So I bought a 96 camaro with the lt1 and six speed about a month ago and its been noting bit trouble. Fixed fuel pump , o2 sensors, and plug wires just to hear a tapping coming from the driver side front, a friend that works on cars said it sounded like a lifter how do I check? I've pulled off the valve covers everything is getting oil, push rods look good. What now?

 

I would look for an exhaust leak at the head. IMO "stuck lifters" are blamed for noise about a hundred times more often than it actually happens. Plus think about it the lifter is pretty much at the center of the engine so why would you be able to tell which side a stuck one was on by ear?

 

I agree with 96capricemgr, exhaust leak, possibly a loose rocker. I've heard people say bad lifter 100 times around motors, but never seen one go bad, well stock ones anyways.

-Dustin-

 

Does it stay the same all the time? In my experience a stuck lifter is more prominent on cold start up than at any other time......I think lucas makes an oil additive that is suppose to help this.....I dunno if it works just throwin that out there....

 

Lucas is nothing but REALLY thick oil with almost no additives, about the only think it might be useful as is assembly lube.

 

It does have a leak but that's not it, its slowly getting louder and worse if u pit your hand on the intake you can feel it. It taps in time with the rpm.

 

Have you tried using a stethoscope to pin down the exact location of the tap?

 

Verify with a stethoscope as Inguneer stated. I had a bad lifter at the left front. I think it was damaged by over revving. Could only verify it by removing them. Be sure to check the camshaft for damage.

 

The sound is usually magnafied by the rockers, I seen a bad lifter it was leaking down too fast and the guy adjusted the rocker thinking it was just his rocker that got loose, LSS he ended up snapping his cam at high RPM, right where the lifter was. we found part of his cam inside the oil pan... I agree with the above 2 posts use a steth.. really worth the money.

 

You're right... it's the opti.

 

I'll have to buy a steth next time I'm in town. Thanks for the help

 

LMAO truth...

 

Hmm...I've never seen a cam broken by a over-tightened lifter. If you think about it, the rocker would have to reach complete coil bind before it could exert force on the cam. And then it would have to exert enough force to crack it. Why would this happen before the pushrods bent or a stamped steel or aluminum rocker broke?

I think this isn't possible. The cam probably broke and people deduced that it was caused by the bad lifter...just my opinion, of course.

 

I still have the cam gear with about 3-4 inches of cam on it.... Ill post up a pick, I use it as a paper weight....

here is the pic, this is the part we pulled from the front, the rest was in 2 pieces and one was inside the oil pan.

 

Ok me and a buddy fixed the lifter, but it needed a o2 sensor the wires were burned off the left top one it runs ok is it safe to run it with just one?