Lifter replacement
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,398
Likes: 17
From: Hesperia, CA
I have asked myself this question many times. You are sitting there with an engine with one collapsed lifter and you realize that you have to tear down the whole darn thing just to replace that stupid lifter. “Who in the heck designed this thing anyway.”
I don’t know of any V8 that will allow you to remove the lifter and I don’t believe the 390 will either. Be sure and put some good lube on the bottom of the new lifter when you put it in. This is often overlooked and is a major factor in premature failure of a lifter. It is important to make sure that the lifter seats into that camshaft lobe or you could have some serious problems.
You don’t say what is wrong with the lifter, but more may be getting ready to go if the engine has some mileage on it and you have one failing. A new set of lifters is probably one of the least expensive repairs on an engine. It gets real frustrating to replace a lifter and a few months later have another one start ticking and realize that that darn intake has to come back off.
I don’t know of any V8 that will allow you to remove the lifter and I don’t believe the 390 will either. Be sure and put some good lube on the bottom of the new lifter when you put it in. This is often overlooked and is a major factor in premature failure of a lifter. It is important to make sure that the lifter seats into that camshaft lobe or you could have some serious problems.
You don’t say what is wrong with the lifter, but more may be getting ready to go if the engine has some mileage on it and you have one failing. A new set of lifters is probably one of the least expensive repairs on an engine. It gets real frustrating to replace a lifter and a few months later have another one start ticking and realize that that darn intake has to come back off.
