Yesterday short ride, a clicking noise appears then gets louder but is not continuous, sometimes very loud, sometimes nothing. I came home back slowly and today I found a valve with 0.5 mm (0.02'') clearance and another with 2.4 mm (3/32'').
The adjustment nuts were not loose, the rockers are in perfect condition and I suspect the needle bearing of the lifters.
What do you think?
I bought the lifters at BULLET RACING but they are MOREL.
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Dear Rene,
I suffered a clicking sound for months and it was getting worse. The short story is that after pulling the valve cover the cause was a push rod that had worn about 6 mm shorter than it was supposed to be.
My engine builder/machinist told me that, in addition to the quality problems with other engine parts, push rod heat treatment (?) has become unreliable. He claimed that using his own hardness durometer (?) to test *new* pushrods, he was finding roughly a 10 to 15% fail rate.
He told me to pull the other push rods for testing. Out of the sixteen push rods there was a total of two abnormally worn rods and two that only failed the hardness testing. I now have replacements for the four bad ones and a finally quiet engine.
It is easy to pull the push rods and check their ends for abnormal wear. I do not know how easily you can find someone to test the hardness.
For what it is worth, if it was built in the last ten years, it *might* be a push rod, if nothing else is found.
Warmest regards, Chuck Engles
@cengles posted:Dear Rene,
I suffered a clicking sound for months and it was getting worse. The short story is that after pulling the valve cover the cause was a push rod that had worn about 6 mm shorter than it was supposed to be.
My engine builder/machinist told me that, in addition to the quality problems with other engine parts, push rod heat treatment (?) has become unreliable. He claimed that using his own hardness durometer (?) to test *new* pushrods, he was finding roughly a 10 to 15% fail rate.
He told me to pull the other push rods for testing. Out of the sixteen push rods there was a total of two abnormally worn rods and two that only failed the hardness testing. I now have replacements for the four bad ones and a finally quiet engine.
It is easy to pull the push rods and check their ends for abnormal wear. I do not know how easily you can find someone to test the hardness.
For what it is worth, if it was built in the last ten years, it *might* be a push rod, if nothing else is found.
Warmest regards, Chuck Engles
Just asking… The 6 mm push rod part - was it missing or just smooshed … because if it was missing where did it go?
The last engine I built was the 408W for my Bronco. I used Hydraulic Roller lifters with a dog bone as the block is a 1994 351W block and designed for roller cam. I had problems with three of the 16 lifters. One would not pump up at all and two would collapse shortly after shutting off the engine. We constructed a test apparatus to pump oil into the lifter to test if it pumps up and if oil does indeed travel to the hole at the push rod. I found more bad lifters. I ended up buying more lifters and sending back the bad ones until I got a set that passed the test. The engine has been in the truck for three years now with no problems.
BTW the reason we made the test fixture was we didn't want to keep taking the intake manifold on and off to keep testing lifters.
I feel the quality of the aftermarket lifters today is awful.
Dear LeMans,
Initially, I thought that it had broken off. Later, I looked more carefully and it had not broken off, but *worn* off due to the sub-standard hardness. When I pulled all the other push rods, there was another one with similar abnormal wear. Where the metal went, is through the oil system including the oil filter. The engine runs much more quietly and as strong as ever with sixteen fully functional and properly hardened push rods.
Warmest regards, Chuck Engles
There is a tradeoff on hardness.
I had a racing set of push rods from Crane. A brand that I never question the quality of. Hardened for use with guide plates. I ran them a few miles and then all Hell broke loose.
I was only a mile from home so I was able to limp home.
When I took it apart I found that the tips on two had broken off near the lifters and many if not all had cracked through the dimple weld that held the tips on.
Crane refunded the purchase price and I wouldn't take another set from them.
The explanation was "a bad batch of metal", but in reality they had been over hardened to the level of what a good drill bit is.
You don't use a drill bit as a drift pin because it will shatter...badly.
Anyone who works with metals will tell you that in hardening or tempering it, at some point the metal gets brittle and will shatter like tempered glass will.
So really, there is a "sweet zone" for the hardness of the metal depending on the application intended.
The fact is that in many cases it is better to have it softer and bend then too hard and shatter. It is very easy to criticize this and basically what is happening is that once you get away from OEM parts, the aftermarket is a crap shoot regardless of how well meaning the MFG is.
Here is the culprit
I haven't dropped it off yet but it's certain the camshaft is pretty damaged too.
I know this has happened to at least one other person with the same camshaft and lifters. I'll message Bullet Racing and see how they explain it
@cengles posted:Dear LeMans,
Initially, I thought that it had broken off. Later, I looked more carefully and it had not broken off, but *worn* off due to the sub-standard hardness. When I pulled all the other push rods, there was another one with similar abnormal wear. Where the metal went, is through the oil system including the oil filter. The engine runs much more quietly and as strong as ever with sixteen fully functional and properly hardened push rods.
Warmest regards, Chuck Engles
That’s bad.. did you stick a magnet on the new oil filter?
Dear Le Mans,
I have a magnet on the oil filter of both Panteras and have had for quite some time.
Warmest regards, Chuck Engles
