Chriskaw440 Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 My 1990 has 250,000+ miles on the original motor, finally made the took the initiative to flush the engine with Seafoam and followed instructions to the T, now the lifters sound like a metal can full of ball bearings banging away, even after fresh 10w40 synthetic Mobil 1 and Lucas additive. Engine still runs like a scalded dog like it always did, but damn it taps 10 times worse than it ever did....and for a lot longer. I should have skipped on the seafoam sh*t. what little sludge it may have had in the engine sure made it run quieter.....and it never did or does burn any oil. Any suggestions for quieting this thing down? Thanks to the design of the engine, probably best to just get new or rebuilt heads and such. (ps... I just did the oil system flush. Added the right amount of seafoam to the oil, drove it 35 to 50 miles like instructed, drained and added new oil.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismojunky Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 what oil are you running? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriskaw440 Posted November 6, 2009 Author Share Posted November 6, 2009 what oil are you running? 10w40 synthetic Mobil 1 and Lucas additive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismojunky Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 try 5w40 diesel oil and the ticking may also be a manifold leak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriskaw440 Posted November 6, 2009 Author Share Posted November 6, 2009 thanks, not the manifold though. Been through the exhaust manifold replacements aready, it's definitly lifter ticking/tapping sounds. It always had a couple seconds of it at cold start up....then dissipated once the oil circulated fully. Now it last a lot longer and actually happens in "waves", like...gradual light tapping to louder tapping...then stops....then starts over again...then stops....etc etc.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 Synthetic at 250K?? I'd say some castrol high milage 20-50 and a pint of lucas for good luck. That's in the extreme, seriously though, the synth may be too thin and things may need a better flush of oil. I'd try something else... B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunya Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 B may be joking a little about the 20-50 part but I fully agree with some thick regular high mileage oil and a bottle of Lucas. I think that stuff is what keeps my motors from blowing to pieces between the fenders... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriskaw440 Posted November 6, 2009 Author Share Posted November 6, 2009 ....85/90 gear oil should do the trick! ha! I don't know of anything between 10w/40 and 20w/50...... I've heard good things about Lucas heavy duty oil stabilizer and figured it was time to start using it. Definitly nothing thinner oil-wise. Love the engine, still strong as hell and will spin the tires even in 4x4. Just hate the friggin noise now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msavides Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 Are you sure the oil is getting to the head. Look through the oil filler with it running make sure your getting oil to the lifters. Could have taken out the oil pump or the passages got clogged with sludge that was broken up by the treatment. If oil is not getting to the lifters that could be what is causing the ticking. This is very serious Don't run it if your not getting oil to the top of the head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olddirtyrake Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 My 1990 has 250,000+ miles on the original motor, finally made the took the initiative to flush the engine with Seafoam and followed instructions to the T, now the lifters sound like a metal can full of ball bearings banging away, even after fresh 10w40 synthetic Mobil 1 and Lucas additive. burn any oil. Any suggestions for quieting this thing down? Thanks to the design of the engine, probably best to just get new or rebuilt heads and such. ) I just did the head gasket on my 95 pathfinder. It wasn't the worst,but if its just the lifters you probably wont need to pull the heads off. If your paranoid have the heads pressure tested and do the lifters and the rockers. The hardest part of doing this is taking off the air intake and all the wires to get to the lifters. Get a book for your vehicle, take a couple snapshots of where all the wires are going and start disassembling. doing the lifters would take about 12 hours I'd estimate. Like I said I just tore into all of that so if you have any questions feel free to ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriskaw440 Posted November 6, 2009 Author Share Posted November 6, 2009 I just did the head gasket on my 95 pathfinder. It wasn't the worst,but if its just the lifters you probably wont need to pull the heads off. If your paranoid have the heads pressure tested and do the lifters and the rockers. The hardest part of doing this is taking off the air intake and all the wires to get to the lifters. Get a book for your vehicle, take a couple snapshots of where all the wires are going and start disassembling. doing the lifters would take about 12 hours I'd estimate. Like I said I just tore into all of that so if you have any questions feel free to ask. thanks. I've done the knock sensor job all by myself about 2 years ago and that wasn't too bad of a project, also replacing all the gaskets along the way. I may just dive into getting new lifters since I also want to replace the idle air control valve that keeps acting up (but the location of it is a pain...under the plenum....) I'm pretty sure the oil system is fine but going to do some more 'testing' soon. I did exactly that when I did the knock sensor...took photos of where every thing goes first, and labled connections and wires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westslope Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 Why 10W40 Mobil 1 ? Why not the 10W30 Mobil 1 for high-mileage vehicles? (Not that it would make a difference.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriskaw440 Posted November 6, 2009 Author Share Posted November 6, 2009 Why 10W40 Mobil 1 ? Why not the 10W30 Mobil 1 for high-mileage vehicles? (Not that it would make a difference.) I didnt want to go thinner and thought I would try syn to see if it made any noise difference. Just checked inside the valve covers while engine running....oil flows very well so the pump is not an issue. when I used 10w 30 in the past, it was noisier and others have said with high mileaage, go a little heavier for extra protection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beastpath Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 i had some sticking lifters too so just replaced them on the passengers side of the vehicle. you dont need to take the heads off, just make sure the cylinders are at the correct strokes before you un-tighten the rocker shafts. Make sure you soak the lifters properly for at least a day and every once in a while move them about a bit to get any air out. no more tick for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colbywan Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 I use straight valvoline 30w and it even stopped leaking on to my exhaust. Runs great too. But now it's winter I may change to something else, haven't decided for sure yet. -Colby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriskaw440 Posted November 9, 2009 Author Share Posted November 9, 2009 i had some sticking lifters too so just replaced them on the passengers side of the vehicle. you dont need to take the heads off, just make sure the cylinders are at the correct strokes before you un-tighten the rocker shafts. Make sure you soak the lifters properly for at least a day and every once in a while move them about a bit to get any air out. no more tick for me. Thanks Beast....yeah I'm thinking it's time to replace them too. Doesn't look hard at all now that I have researched it in my repair manuals....at least for the passenger side of course since the plenum doesn't have to be removed. In the meantime all I can do is just keep some good oil in there and let it warm up a bit (especially now that its getting colder outside). Once its fully warmed up, the tapping is practically non existant. The passenger side set on mine is also the noisy side. I may just do one side for now, and the drivers side later on since it would be a tad expensive for me to purchase twelve new lifters at once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmaw Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 I use straight valvoline 30w and it even stopped leaking on to my exhaust. Runs great too. But now it's winter I may change to something else, haven't decided for sure yet. -Colby straight 30? hmm might have to give that one a shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeV Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 I guess in a warm climate 30 would work; I wouldn't here though as cold starts would be abusive until the syrup started to warm and flow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismothunder Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 I use straight valvoline 30w and it even stopped leaking on to my exhaust. Runs great too. But now it's winter I may change to something else, haven't decided for sure yet. -Colby So...with straght 30 does it start when it wants too? I hope your using detergent 30 and not none-detergent 30... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channel595 Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 you could have broke some carbon loose with the sea foam and then sucked it up and clogged the oil pick up screen, i would check the oil pressure... my truck has the intermittent lifter noise in "waves" too imo it was due to the oil pressure fluctuating a little with worn lifters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dowser Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Dug this up since I knew I had this issue myself on 2 of the 3 pathfinders I owned. I've never done the job personally but this write up was as good as it could get. Good luck. Let us Know how it turns out and add some photo's of your own experience to help us all. Never know when an Old thread will be used to help someone out in the future. Lifter Swap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriskaw440 Posted November 11, 2009 Author Share Posted November 11, 2009 you could have broke some carbon loose with the sea foam and then sucked it up and clogged the oil pick up screen, i would check the oil pressure... my truck has the intermittent lifter noise in "waves" too imo it was due to the oil pressure fluctuating a little with worn lifters. seafoam 'claims' it liquifies any gunk/carbon build up...but I do find that kind of hard to believe. I'm still banking on the possibility that the flushing just cleared out a lot of the build up (which was probably muffling a bit of engine noise) and now that its cleaner, its noisier as its revealing sounds of worn lifters....which after 250,000 + miles, I'm not all that surprised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeV Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Seafoam works well in my opinion: But when I add it to my oil before a change; I never put the engine under load (aka let it idle) After I am done draining the oil; I run some Marvel mystery oil (you can use cheap oil) thru with the drain plug still out to "rinse" more of the crap/leftover seafoam out. (a quart or 2) then fill her back up. I just refuse to run an engine under load with thinned out oil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westslope Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 According to the instructions on the kleen-flo engine flush bottle, one is supposed to fill, idle 5 minutes and drain. Like MikeV says: flush with no load on the engine. Costs less than Seafoam. Cris, maybe you should do a second engine flush? Just a suggestion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriskaw440 Posted November 14, 2009 Author Share Posted November 14, 2009 According to the instructions on the kleen-flo engine flush bottle, one is supposed to fill, idle 5 minutes and drain. Like MikeV says: flush with no load on the engine. Costs less than Seafoam. Cris, maybe you should do a second engine flush? Just a suggestion. Thanks for the tips, yeah I was thinking about running a second flush through this weekend but now like you guys suggested....just let it idle for a few instead of driving it (like the seafoam directions say to do). Im not expecting miracles with 250,000+ miles but just a wee bit quieter (like it was) would be nice I'm tired now though so maybe after a good long nap..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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