dallasite21

I have rebuilt my olds 350, but I could not get it to start after the rebuild. Turns out I had a bent valve and some bent pushrods. After I took the heads off I noticed that exactly 8 of the lifters were seized up and would not depress, the others worked fine. All the lifters are new and don't have a mile on them. I soaked them all in oil for 2 hours before installation and they all depressed fine at that point. So, is it normal for them to stop depressing, and if not ... what could have caused 8 of them to fail so quick. All I have done is crank the engine in an attempt to get it started.

rustyroger

After soaking the lifters did you fully depress them before installing?.
If not you have assembled them fully pumped, they should be assembled empty and will fill with the oil they require after startup. They will clatter for a short while until they fill up with however much oil they need. They need a lot of pressure do force oil out once they are full, I nomally do it in a vise (using appropriate soft covers over the jaws of course).
An expensive lesson if this is the case.
Roger.

dc2x4drvr

If you really bent a valve you might have a bigger problem, did you check the valve to piston clearance before you assembled the motor? Are we assuming a stock valve train? Cam specs?

442scotty

There was info out there a long time ago that you had to soak the lifters then pump them up by hand before install...I dont know how that crap ever got put on the internet..It may have even been in an old rodding magazine at one time...Totally the wrong thing to do...I can say this first hand having done it myself ...assembly lube and put them in dry...

dallasite21

I did not depress the lifters after soaking so if that is an issue I am guilty as charged. I also did not check the valve to piston clearance, however i do recall something now that may be the problem. I had a guy who was supposed to be rebuilding the enginefor me but he was a hack and stopped showing up to do the work. Thats when I decided to just start over and do it myself. I did notice that the engine would not turn over based on the work he had done. Come to find out he had piston heads turned the wrong way, rod caps mixed up and all kinds of other stuff. After reworking everything, everything turned over fine no friction or anything. Im guessing that cranking on the engine when it wouldnt turn over is what bent my valve and rods. Him having the pistons turned the wrong way could have caued a clearance issue. I have stock cam, heads and pistons so I would think the piston valve clearance shouldnt be an issue.

coppercutlass

i never soak the lifters specially if you used adjustable valve train proper valve lash for initial start up is crutial with the lifters pumped up its very hard to get a proper lash reading i dont think having the pistons backwars would bend your push rods just turning it by hand they are turned by the cam which is turned of the crank you could have damadged the bearings but i doubt the push rods or valves., i did that mistake once i learned from it luckily i caught it but if you bent a valve and a push rod something might be wrong in the head like a sticking valve i had this happen to me on a chevy me and buddy built for his el camino local machine shop screwed up cut the seats wrong we bent pushrods and valves also if the heads where milled those non adjustable rockres have to be shimmed if the heads are shaved it makes them a little bit longer depending on how much you had milled couple of thousanths is ok more than .010 is where you might have issues hitting the pistons depending on you're deck height if you're lifters are shot thats the issue but could be something else take the lifters out let them drain and try to pump em

Fastbrianman

Remember KISS If the jack leg working on your car was that smart I will bet he had the timing chain off a couple of teeth.

That will cause the valves to hit pistons and the damage you experienced.
If you have a non adjustable valve train with a stock cam, pumping or not pumping the lifters should be a non issue. Machine work and the valve job/head work not being done right could be an issue.

Check your lifters like coppercutlass advised but i would be suspect of everything in the valve train till it checked out ok.