The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Hydraulic lifter noise on long run

I am posting this on behalf of Cosmo, we had a phone conversation and he is away from his computer so I thought I would ask the great minds here to see if we can figure this out.

Cosmo is a daily driver. He takes many long trips during the year and on his recent drive from VA to upstate NY he noticed a slight ticking coming from one of the valves on cylinder #5. The noise only occurs after hours of driving then the ticking starts. Once it starts, he is able to pull over and isolate the noise to the #5 set.

Is he having a worn out spring? Any other areas to investigate?

It sounds like the check valve in at least one of the lifters is failing to seat, allowing the lifter to partially or fully bleed down. Try adding a solvent-type oil additive a couple of hundred miles before doing an oil change. Rislone, Casite, or Wynn's Friction Proofing were brands I used 30-something years ago, but I haven't looked for anything like that on the shelf for a long time. Early Stovebolt hydraulic lifters were notorious for being noisy at times- - - -most of us just accepted it and didn't get too concerned when it happened. Sometimes a change to a different brand or weight of oil will solve the problem. If he's using a water-thin lube like 10W-30 or thinner, the lifters will definitely be noisy.
Jerry

Thanks Sweet, HRL.

I think, no surprise here folks, HRL has nailed it again. For 18 years I've been using 30 weight year 'round. This past winter was a hard-to-start event for the 30 weight, so for the first time ever I did an oil change with 10-30. I then had a 1k trip in April and upon returning to VA the temps were now in the mid 70's. According to this chart I was and am at the upper range of temperature.

Steps to solve the problem:

I'm going to back away from the ledge. I consulted my '56 Motor's Manual and was ready to dive in and pull all the hydraulic valves and r+r the valves.

That step may be too much too fast too soon so I'll go with HRL's suggestion and then do an oil change with my tried and true 30 Weight.

I'll post back in a couple of days with the results.

As always, thanks.

Cosmo

I would suggest reading my right up in my BLOG on hydraulic lifters.

Dave, disassemble and clean and while there cut a groove? Have read your blog, been there a few times.

What about my flow of events from my post above? No problems really with valve noise until the 10-30 wt. No valve noise until completely warmed up at highway speed.

Everything about the noise sounds like trapped air.
The 10w30 oil should actually be thicker then straight 30w when warm, so it does not make sense to me that that is the problem.
For a simple test it is not necessary to do anything but groove the push rods.

Bardahl, Risllone, Casite, Wynns Friction proofing are still available. Those products were almost a necessity 40 to 60 years ago, and they still work on the older hydraulic lifters. Casite was our biggest seller.

That's a popular misconception that just keeps getting repeated. Multi-weight oils do not get physically thicker as they heat up- - - - -the additives in them just let them lubricate like thicker oil. Try draining some hot 10W-30 sometime and run it through a viscosity measuring cup- - - -it flows exactly as fast as cold 10 weight. I've done it numerous times.
Jerry

I am not saying it gets thicker, just that is is designed not to thin out as much.
How does 30w viscosity compare to 10w30 at 180 degrees. I am quite sure the 10w30 will be thicker. I suppose they could be the same. If so that would not explain the lifter noise after the engine is warmed up.

At 180°F SAE 30 is 18.7 cST and 10W-30 is 17.5 cST so they're almost the same

Here's where you can graph them for yourself.
http://widman.biz/English/Calculators/Graph.html

I used numbers from Valvoline which you can find here:
http://www.valvoline.com/pdf/premium_conventional.pdf

Update:

Yesterday I had the time and went ahead with grooving the push rods using Pre68Dave's simple and easy advice. Easy to follow directions and instant results. My Dremel tool with the mini cut-off wheel made cutting a groove an easy task.

I removed the 12 pushrods two at a time, back to front being careful to return each to its original location. I'm back to hearing my old hydraulic-liftered Stovebolt sounding like a sewing machine once again.

Thanks Dave!

regards,

Cosmo

10W30

10W - 10Winter - equivalent to SAE 10 weight single grade at -20 degrees C (-4 degrees F)
30 - equivalent to SAE 30 weight single grade oil at 100 degrees C (212 degrees F)