Sticky Lifter vs. Collapsed Lifter

I heard kerosene would help that. Ive never tried it. The MMO worked in my Jeep. Pulling the head and replacing the lifters should only take a day if nothing goes wrong.

88XJSport said:

I currently have a half a can of seafoam in the crankcase now. Been there 2 weeks, and most people say leave it in there for 20 miles...???

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Correction, had a 1/2 can of seafoam. Seafoam is very volatile, evaporates pretty quickly at engine oil operating temperatures. It is used for fuel injector cleaner.

Ecomike said:

Correction, had a 1/2 can of seafoam. Seafoam is very volatile, evaporates pretty quickly at engine oil operating temperatures. It is used for fuel injector cleaner.

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Thanks! Next time I wont follow the directions on the can.

Anyways, if it did evaporate, its not there anymore... I might as well try ATF.

88XJSport said:

Thanks! Next time I wont follow the directions on the can.

Anyways, if it did evaporate, its not there anymore... I might as well try ATF.

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When I first started working on mine, MMO alone made it more noisy in the summer, MMO plus Lucas (heavy body additive), brought the noise level way down. The MMO lowers the viscosity, the Lucas raises the viscosity. So you get the viscisity back up, plus the solvent/detergency of MMO.

I also got cleaning results with Lucas plus synthetic, but the synthetic cleaned all my non leaking gasket seals and made them leak.

Might try one quart of mobil 1 synthetic plus a quart of Lucas next.

I read recently that ATF is not as aggresive a cleaner as some think, and it is not that great an engine lube as it uses friction modifiers to ensure that clutches do not slip in a tranny. I would not use ATF in an engine.

I would either try MMO plus Lucas next or Mobil 1 ( just 1 quart) plus 1 quart of Lucas. Use the Dyno Lucas, not synthetic Lucas.

There is a 10 minute engine flush, yellow can, I forget the brand, it is an aggressive solvent based flush for use just before changing the oil. 1 quart of diesel fuel, especially B-100 biodiesel is another 10 minute engine flush option.

Thanks for the advice! Now I just need to find time in my schedule to try this. :laugh:

You still need to replace the exhaust manifold ...

Muad'Dib said:

You still need to replace the exhaust manifold ...

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I still cant imagine how a heated up manifold (expanded) can mimmick a lifter tick.

I understand when the engine is cold, the manifold can sound like a lifter, but not when the engine is warm...

88XJSport said:

I still cant imagine how a heated up manifold (expanded) can mimmick a lifter tick.

I understand when the engine is cold, the manifold can sound like a lifter, but not when the engine is warm...

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i can mimmick a lifter tick if its cracked or leaking

89xj said:

i can mimmick a lifter tick if its cracked or leaking

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X2 mine is doing that now. It sounds just like a lifter tick but I know it is a cracked manifold. When I put in seafoam in the vac hose(to de carbon the motor) and it smoked out from the manifold, I found out it was a cracked manifold. I really should change it out. The manifold that is.

Can a manifold tick come and go like mine does???????

It seems the tick is right near the valve cover.....but then again so is the manifold...

So does it come and go, or is a manifold tick constant?

88XJSport said:

Can a manifold tick come and go like mine does???????

It seems the tick is right near the valve cover.....but then again so is the manifold...

So does it come and go, or is a manifold tick constant?

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In Short .. not always.

Its usually consistant, but in my case it would come and go.

I'd just take a progressive approach to lifter, if it does unstick there's still a chance of ressurection.TLC
You should replace manifold regardless. Not doing so WILL cause further problems much sooner than sticky lifter. Also restores a lot of power.
How are your motor mounts? Especially drivers side.
The escape of exhaust gasses pre O2 sensor will make the sensor read lean.
The ECU will compensate and run the engine rich.
Which in turn melted my cat.
I ended up having to replace whole exhaust from front to back.

It seems that after running 2 sessions of a quart of trans fluid and 5 qts of oil for the past 1000 miles, (500 each) seems to have quieted the noise down about 50%. The noise is still there, but will still come and go as pleases. When I rev the engine to about 4000, it will stop ticking. Also, just idling, makes the noise disappear as well.

When the ticking is going on, there is a definate change in the exhaust note, and the engine faintly chugs. Ive determined with a stethescope, that the noise is directly under the valve cover, and after changing my exhauhst manifold like people insisted on, didnt help the ticking lifter.

Would It be easier to just swap a new head on the block? Rather than mess with new lifters, etc? Any other suggestions?

The hydraulic lifters are not in the head, they are in the block just under the head, sitting on the cam shaft. The lifters can be extracted using a telescopic magnetic pick up tool. I think the head must come off to get clearance to remove the lifters.

88XJSport said:

It seems that after running 2 sessions of a quart of trans fluid and 5 qts of oil for the past 1000 miles, (500 each) seems to have quieted the noise down about 50%. The noise is still there, but will still come and go as pleases. When I rev the engine to about 4000, it will stop ticking. Also, just idling, makes the noise disappear as well.

When the ticking is going on, there is a definate change in the exhaust note, and the engine faintly chugs. Ive determined with a stethescope, that the noise is directly under the valve cover, and after changing my exhauhst manifold like people insisted on, didnt help the ticking lifter.

Would It be easier to just swap a new head on the block? Rather than mess with new lifters, etc? Any other suggestions?

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UPDATE:

Turns out that it was not a cracked manifold problem, or anything that an oil additive used in the oil could fix.

As I was growing more pissed off at my 4.0 as the days went on, (been ticking since Oct 07) and after a straight year of MMO, type F ATF, cans of seafoam in the oil, (sometimes as low as 3 qts of normal oil, and a cluster**** of additives and changing my manifold... nothing was close to improving the issue.

Last week I bought another can of seafoam, and instead of throwing the whole can in the oil, I sucked the whole thing into the intake. Took about a minute to use the whole can. I let it sit a half hour. When I fired it up, it didnt tick at first, but when I went to rev the engine to start clearing the smoke, it went "tap-tap-ta" and it was gone. As soon as the smoke cleared, I drove around for a half hour in silence. I can't tell you how many times at red lights I had to look at my tach to see if the engine was still on.

It has been 2 weeks, and I have not had my engine tap since I used one can of foam in the intake.

All I hear at idle now is my injectors and my noisy HB.

Question: What was ticking that mimmicked a lifter tap? Im guessing carbon buildup on valves...anyone?

So thats it, I officially love my 4.0 again. It'll be nice when the girls wont keep reminding me that my Jeep sounds like a ticking time bomb.

The engine's at 186k, and its not "still ticking" as the saying goes...and I couldnt be happier.

Bump....?

valve may not have been closing all the way giving possible poor performance(lack of compression in that cyl.) Hopefully not an ex. valve possibly burning valve, but could explain tick from combustion in cyl and gasses passing through.
That's my best assumption.

And you've been bumped for next best answer

I had a tick once from a loose spark plug. Possibly the SF blew into the loose threads & sealed them? I spent a lot of time screwing with lifters on that occasion and only after a long time happened to wiggle the spark plug & find it loose.

If the sea foam was pushed into some crack or other, maybe a bad exhaust gasket(?) and sealed it, kind of like caramelized sugar, don't be surprised if it eventually burns off & the tap returns. At least you have an idea that it's not a lifter but something else.

Keep with Synthetic to keep internals clean.
Inside of oil sump in pan sparkled when changing RMS

Harlee&Tahoe said:

valve may not have been closing all the way giving possible poor performance(lack of compression in that cyl.) Hopefully not an ex. valve possibly burning valve, but could explain tick from combustion in cyl and gasses passing through.
That's my best assumption.

And you've been bumped for next best answer

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This makes sense. I figured it was a valve sticking, since I have been running rich (remember my cracked manifold??) and the engine was exposed to excess carbon.