I've got a 1967 F250 with, if it's the original engine, a 352 in it. The truck didn't get use for many years, then when I got it, I did a few things to get it going and started using it. After something like lets say 50 miles, I fired it up and it had this bad ticking noise as soon as it started. Real loud, not just a subtle tick. So I ran some of that Rislone through it and changed the oil and it seemed to go away. But then later it came back. I swung by Walmart and poured a half can of Seafoam in there and a few miles down the road, the tick went away. Now today it happened again the worst it's been so I pulled the valve cover and the very first push rod on the passenger side closest to the radiator has all kinds of slop in it. Vertical and horizontal. I used a breaker on the front of the engine and cycled the engine all the way through checking the other 7 push rods and none of them were loosed other than being able to spin them slightly when the valves were closed.

Where do I go from here? I sure don't want to tear apart the engine but is that what needs to happen?

 

Can you extract the offending pushrod and take a peek at it...for straightness, bent, etc.?

Playing the best case scenario - Sticky valve that bent the pushrod....mebbe a collapsed lifter and the cam is OK....still means taking that 100 pound intake off...if you still have it stock.

Playing the worst case scenario - mushroomed lifter foot - from it sticking/binding - and then destroying the cam.

Look at that pushrod, make sure that valve isn't stuck, etc, and let's go from there.

 

As I rotated the engine the pushrod got tight against the rocker arm when it was getting pushed on by the cam and appeared to compress the valve spring like normal making me think collapsed lifter? Can I replace just that one lifter and pushrod if it ends up being bent or do I have to do all of them?

 

Yes you can but replace the rocker arm also. Lifter, pushrod and rocker arm wear into each other. Put some assembly lube on the face of the lifter when installing.

 

The lifter can be replaced without removing the manifold.
Remove the bolt that is closest to the front of the engine. If the engine is not sludged too bad the lifter can be removed with a lifter extractor made by Snap On, Mac tools, or several others, if the lifter comes out then reach inside with a magnet. To replace it, pass a long wire down the respective pushrod bore and keep bending it so that it can be pulled up where the lifter was lifted out. With the new lifter push the plunger down and pull a strong piece of twine under the clip where you will have about 2' doubled, tie the twine to the wire and pull the lifter through then grab it with the lifter tool and seat it in the bore and pull the twine out. I had to do this about 30 years ago from over reving my 360.

 

Kenny: I don't have the patience to try and pull FE lifters through the heads...with many miles on 'em, the varnish, etc, would beat me every time, but that's me. Don't think I haven't tried, just a wee bit easier w/out the intake on.

Agree with Alex from GA....but if you do replace the bad lifter with new, be sure to break it in as you would if installing a new cam/lifters/springs, etc.

 

i think I'm going to attempt to pull the lifter through the head because i found this removal tool for $12 and just do the one, but to make sure I get it right I need to do a new push rod and rocker arm as well? And when you talk about the break in, how does that go? I've never done this before so I'm not sure how to do a break in.

 

If the pushrod is straight just use it over, as far as the rocker arm if the shaft is worn you will have to find a pair of rebuilt ones and change both sides. If you can find a set of rebuilt ones you will be surprised as how much quieter the engine will sound. As far as the lifter break in try to coat the cam lobe and the bottom of the lifter with cam break in lube or some thick grease.

 

Pooched lifter and cam...note where the light shines through. The concave nature of this one doesn't allow it (the lifter) to rotate with the cam's pitch, which is probably flat as well.

Kenny nunez is dead nuts right....after lubing the lifter's foot with cam Klube, some engine oil on the lifter's sides, everything back together, you'll want to run the engine at no less than 1500 RPM for 20 minutes....varying the RPMs to 2000 and back. This allows the new lifter to "break in" and turn (in a circular motion) to follow the cam's lobe pitch.

When you pull the old lifter put a straight edge on it's foot and hold it up to the light...you'll want to see some light at the edges and not in the middle...hopefully.


Good lifter, good cam...note the light at the edges.

 

Please excuse the messed up post above....I'm somewhat computer illiterate...hehe

 

.......Well?

 

Awesome info, thanks a lot for it! The lifter tool is supposed to arrive Wednesday and if it does I'll try to get that lifter out and the new one in as you described, then follow that break in process.


This guy I asked at Napa swore up and down all that's going to happen is I'm going to destroy my cam in the process if I only change one, but I feel like what's the difference changing one versus all of them as far as the cam is concerned? Seems like I have only one chance to destroy one lobe of the cam versus 16 chances to destroy 16 lobes if I do them all. Statistics wise I like my chances, and I guess if it fails then I already had a problem that wasn't going away as it was.


Do I need to change out the oil and put the break in high zinc content oil in when doing this do you think?

 

Don't sweat hurting the cam, just lube it up as previously described.
If the lifter is sluged you will have to spray some solvent down around the lifter and work it around. The lifter tools have small teeth that grips the inside of the lifter and can be damaged if the tool is not seated inside the lifter.
Good luck

 

So I finally had the chance to try the lifter removal tool and the lifter DOES NOT fit through the hole. It appears that it will fit through the adjacent hole if I removed the intake bolt, but that's not the lifter I'm trying to remove. So every other lifter I could have pulled with this tool, but not the one I'm after. I tried sliding the lifter over after getting it out of the bore, but the valley deal gets in the way. If I tip it on its side I can use a magnet to slide it over to the next lifter, but try as I might (and believe me I tried) I just can't get it vertical again to pull it up and out of the intake. I decided to just accept reality and prepared everything to pull the intake, the only thing left to do is pull it now. Everything including the bolts are removed, I put the engine hoist together but then it started to rain, so I'll save it for tomorrow. One thing I did notice however was man did that lifter look grimy. All kinds of burnt black crap (engine sludge I'm guessing) was on it, not surprising that it's collapsed. Once I pull the intake I may just swap all of them out or at the minimum soak and clean all of them but still replace the one that's giving me troubles.


Thanks to HIO Silver by the way, I posted something a long time ago about resealing the intake and his very detailed instructions are going to come in handy tomorrow. I've never done an intake but I'm hopeful it goes well.

 

You're going to use an engine hoist to pull the intake?
I believe I would change ALL the lifters if I were in there. It would also be a good time to think about camming it up, with a new timing set. It's not all that hard, just pay attention to where thing go.