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Bad Lifters ? Need some Advice

ARBOGASTER

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Cincinnati OH
My 1996 Xj with 160K on the clock has had a mild ticking when cold for some time now, as the car warms up the noise all but goes away. Monday I pulled out of the parking lot and the mild ticking went to a louder clacking. I took it home and did the old screwdriver to the ear trick and isolated the sound to the upper portion of the engine semmingly in the middle of the head. I checked for header leaks and found nothing, I also checked the clutch fan and it seems tight as well. I pulled the valve cover and tapped around and compressed springs etc and found nothing loose and nothing missing or broken. My helper who is wiser than me who has torn apart a few engines in his day swears I have some bad lifters. My oil pressure is around 50psi at anything higher than an idle and maybe about 30 psi at idle. Is there anything else I should look at or try before I yank the head and start replacing lifter and having the head machined etc. When my wife drove this car she was notorious for letting the car go for 5K before letting me know she needed an oil change. She drives alot of highway 47mi one way to work. Any ideas or comments are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Eric
 
You might try draining the oil, and refilling it with a 50/50 mixture of new oil and ATF, and running it that way (gently) for a few days.

ATF is a highly detergent oil, and may loosen up the stuck lifter. If you want to spend a bit more money, use Marvel Mystery Oil or one of it's competitors in place of the ATF.
 
you left it up to your wife? you never took a peek at the ODOM, lol. there is plenty of threads out there explaining engine knocks and ticks
 
You could try ATF or kerosene, but I wouldn’t drive it around too much with it in. Most of the engine cleaning additives made for this are about 80% kerosene anyways, just smell a bottle at the auto parts store if you don't believe it.

Their instructions are something along the line of this:

1) Change the oil and put in 1 quart less oil than normal (so 5 quarts for a 4.0).
2) Use the quart of kerosene/cleaner stuff as the final quart.
3) Start it up and let it fully warm up, maybe running 20-30 minutes.
4) Change the oil again and put regular oil back in.
 
skyjackedxj96 said:
you left it up to your wife? you never took a peek at the ODOM, lol. there is plenty of threads out there explaining engine knocks and ticks


Yeah that is pretty much what my wife said as well. I have this funny idea that when you enjoy the convenience of driving a vehicle you should take some small responsibility in the actual maintenance of it. For her all that entails is saying " Honey the Jeep is due for an oil change " Somehow that was too difficult for her. I tried to keep an eye on it but she could rack up miles like no ones business. She blew up a Tauras before we were married. It had a small tranny fluid leak. It would go through about a quart of fluid a month. She finally went long enough without checking it to toast it. That 1200$ lesson did not stick for some reason. Go Figure.

Keep the suggestions coming guys.
I think I'll do me a cheapo oil change and see if I can clean her out.
See you on the trail
 
My wifes the same, and the daughter (who will be driving the XJ when I get it back on the road is giving every indication of being the same).

Check out Marvelous Mystery oil, if its still available, it is very good at cleaning ticking lifters. Funny, if you ever looked at Marvelous Mystery Oil real close, it really looks like ATF, but who knows?
 
do not open the engine!!!!!
you have a sticky lifter...not a bad lifter...just a sticky lifter

replacing the lifters is a real pain.

try MULTIPLE cleaning methods. Start with a slightly heavier fully synthetic oil with half a quart of ATF for about 500 miles

repeat after 500 more miles or untill the oil is dirty.

use good filters NEVER FRAM......EVER

with 160 k on the clock you will probably develope some small engine leaks with synthetic oil. If you do either don't worry about it...or just go back to conventional oil a little atf in each oil change.

I did this and the lifters got better after 250 miles and freed up completely after about 2000 miles.

now the engine runs like a champ and has 296 k on the clock.
 
john mitchell said:
do not open the engine!!!!!
you have a sticky lifter...not a bad lifter...just a sticky lifter

replacing the lifters is a real pain.

try MULTIPLE cleaning methods. Start with a slightly heavier fully synthetic oil with half a quart of ATF for about 500 miles

repeat after 500 more miles or untill the oil is dirty.

use good filters NEVER FRAM......EVER

with 160 k on the clock you will probably develope some small engine leaks with synthetic oil. If you do either don't worry about it...or just go back to conventional oil a little atf in each oil change.

I did this and the lifters got better after 250 miles and freed up completely after about 2000 miles.

now the engine runs like a champ and has 296 k on the clock.

whats bad about fram ???
 
xj_toker said:
whats bad about fram ???

Some guy did a writeup on the internet a few years back, said they were bad, and it's stuck with internet forums ever since. I've used Fram filters for YEARS, and never seen a problem. In fact, the only oil-filter related problems I've ever seen are double-gasketing (when the old gasket doesn't come down with the filter), and idiots using a wrench to tighten a new filter, thereby putting a hole in it. Both are human errors, never a problem with a filter itself, regardless of what make the filter is...even the crappy Valucraft filters from AutoZone.

But if you poke around enough Internet forums, you'll find that most people don't use Fram filters because of something that they saw/read on the internet. Rarely, if ever, is this info based on firsthand experience. Oh, and ignore the suckers who shell out mega-bucks for K&N or Mobil 1 filters, they must like being ripped off or something.
 
have you ever taken a fram filter apart?
They use cardboard for crying out loud.
I do have experience.
I had a 90 plymouth with the 2.5, using fram filters I had nasty valve train clatter at startup. Switched to purolator filters and the clatter went away. Seems the fram was letting all the oil drain back into the pan. Must have something to do with using cardboard to seal against metal.
 
anony91xj said:
Some guy did a writeup on the internet a few years back, said they were bad, and it's stuck with internet forums ever since. I've used Fram filters for YEARS, and never seen a problem. In fact, the only oil-filter related problems I've ever seen are double-gasketing (when the old gasket doesn't come down with the filter), and idiots using a wrench to tighten a new filter, thereby putting a hole in it. Both are human errors, never a problem with a filter itself, regardless of what make the filter is...even the crappy Valucraft filters from AutoZone.

But if you poke around enough Internet forums, you'll find that most people don't use Fram filters because of something that they saw/read on the internet. Rarely, if ever, is this info based on firsthand experience. Oh, and ignore the suckers who shell out mega-bucks for K&N or Mobil 1 filters, they must like being ripped off or something.

www.bobistheoilguy.com

Whether or not you "get away with it", it has been demonstrated over and over that Fram filters are shoddily constructed and lack QC. They aren't particularly cheap, either.

Just like the fact that I am "getting away with" using a Rusty's K&N airfilter, even though empirical tests have shown that it DOES let more crap into the engine.

My .02 : just like I choose to run a K&N airfilter, anyone can choose to run Fram oil filters. However, it would be misleading for me to tell anyone that it's "as good as paper". Likewise it would be misleading to those in the market for an oil filter to suggest that Fram quality is as good as the competition.

(FWIW, I use the Purolator PureOne oil filter. It's probably overkill, but for 20% of the price of the oil change (synthetic) the extra peace of mind offsets the worry caused by the K&N airfilter :D)
 
Last edited:
Rick Anderson said:
Check out Marvelous Mystery oil

The marvellous mystery is why do most women think that as long as the car runs, all they need to do is put petrol in it? The idea that the car might need servicing every now and again and the engine need an oil change seems to be lost on them. Then when the car breaks down, they blame it on the manufacturer instead of blaming themselves for neglecting it.
 
Id try changing the oil and replacing one quart w/Marvel Mystery Oil. Had a Pontiac big block that had lifters sticking so bad it was popping back thru the carb. Did about three oil changes w/ MMO in a lil' over a month....it was like getting a new engine. Worth the try.
 
I'm convinced I'm gonna try cleaning this thing from the inside out before I try to start pulling heads. The old guy who helped me diagnose says it ain't worth it but I can't see how it would hurt. At least If I have to tear it down later the oil should be good and clean by the time I install new lifters.

Thanks guys
 
i got my 96 with 95k and i made the mistake of putting a half a bottle of lucas and stopped getting oil pressure in the head. replace with a high flow oil pump and now its nothing but a little noise right after she starts
 
I've had luck with MMO on a Toyota. It only took a little bit to stop it from ticking (it was faint, had just started recently), and I just kept putting a little in whenever I heard it starting to tick. After a few oil changes the ticking had stopped.
 
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