My 1981 Jeep Scrambler has a 258 in line 6 and after warming up I get lifter noise (sewing machine sound. Can this be quieted by a higher viscosity oil? My oil pressure is good. Or maybe I just have worn lifters? Engine has 64,000 original miles. Thanks.

What kind and grade oil are you using now? What is the oil pressure reading (hot idle and at speed, presumably 2000 rpm)? Do you know the spec oil pressure? If it is running well and has good power, I doubt the lifters are bad, especially with the low miles. By sewing machine sound I believe you are hearing merely the normal function of the valve train. Some oils transmit more sound. Thinner oils would transmit more sound and I think synthetic transmits more than conventional. You probably are fine. One guy at another site said his engine was quieter with Valvoline Maxlife 10w30 vs Havoline 10w30 (Group I vs Group II base oils).

Bigguy,

Have you checked your inlet & exhaust valve clearances? This could also be the noise you are hearing.

Just a thought,

Jim

Those engines do that. Mine started arount 60,000 miles. I raised to a 20W-50 that quieted it slightly until changine out the lifters.
I have since learned that there is a product very succesfull in the US called AutoRX that is great at cleaning out these lifters. I now have a similar product here that I have used to eliminate that noise in a half dozen Jeeps, my wife's BMW, and dozens of Nissans.
I normally don't believe in additives, but this stuff is different. Took away so much noise from my wife's BMW that she thought the engine had stalled.

i have a 95 isuzu trooper 3.2 dohc making valve train noise.

What product are you referring to, Widman?

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I now have a similar product here that I have used to eliminate that noise in a half dozen Jeeps, my wife's BMW, and dozens of Nissans.

Check to see if it's lifter noise. You can start by running the engine at idle with out the valve cover. Push on the rocker with your thumb to see which one is noisy. If you don't find a noisy one, at least you have a bette idea of what's going on. If it is a lifter, order some Auto-RX from Auto-Rx.com and follow the instructions. If the problem is something else, there is a lot of info out there about these engines. Check with some of the Jeep sites.

quote:

Originally posted by inHaliburton:
What product are you referring to, Widman?

quote:

I now have a similar product here that I have used to eliminate that noise in a half dozen Jeeps, my wife's BMW, and dozens of Nissans.

Lucas Oil Treatment can quiet the noise if anything can.

Thanks for the reply!

The theory behind lifter noise is this: Oil neeeds to be inside the lifter. The oil enters the lifter through a little hole in order to "pump up" the lifter. When this little hole gets blocked by a foreign particle, oil will get squeezed out and not be allowed to re-enter, causing the lifter to go "flat." This is referred to as a "sticking lifter."

The ticking noise you hear, is space between the lifter and the cam lobe. What you want to do is this: Wash out that lifter by adding 12oz of gasoline to the crankcase with the engine running, to temporarily thin out the engine oil. This will wash out the lifter. After a few minutes, the gasoline will evaporate out of the PCV system; and your oil will return to it's normal viscosity. Afterwards and hopefully, a pumped up lifter will emerge maintaining zero clearance between the lifter and cam lobe.

Another simular yet less agressive method, would be to substitute the aforementioned gasoline for one full quart of Marvel Mystery oil, for the remaining duration of your OCI.

3 years after this post, I put 14 oz of gasoline into my 1988 Mercedes crankcase to quite the lifters and IT WORKED. I ran the car around town for 25 minutes and after about 12-17 minutes the car runs and feels like new. Thank you so much.