Lifter noise

[thomas]

Just purchased another Sea Ray in early June. 1993 370 Eepress with 454's. Everything at sea trial and survey went great. Now I noticed a lifter noise on the port engine last week.
Changed oil and even added lucas. Sounds lifter noise is here to stay.
Engines have about 1200 hours. What do you think?

 

[PlayDate]

The lifters on your engine are hydraulic so the oil change was a good starting point. How many hours do the engines have? Is there a chance it is an exhaust leak? You should be able to isolate which bank it is with a stethoscope or a piece of pvc pipe.

-John

 

[fc3]

Don't know which generation your boat's engines are. I know generation VI and L-29 engines do not have those horrible ball stud rocker arms that need to be adjusted. GM finally did away with them more then 30 years after the rest of the industry had hydraulic lifters that never need adjustment. If you have one of those engines that does require the adjustment, your problem might just be too much clearance on some of the rocker arm. An easy, but messy fix.

Best regards,
Frank

 

[chumbley]

The most economical solution to a noisy lifter is a) change the oil regularly and b) turn up the stereo.

They usually don't have much other side effect besides the slight noise. Though that depends somewhat on the reason (collapsed lifter, insufficient oil pressure or oil flow - in general or in the one lifter, bent pushrod, broken rocker arm, pulled rocker arm stud (in the early days these were press in rather than threaded), worn camshaft lobes, etc.). And that assumes the noise is really lifter noise. For example, a worn mechanical fuel pump spring will make nearly the same noise.

 

[thomas]

Thank you all for yor advise, This weekend we are going to start with the gaskets and go from there. If that does not work, we have a tech coming out on tuesday. Noise is driving me nuts. Of course, at 62, i'm half nuts already.

 

[thomas]

Found where the lifter noise was coming from. Boat has sat for two years before our purchase. Changed the maniflod gasket, and wahla, no more noise.
Thank you for your help

 

[OldSkool]

My 5.0 has a manifold tick also. I'll fix it when I change the manifold the season. It will sound more like a tick. A lifter will sound like a sawing machine under the valve cover.