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They are slightly more reliable than the other stock lifters, but this is because of the slightly better quality bearings on them. All the OEM ones are nowhere near as good as the Johnson ones though.

In Melbourne, where I am, winter regularly sees me starting at 5am, with a temperature of -2 - 3°C. Those are cold starts. Tas gets as cold or colder. You may refer to my previous post:

There are a lot of reports of LS7 lifter failure, even out of the box. A simple google search yields hundreds of results. I recommend researching the topic if you're interested. The Johnson lifters are generally regarded as the option for people who want reliability.

If anyone is curious why this is; putting a fluid under pressure increases its temperature. More pressure, more friction, more temperature. Anyone who knows about building motors, especially for drag applications, can tell you more about this. For example:

o_O Christ

The early (by which you mean Buick/Ecotec)V6 is not the LS. Gen III-IV motors are known for lifter failure for a reason.

Yeah that's a good reason to go up a weight. Lifter noise is definitely cause for concern though, all the OEM lifters even the LS7s are basically made of cheese. Was it coming through the valve seals?

I'm not trying to start an argument either, just curious: why would you want to run your lifters totally bled for a few extra seconds on start up? Aside from that, do you know what your oil pressure and temps are like?

I'm also running LS7 lifters. It depends on the climate, but on very cold starts, the GM lifters tend not to like anything thicker than a 5w and have trouble pumping up. If you're in an extremely hot area (Darwin for instance), it's probably fine. If not, I'd probably have a look at that oil...

Yes, hence this thread about going from 5w30 to 5w40 after 300,000. Honestly on LS, 200,000 doesn't generally warrant a change in weight when stock. There are lots of 300,000+ motors running 5w30 too. Even at 300,000, my oil pressure was well above minimum. I'm just playing it extra safe. It's...

Thicker oils (especially in the cold weight) are inadvisable for stock LS motors. Built motors are a different story, you should run whatever is appropriate for your bearing clearance. Some people want massive pressure to overcome big bearing clearances for drag motors. That's fine. Not ideal...

Good find, this is a common problem and I've known a few people who have thrown parts at it.

How much steering lock? Does the noise happen when steering or when travelling over bumps?

Yeah that's it mate. Without doing the cam bearings as a precaution, best option is to go up in the main (not winter) weight of oil.

We're now at a point where there isn't any unusual behaviour from the motor, nothing strange has been in the oil, and there are no strange noises - I'm gonna leave the cam bearings alone for now. Cheers.

Correct, and of course as bearings wear you will see a gradual decrease in pressure. The key thing is to make sure to catch problems like prematurely wearing bearings before they fail. A great way to do this is to have your oil analysed. This has been done for this motor. The wear components in...

Yeah the cam bearings are a known weak point in all-OEM LS motors. That said, mine are performing fine (no strange noises or behaviour), and oil pressure is within spec, so not going to mess with it. No doubt the motor will need work before 400k just from sheer age, will deal with that then.

Yeah I'd sooner replace bearings than go higher than 5w-40 with OEM lifters, have heard many stories about the OEM lifters hating thicker oils. I'd imagine the main bearings have also worn a bit, it's done a lot of Ks.

This is when using the electronic pressure sensor the motor is fitted with from factory. It is within spec, spec shown below. (running ~13.8psi@700rpm)

Reading has been very stable when I've logged the readings over the past service period. It's a possibility for sure, though as it's old. The pressure light doesn't trigger on days under 28°, and even then only in stop-start traffic for extended periods. If the 5w40 doesn't resolve it I will...

Thanks for the answers guys, gonna go with the 5w40 from Penrite tomorrow.

Hey JC, I see a lot of folks with V8 VEs here are running 5w30, some (primarily people with internal mods) are running higher (from 10w40 - 20w60). My motor is stock apart from LS7 lifters. It's very high miles (coming up on 300k), but runs extremely well and has been maintained meticulously. I...

Update: had a good mess around with the hinge and it seems to be doing its job, the strap is a bit noisy but giving the door a lot of force in any direction when closed doesn't seem to make any noise. Perhaps windscreen adhesive has partially let go on the A pillar. Lubing the screen seal under...

Wow, great find - thanks very much mate. I'll give the hinges a more thorough inspection at work on Monday and most likely grab a hinge from that site. Will update here as I go so anyone else trying to track down similar issues in future can get the info. Oh yeah, I didn't change them for this...

Polylast, the 1590AK with the bigger VF bearings. Very happy with them, nice and soft and feel great. By "no improvement" I meant in regards to the door noise, the car drives much better with these bushings and bearings than it did with the OEM ones. That's a real drag. The manual mentions a...

I've just replaced the front struts and top bushings with KYB & superpro. No improvement. I think you may be on the money with the hinges. Can the hinge pins be replaced without replacing the hinge as a whole? If so might be best to just do it anyway for maintenance purposes.

I've greased the hinge pins, though obviously as they're a bolt-in part worst case I could replace one. There is a click on opening the door, but I'd be surprised if that's the source of the noise with the door latched closed. Are you sure this could be the cause? If it is I'll track down a good...

Still no improvement, can't seem to localise it any further but it's definitely in the a pillar on drivers side.

Nope - not the windshield. Exactly the same with or without lubrication. This bloody thing is driving me mad!

I have not in the time I've owned the car. EDIT: looking through some forum posts I'm surprised to see the windscreen can creak in some of these cars. Still, according to posts in here, it seems it's common at the top of the windscreen. This sound seems like it's lower down than that, though I...

Update: replaced all the clips in the drip rail with brand new ones & reinstalled. Noise persists. Also replaced all triangular clips in trim with brand new ones to be thorough. Ordered new outer upper door seal. This is the only remaining seal on that corner of the car that hasn't been...

Yes, it is the revision with the little plastic section on it. I have tried the tape trick as well, just to be sure. A little bit of tape does make the door sound nicer when closing, though!

Update: lubed the strap and hinges with motor oil and applied the Glym brand trim gel (since it's got lots of recommendations here on JC). No dice, noise persists. Upon close inspection of the surrounding area, the trim above the door has got 2 broken clips which is letting it sag ever so...

I've done silicone lube on the seals but haven't lubed the hinges or strap as the noise occurs with the door closed and car moving only. Still, I'll give em a go, thanks for the suggestion. Was this for noises with the door closed only? I'll give it a go and report back anyway.

Yes, the sound occurs with the window at any position - also replaced window seals semi-recently as they were aged. Thanks for the suggestion.

G'day, My VE has the most irritating creak in the driver's door. It sounds more like a "crack" than a creak. I've replaced the main door seal, I've tried moving the striker plate, I've tried the tape on the striker, I've tried oiling and greasing the seals with everything from trim dressing to...

Colour me surprised; however I wouldn't pay this much mind as the highest-performance LS2 is fine with US 87.

Holden doesn't specify a higher RON rating for the LS2 so this is totally unrelated.

This doesn't apply to any of the LS series AFAIK though, which is what I mentioned. Feel free to correct if you disagree with this. Modifications ie. cam/compression are a whole other ball game, but that wasn't part of the discussion. Either way, useful info for those who have highly modded...

This seems to say that 91AU is the same as 87US (theoretically), which means that anyone with a stock LS should indeed run their motor on 91 as it's comparable to USA standards, where the motor was designed and tested. Do you dispute this?