reads middle scale all the time.

When they first started pushing multi vis oil in small airplanes back in the 80's one of the complaints I got was lower oil pressure. When switching from 50wt to a 15w50 you would see a 5lb drop, some engines as high as 10lbs with a 10-20* rise in oil temp.

I have run 5w40 T6, Mobil 1 TD, 15w40 Rotella and Mobil 1300. The 5w40's always give a lower idle oil pressure and will drop again at around 3000 mi indicating shear has cut the viscosity. The 15w40's will have the same idle pressure @ 5000 mi as the 5w40"s have when new.

I ran Archoil in the oil and fuel and the only thing it did for me was lighten my wallet. New injectors and replacing a corroded sticking turbo made a world of difference in the way my engine runs.

 

The threads for the sender are an odd size - 7/16x20.

Part number 50925K172 at McMaster Carr: 1/8" NPTF Female x 7/16"-20 UNF-2A Male, Adapter
Part number 50925K186 at McMaster Carr: 1/4" NPTF Female x 7/16"-20 UNF-2A Male, Adapter

Also, too much weight and vibration on it and I would worry about cracking the aluminum cover (maybe I am more concerned than I need to be). Definitely don't want to over tighten it.

Not all 5W40's are created the same from my experience. I some some shearing faster than others. I have a lot of data on Rotella T6, Valvoline PBE, and Mobil 1 TDT and Mobil Delvac 1 TDT (and Schaeffer 9000). Except for the Schaeffer 9000, the Mobil oils shear less than the others. I am running 7500 miles on oil change intervals and I am often times still in the 40 wt grade (granted it is at the very bottom of it, but it is still higher than where the 10W30's start out). Still, the shear is there and I can see how the oil pressure would drop over time as a result!

Interesting on seeing the lower idle pressure w/ the 5W40's. Will definitely put the pressure measurement project on my (growing) list.

Sorry for the hijack Jack

 

Mark, you're right on the size. https://www.mcmaster.com/#50925k172/=177hg85
The isspro sender is the same size as the oem switch, may even be a little smaller.

I haven't tried the Delvac 1 yet, need to, got 10 gals on the shelf. For all it's rave reviews on the forums, T6 proved to be the worst for shear for me.