5L lifter noise/Oil issue

[T-rex]

Hey all, so a blunder that I overlooked is that in Canberra winter its probably a bit cold for my oil, and on starting for about 5 seconds on a real cold morning there would be a clacky noise from the top of the engine, now if i have the car idling whether hot or cold I can hear a rattly noise from the top of the engine in the lifter area that dosent follow a steady tone.

Now the oil I use is penrite HPR30 20-60 which I'm now thinking is a bit thick for the cold and so I went into repco to try find something more suitable, they talked me into repco brand 15-40 cause its made by penrite anyway. I forgot to get a new filter so I didnt change it and researching into it its not quite the same as actual penrite it seems so I don't want to put it into my car now.

What I'm asking is what should I take their oil back and go somewhere else cause I was really looking for HPR 15 15-50/60, but they only had HPR 15 20/60, but is it a bad idea to use semi synth in a 5L, if so what should I change to? And lastly have I done something bad to something internal in the engine?

cheers.

[Brett_jjj]

For a few years now in my VS V6 Ive used the penrite HPR 15 oil, which is a semi synthetic 15W- 60 oil,this oil is a bit thinner than the recommended 20W-50 oil when cold ,this helps the oil pressure come up quicker so you get less engine wear at cold startup.It also stays a bit thicker than the 20W-50 stuff when its hot,so it offers better protection in hot weather too.Ive since started using the full synthetic mobil 1 15w-50..but Id definitely recommend the HPR 15 oil..

[oska]

i've recently changed to HPR15 and it is a truly amazing oil and the engine is so quite now. i was using magnatec 10w40

if you don't want to use the repco oil and you haven't opened it take it back and exchange it for some filters and flush

give it an oil flush and then try the HPR15, you don't mention how may K's the engine has done

mine is now @213K's and running on gas from 196K's

[T-rex]

Cheers for the replies, its has 212xxx on it and runs fine apart from the aforementioned noise it has now, the only thing that I'm majorly stressing over with the oil is whether the 304 can take semi synth because I'm not 100% on it, I did grab some flush while I was there, I just wasn't thinking I'd need a new filter cause I only changed the oil/filter 2-3 thousand k's but on the flush it said change filter.

Edit: was still searching while made post, it can take semi so I will go get some HPR15 15-60 tomorrow, now if someone knows about the whats happened in the valve train (i think), I'm all ears.

[50LTRv8]

I had a bit of noise in my car from the lifters and the flush fixed it right up, I also live in Canberra and have just swapped to penrite HPR 15 from GTX3. It seems to be fine and haven't had any issues.

[T-rex]

Cool, thanks for the replies guys. I must also be retarded because repco had the hpr 15 that I wanted, they must have stocked wrong I swear it. Pretty sure that noise from the engine is louder and more of a constant tick now FML, and I forgot to get a new filter so I cant change it tonight which I was going to after hearing it.

[VR028]

ive heard alot of 5ls oil pickups can get blocked if u use an oil flush. i used nulon lifter free and that worked beautifully. i use 15w-40 all year round on a 255,xxx engine no problems

[VrWagz1]

I've had alot of success with this in the past ----> Lucas Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer : Lucas Oil for quitening down engines. Its really sticky stuff, it basically helps the oil stick to your engine components overnight so they dont get dry and give you those dry ticky starts. I havent had to use it in my 5ltr so have a read of it first and see if its suitable, but i used it in a magna, excel, new camry, pajero.
I wouldnt worry to much about all the magic claims of better millage ect.. but it def helps your oil stick a bit. Supercheap stocks it if you got one near you.

[calais24/7]

Ive just changed my oil and put the 20-60 in from penrite, i havnt had any problems so far, the lifters are a bit ticky but you can't hear it unless you open the bonnet

[T-rex]

Thanks for the replies, I might go suss out some of the lifter treatments but I'm not super keen on adding a lot of that kind of stuff to the engine. I'm not gonna stress out to much about the oil pick up because I'm pretty certain the engine was pretty clean internally when I got it, but I'll keep an eye/ear out in case. Also managed to finally change the oil tonight as well, seems to start easier. And I can hear the injectors ticking away but on top of that theres the ticky/rattling noise from the lifter area on the passenger side of the engine, thats the only bit I'm worried about and you can hear that bonnet up or down its very faint but its about the same volume either way.

[VR028]

another thing that can cause a noise like that are exhaust manifold gaskets. check your gaskets if all else fails

[T-rex]

Ah will do, its all done in gasket goo so that could be a possibility.

Edit: had a look/listen, the noise is definitely inside the engine.