The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 235 tick

Just bought a 56 Belair with 235 and powerglide (original). Car runs quiet, smooth and strong around town. If I get on the highway for more than 5 mins, one valve starts ticking loud. Get off the highway and the ticking quits within a minute. Engine was rebuilt 20 years ago and is pretty clean inside, no sludge. I pulled the valve cover and have oil weeping from all rockers. I don't think the engine is overheating (gauge is not working), it can be shut off and started right back up without hesitation. Other than this intermittent tick, the engine is great, no smoking or other weird noises. Any clue to what's causing this? My original thought was that sludge was preventing the oil from draining back quick enough and the valves were starving for oil. Doesn't have an oil gauge, only a light and it remains off when the ticking starts.

You have a check valve in one of the hydraulic lifters failing to seat properly, probably due to a buildup of varnish inside the lifter. Add about a quart of kerosene or Diesel fuel to the crankcase and run the engine at a fast idle (1200-1500 RPM) for 15 to 20 minutes.

DO NOT DRIVE THE CAR OR PUT ANY LOAD ON THE ENGINE!

After 15-20 minutes, drain the crankcase while the oil is hot, and change the oil filter. Refill the engine with 15W-40 oil. I'll bet the rattle goes away.
Jerry

I have a very similar issue with a '56 hydraulic lifter 235 in my '53 3100. Engine runs great, no smoke. Slight tick at idle. When I do extended high rpm's down the highway , approx 5 min, the tick will get extremely loud and I have to slow down or pull over and stop for the loud tick to go away. If I do high rpm's for a short time there is no problem. I have had the lifters out and took each one apart and thoroughly cleaned them, same prob. I then took them all out again and vented them as per Dave's blog, still same prob. So I took them out a third time and opened up the vent slots a bit more, thinking that they may have gotten clogged with a chunk of crap. I can now fit a .035 wire thru the vent slot, still same problem. Everything about the lifters seems to be in order. I did a quick bleed down check on each with a lever and they all seemed to take about 20-30 seconds to collapse. I am stumped.

I have been working with Lem and I am at a loss to explain his problem.
I can tell you that this procedure has helped every other time I have suggested it, and on engines that came through my shop.

Back in the 70"s when I worked on motorcycles, I had a service manager who had a KZ 650 Kawasaki that would tick on and off at idle sometimes. After a full service it still ticked so he removed the valve cover and ran the engine. What he found was that one of the cams was every now and again moving back and forth and making the clicking noise. He checked the end play on the cam and it was on the low end of the scale. I watched this happening, the cam would be steady at idle then move side to side Very fast and then stop it"s side to side movement, so if you can check the end play of your cam do so.

I have a 54 3100 with the original 235. I don't think it has ever been rebuilt. I have ticking under multiple different conditions. My question. Does the 54 235 have hydraulic lifters? If so, I will try some of the procedures outlined in this post. I do seem to have lower occurrences of ticking when I add a lead substitute to the gas tank.

What is the engine serial number pressed into the block behind the distributor?

That code should indicate if the engine was first used with a Powerglide transmission. If if was, it would have had hydraulic lifters.

Thanks. I will confirm but I don't think it was used with a Powerglide.