I doubt this day and age you can buy a single lifter..............check the parts stores........if so, might only be a few dollars. Try Mellings, they're good folks and might be able to help you out....
Like Ryan said, start it up and work the lifter up and down by adjusting the rocker. Some times a tiny dirt particule can get in there and stop the lifter from pumping up. Plus I guess if that didn't work you could shoot some pentrant down in the pushrod hole and work it up and down by hand to clean the inside out, or compressed air, then refire and see if it pumps up while adjusting. You can tell if a lope is flat by measuring the lift at the rocker arm and comparing it to another rocker. If not I'd change it. I read somewhere, where they said soaking lifter's in oil over night is not needed, but I do it anyway. When their pumped up they should be hard to compress by hand.
what they have all said--lay a straight edge across the tops of the rocker studs--easy to tell if offending one is pulling out--seen it alot on mid 60's small blocks--if so, tap it back down and drill and pin it like we used to do before screw in studs. Also, had a ticking noise in 327 for many years---drove it 80K miles, rebuilt it a few years ago, same ticking noise--friend suggested maybe a galled fuel pump push rod, changed it and noise was gone--was a new one for me.
hey GZJRD5...you definantly have a bad lifter. there is no way U could have pushed the lifter down that far! so get that intake off, and get er done. call me POP...or the old FART!
Hey thanks for all the posts. Mike originally posted my lifter issue. I tore down that sucker today, easy once you get all the crap out of the way ( alt., compressor, carb etc.) Tomorrow, I'll pull the suspect lifter and report the findings. Thanks Guys.
Consider this: when you turn off the motor there is valve spring pressure pushed gm down the oil powered piston inside every hydraulic lifter that is not on the base circle of the cam. They bleed down after a while. Adjust the valves properly with the engine and off. Using the intake opening/exhaust closing method on comp cams website. New lifters or lifters with zero oil in them are extremely “soft” and require very gentle touch to determine “zeros lash”. Half turn past zero is about right on most fine thread head studs. Call comp and they will go on and on about preload. Don’t get your panties in a bunch over it. Half turn is fine. IF YOUR ENGINE HAS BEEN RUNNING the lifters will be pumped up solid as a rock. Now remove be the first spark plugs and adjust normally using the same method. Your half turn of preload will be a very obvious half turn to f valve opening, not a half turn in f lifter cup preload. Understand what you are doing here. If you bottom a lifter plunger when the cam is up on a lobe and crank the valve open, you can hit a piston or burn a valve, destroy your cam, etc. A recently running engine will have some “soft” lifters that have bled down, and some “pumped up” lifters that have not bled down. This is why adjusting while running works so well. NOW: the original poster followed up with a comment about how he removed the excess lash and the ticking went away at revs, and came right back at it idle. That particular lifter seems to be pumping up as oil flow through Increases, and bleeding down too fast at idle. The cam may take a beating and go flat on you pretty quick, but also it isn’t advisable to replace a lifter because you can wear off the surface hardening on that cam lobe trying to beak in another lifter. I would take that lifter apart and try to repair it. Maybe swap the guys from a new identical lifter to not that lifter body. I’ve never done that but it’s cheaper than a cam and lifter set. Time is money however and if none of these other magic tricks or snake oil happen to defy the odds, and you don’t want to go through this again with a flat cam lobe in the next 100 miles, replace the cam and lifters as a set. Break it in following comp cams instructions to the T! And get on with your life. Guessing sucks. Knowledge is power. There are many other possible causes of valve train ticking, many of them listed previously. Feel free to check ALL of the aforementioned suggestions. Who knows? But from my interpretation of your description of the problem it sounds like you have the classic “Collapsed Lifter”. It could be just “sticky”, so try the snake oil. But usually there is a burr or oil coking or something causing this. In a new motor you can rule out sludge and coking. A burr will likely get worse over time. Good luck.
X38 - 88 mph in a Delorean and he could have helped them. The OP didn't update like they said. I guess we will never know..
I just fixed a ticking lifter in my 383. I removed all 16 lifters and disassembled and thoroughly cleaned them. That fixed the tick. I don't know where this method of "spin the push rod" ever came from. Worst piece of advise ever. It results in a lot of maladjusted lifters. I have had valves partially open, and you can still spin the push rod. Grab the rocker and rock it back and forth. You can feel when the rocking stops at 0 lash as you run the nut down. As far as setting valve lash with the engine running... WHAT A FUCKING MESS! I personally know 4 different professional engine builders. None of them set the valves with the engine running. I guarantee that GM doesn't set the lifters in new motors with it running either. It is absolutely not necessary. There are several methods out there for getting the lifter on the base circle of the cam lobe. Some of you will say the lash will change when the motor gets heat in it. OK, so relash after warming the engine. I haven't set valves in a running engine since I was 16 years old... 55 years ago.
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