Noisy Lifters

[whitevrboi]

Hey guys, i got extractors and exhaust done about a week ago on my VR and have been driving it pretty heavily since, over the last couple of days there has been a ticking/tapping sound coming from the engine. I narrowed it down to the top of the engine just where the injectors are and with each pulse of the injector there is a tick. After doing some reading on here i thought it might be my lifters sticking so i bought some engine treatment stuff that was meant to free em up, put that in ran it for a little while then changed my oil twice (i like to be thorough) but the noise is still there, if not worse.

Does anyone know what else it could be? And how hard would it be for me to change them myself? I do a little bit of work on my car and would rather do it myself and learn how its done that pay someone else to do it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Cheers Jack

[300kwv6]

Hi Jack,

It sounds like your lifers. Does it sound a bit like this youtube video??

YouTube - Broken hydraulic lifters

To replace them is fairly straight forward. Drop the coolant, remove fuel rail, inlet manifold, rocker cover, rocker gear, push rods. Once inlet manifold is off they are directly infront of you. They have a plastic strip that keeps them alligned, so that needs to come off aswell. Remove all 12 lifters, I think you can get them checked but there isnt much point. Lube up new ones and fit everything back to the engine.

All should be tickerdeboo.

[hako]

Seeing as you just had extractors etc done I'd concentrate on them - a very slight leak from the exhaust gasket can sound like a tap and be in time with the injector. Use a garden hose as a stethoscope to locate it.
Good Luck.

[black as]

Check again that the tappet noise isn't coming from the extractor area because no one knows there car better than the owner on new noises that appear. It is common when you remove a standard exhaust manifold and fit extractors that you exacerbate the sound of your valves opening and closing and magnify themselves through the pipes of your extractors. Not saying this is the problem as it could be your lifters but something you should check. Use a big screw driver against your ear and place the other end on the noisy area and should give you some sort of idea. I noticed the same on my 5.7 litre and when I put on a set of extractors and its a quite normal sound.

[whitevrboi]

300kwv6 yea mate it sounds exactly like that, i bought some new lifters today for $20 each (after being quoted $114 each from holden ) I was thinking it may have been my extractors leaking somewhere but the noise has gotten a lil worse after a fairly hard drive home from work and its definetly a bad tapping sound, so bad that i didnt want to drive it at all today. I will check again tomorrow to makesure its not the extractors though.

Just a couple more questions...I've got all day tomorrow off so i'm gonna take off the rocker covers and inlet manifold and have a looksee and will decide then whether i'd be able to do it or not, what do i use to lube em up with? just engine oil? and are there any set measurements of anything that i take out or a particular order in which they have to go back in? I have fairly basic tools but wouldnt mind giving it a go if i could...If anyone could provide a bit of a 'how to' on it that'd be greatly appreciated.

Thank you everyone who has had input so far and to anyone else who wil be.

Cheers Jack.

[[p]wrr-247]

yer i need a bit of help on this subject 2 i need 2 replace my lifters car sounds like a bloody truck not a commodore anyways just wondering were did you get your lifters from for 20 each

[maldotcom2]

Ebay. I made this mistake of thinking it was the lifters. After fitting new lifters it was exactly the same. I reckon it's the valves.

[whitevrboi]

i ended up takin mine back to the exhaust palce n they had forgotten to put a bolt in on the y-piece and the other had worked itself loose so they tightened it up n its been sweet since. i odered mine from repco

[maldotcom2]

I suppose it's possible the extractors could be cracked. Can they be pressure tested?

[shiftySLE]

if your lifters are gone, good chance the cams chopped out as well, usually you would do both, very rarely if ever do lifters go in a couple of hard drives, I'd say the sound is extractors, take it to the exhaust joint and tell them to change the gaskets or double gasket.

[Jezmont]

How many k's your engine done? I had extractors put on to my VR V6 and had the same issue about a week later, then after making sure I put treatment in the engine and changed the oil etc the engine siezed in the next few days. Opened it up and the lifters were gone the cam was also stuffed. I'd check it out.

[CommodoreMan]

also it could be a rocker arm that is loose they sound very similar.

[whitevrboi]

its all good. it was a loose connection on my extractors.