Lifter chatter

I started my 94 Cherokee 4.0 sport this morning and as usual, I hear the 3 second chatter of the lifters, but this time it sounded like one was not pumping up correctly. I shut it down than started it back up, same thing. That one lifter noise soon went away as the engine warmed up.
When I got home this afternoon, I pulled the valve cover off to investigate. Everything appeared normal at first glance. I grabbed each push rod with my fingers and all but three turned without much effort at all? Is this Normal?
When I bought the jeep a year ago the seller told me that he had rebuilt the engine himself and had a machine shop do all the normal machine work. He said the engine maybe had about 10,000 miles on it.
Just wondering if the pushrods are too short?
Thanks in advance.

What brand of oil filter are you using?

How sludgy was it under the valve cover?

Mobil 1 oil filter, nice and clean.

As far as I know that is normal. That is the way mine are. The ones that will not move are under heavy spring pressure holding a valve open.

If I remember right from a past build on my wrangler, you turn each pushrod and tighten the nut until you get zero lash, than tighten to specific torque. I was thinking that too short of pushrods might have been used causing valve chatter at startup? Something is causing that chatter, my wrangler never does that.

The 4.0 rocker / rod lash is not adjustable.

I found that running the engine at near 4000 rpm periodically, when warmed up, seems to unstick the stuck lifters making that noise, and gets them rotating again. I think it is varnish-wax condensing on the lifters in cold spells that causes them to stick making the common lifter tick noise on the 4.0s.

Also check that the rockers are not side loading the valve stem. I had to straighten a few on mine recently, and that helped too.

Thanks for the replies!
I took the day off of work today to track down the source of the noise.
The motor itself with the miles I've put on it within the last year equals about 20,000, and it appears that way by how clean everything looks.
I turned the crank to tdc of the compression stroke and removed the rockers and pushrods for inspection on #1 cylinder. Everything looked nice and clean. The only thing that was off a small bit was the contact point of the valve stem to the rocker, just a small bit to one side but still making full contact. I reinstalled everything and checked preload, 3/4 of a turn with the torque wrench at zero lash, perfect! All other rockers appear to be in good contact with the valves as well.
Does anyone have any other ideas for things to check before I reinstall the cover?
Maybe the 3 second chatter at startup when cold is nothing to worry about.

Might make sure the oil filter has a working anti-drain back valve to ensure the engine gets oil immediately. That can be issue too. But I suspect rocker alignment, slop, and varnish/wax are the issues. We sometimes use MMO as an additive to slowly clean up varnish.

Have you changed oil brands or specs? That can cause it too.

It has always had this statup noise cold since I have owned it, many filters charges.

Well I put each cylinder at tdc and checked the lifter preload for each one, 1/2 to 1 full turn each until I got to #2 intake. This lifter only takes about 1/4 " turn and I hit 21lbs of torque. I pulled the rockers off and switched the pushrod with one that was .025 Longer. Same problem. I also noticed this lifter was alot more spongy than the rest. I think I found the problem. Is a tear down and replacement my only option?

Thehowler said:

It has always had this statup noise cold since I have owned it, many filters charges.

Click to expand...

Mine had a loud cold start up lifter / rocker tick racket, and after about 60,000 miles and 6 years it is pretty quiet now except for a very cold first morning start at worst.
I used MMO off and on, Lucas mixed with MMO, and most recently changed the oil-valve seals on just two cylinders (Oil was fouling the plugs finally) and added some Restore.

The MMO and running the engine at 4000 rpm periodically for about 60 seconds did more than anything to solve the problem. All it takes is a little smudge of crap on the lifter wall to make then stick. The 4000 rpm trick seems to get them rotating again, and unsticks them. The tick is a very common, non fatal issue with the 4.0

Mine has 281,000 miles on it, 1987 XJ Wagoneer.

Well that sounds like a good idea with the MMO. Just got through buttoning everything back up and I will give that a try.
Thanks, Greg.

When I bought mine (87 Renix) the TPS had issues and at WOT it never got over about 1300 RPM. Driven in local commuter traffic, short, very hot trips (had cooling issues too), it got slugged up pretty good by the PO.

Took me a long while to debug everything. By the time I got the majority issues solved it had been run for years at 700-1300 rpm. So it needed cleaning and loosening up badly.

The main engine is about the only thing on this jeep that has not been replaced, swapped or rebuilt.