Good evening all,

Just started up my '66 Toronado for the first time in a few weeks and I could tell when it was cranking that I had a cylinder not contributing. When the engine fired up, it was obviously missing and I heard what sounded like a pretty significant lifter tick. Fishing around, it sounded like it was the #1 cylinder so I pulled the plug wire and it didn't seem to make much of a difference to the engine so it certainly seemed like that was the one.

Shut the engine off and pulled the plug. All looked normal so I put it back in and started the engine. Less tick this time and running a bit smoother. As it ran it got quieter and quieter and it eventually smoothed out and the tick went away. It ran perfectly fine after this. The noise lasted for maybe 2 mins of running time total.

So, it certainly seems like I had a stuck lifter right that freed itself with a bit of heat and lubrication? The oil is 10W-30 Rotella and Wix filter changed back in the fall.

Here's the thing though. A few days ago I decided to check the harmonic balancer TDC marks and I rolled the engine over by hand with a ratchet a few times. I used a small wooden dowel down on the piston top to watch for the max travel to check TDC. Could I have done something here to mess it up?? It seems awfully co-incidental that I was just messing with the #1 cylinder and I end up with a miss in that cylinder for a minute. Maybe I dislodged some carbon or something?? Looking at the dowel, it doesn't look like I broke any of the wood off in the cylinder.

 

Many many years ago I had a lifter in my Chevelle that would do the same thing every once in a while. It would make a racket unless I shut it off and let it sit for a few minutes and then it would be fine. I wouldnt worry about it very much. All it takes is the slightest little piece of dirt to stick it.

I cant imagine how your checking tdc would have done it.

Stop worrying and keep on driving

 

Ok that's good to know. It just seems like everytime I do something with this car I end up with some kind of strange problem afterwards.

I should have mentioned too that I had a smoke machine hooked up to the intake for a few minutes yesterday as well. I was double checking for vacuum leaks. I wonder if the air pressure blew something into the lifter? I have it regulated to 0.5 PSI though so that's pretty weak. Still, pretty weird coincidence on that #1 cylinder.

 

Agree, you should be fine. If it persists then maybe dig into it but not yet. Also agree that you didn't do anything to cause the problem.

Drive it a lot and get it hot. Avoid short trips and start ups.

 

Smoke machine would not have gotten into the lifter Stop worrying, just coincidence

 

You guys always know just what to say to me.

 

I would dump a bottle of Rislone engine treatment to your oil.

 

Yeah, I might try that if it persists.

So fellers, just wondering what actually causes "lifter tick"? The lifter, when malfunctioning, is collapsed right? Which makes the valves inoperative, correct? So what's making the "ticking" sound?

 

The clicking noise is caused by the valvetrain on that camshaft to lifter, lifter to pushrod, pushrod to rocker arm and rocker arm to valve stem having too much clearance. It is the equivalent of having a valve on an adjustable valve train that is too loose. This clearance causes the components to hit one another every time the camshaft lifts to open that valve instead of the components riding against each other under a pre-load.

If the valve cover was off at the same time the lifter wasn't pumped up the valve train components would feel a lot looser on that pushrod/rocker than the others.

 

Excellent, that makes sense. Thanks for this info!

 

So I tried it this evening for the first time in a couple of days. Had a little gallop when cranking and it fired up with a decent tick that eventually went away after a couple of minutes of running. So there's no doubt about it, I definitely have something going on. I'll try draining a quart of oil and replacing it with ATF or something like that first and see where it gets me.

If I have no luck with these steps, what am I into? A set of lifters? Or should I just change out the #1 cylinder lifters?

 

I would drive it 20 miles first and see what happens. If it still keeps it up and you feel like pulling the intake what I would do is pull that lifter and take it apart and clean it out real good. Putting a new lifter on a used camshaft is just asking for trouble, especially with the lifters available now days

But I would put some miles on it first and see if it cleans itself out.

 

Okay, that's what I'll do thanks for the advice.

 

Sorry, questions keep popping into my head. Just curious if sticking lifters would cause the gallop I hear when I'm cranking?

 

Don't use ATF, use Rislone and don't drive it, let it idle awhile, 20-30 minutes and drain. Refill with your favorite Dino and go for a ride.
If that doesn't work, pull the intake and go from there.

 

You can use transmission fluid, just don’t drive it real hard. Transmission fluid by design has lots of detergents, by nature it’s also much thinner than engine oil.

Take it for a gentle 25-30 drive, change the oil and see what happens.

 

Okay, I'll try this first. Do you drain any oil out or just add that stuff and go for it?
*Edit* never mind, I looked it up on their website.

 

You could always go to 20W50 as a band aid. That would probably silence the lifter tick. If you eventually remove the intake manifold I'd replace the lifters and pushrods as a set. As mentioned, that opens up a can of MAWs though. Why not replace the cam and timing set while you're at it?

 

I know, you guys are giving very wise advice. I guess, for now, I'll try all the band-aid solutions first and see how it goes. Doing a cam is an engine out job and I'm definitely up for a challenge but I'll have to cross that road when I get to it. I think pulling and cleaning the lifters is about as far as I'd like to go this year.

 

I'm with trying an additive first for the short term. If lifters are removed they must go back exactly in the lifter bore/cam lobe from which they came. Same goes for disassembly and cleaning, don't interchange parts between lifters particularly the lifter body and piston. Lacquer thinner works well for cleaning.

 

In all honesty, if the ATF doesn’t work, I think I’d let it go. I don’t know if I’d be willing to tear into an engine that runs well, just for a lifter tick that stops after a couple minutes.

 

I'm definitely inclined to agree. I just put the Rislone in and started it up. No gallop this time and the tick went away about 3 seconds after startup. Have it idling here now and it seems very quiet. I guess having it running for a bit yesterday helped it.

I'll drain and refill with some fresh oil and filter next.