The other day I was driving home from work and my car sounds like it has a lifter tap. Took valve covers off and all rockers are getting oil. If lifter was bad it wouldnt be getting oil up through, would it. I took it to a friend of mine who has a garage and he said he thinks its the oil pump. He said when car idles, valve cover is off theres oil running and when you give it gas the oil goes away. Does this sound like I need a new mechanic or does this make sense. I was going to buy a cc503 cam kit, but I want to make sure thats what it needs before I go and spend a grand on it. Any help would be appreciated.

 

You can verify the oil pressure with a mechanical gauge to help eliminate it.

 

Sorry it took so long to reply, I work to many hours. I had the car running today and when you rev car oil does spit out everywhere. It still has a tapping noise when you rev it. And when you give it a little bit of gas and hold it there it makes like a grinding noise. I am stumped and never heard this noise before. I just want to find out whats wrong with it so I can start working on it.

 

Explain what you mean spitting oil. Are the valve covers off? Where exactly is the grinding coming from. What does the oil pressue gauge show?

 

When you rev it with the valve covers off it spits oil all over the headers. The grinding noise sounds like its coming from inside the motor on the passenger side. and the oil pressure gauge dont work i think cause it reads about 80 when its running and when its shut off.

 

Bad idea to continue driving until fixed. Either fix gauge of test with mechanical gauge. You got problems and need to know whats going on now!

 

Oil pressure gauge reading steady 80 psi is due to the wire being off the sensor, harness wire broken or open circuit in the pressure sensor. Check it out.

 

Just hooked up mechanical oil pressure gauge today and when I first started the car it read 50psi, when it got warm it ran at 25psi at idle and close to 50psi when you gave it gas. Its still making a tapping noise that sounds like a lifter (you only hear it when you give it gas and its warm). And when its idling you can hear that grinding or knocking noise. I think its getting louder, but when you put your head down you can hear the grinding noise louder. The grinding noise isnt constant, at idle it grinds then another couple seconds it grinds again.

 

Do you have an automatic? I've heard torque converters make some really funky noises right before they go bad.

 

video the sound if you can. just try not to run it too much til you find that problem

 

Just took it to bradys high performance and they told me that i have a rod bearing slappin around, they told me I need a new bottom end. Thats not what I wanted to hear. I cant afford another bottom end so I quess im going to look for a used short block or used complete motor to use. So if anybody has something please let me know. I live in marietta pa 17547

 

I'd sure take a look at the bearings before taking out the engine to swap blocks. You have great oil pressure so the cam bearings are good. Why not yank the pan and mic the rod journal and replace the bearings. Bearings are pretty cheap if nothing else is wrong.....

 

A spun rod bearing that is allowing a rod to knock around would not yield the oil pressure you are seeing of to mention the sound is very different than a tapping noise.
Have you even checked the lash on the rocker arms? Could just be a loose rocker, what type of rockers do you have? Some are prone to be noisey.

The grinding noise I bet is the opti since it goes on and off at idle. Mine did same thing, needed some small spacers to place the opti just a little further out from the cam dowel rod which drives it. There were several others having same issue and this seemed to solve it, search for a post on this from about 4 years ago. Verify the noise is coming from opti using either the screwdriver to ear method or a stethoscope with a steel tube attached to the end.

 

i had the same issue, and let me tell you what ive found on mine. I too thought I had a lifter noise because it only did it at first start up, no matter how long it sat. I changed lifters and it was still there. Then my oil pressure went a little crazy, i have videos on here under an oil pressure thread. I pulled the engine and have finally got it tore down. Two mains are screwed, one rod bearing spun, and cam bearings look like somebody held a bur bit to it. I had 182,xxx miles on it and was driving it like i stole it. So, with that being said, my opinion is get ready to do a rebuild.

 

A decent rebuilt cost a LOT more than people think.

I would look for a decent junkyard engine.

If the rod is knocking then the crank likely needs to at least be turned down for $150ish, at least one rod would need to be replaced and others reconditioned, probably have $200 into that by the time you get the replacement, then cleaning all the debris out, new bearings everywhere, rings, light hone, maybe a light hone of the mains few hundred more there etc. If a main spun then the block would be probably not worth dealing with.

Good option IF you have the budget but it is going to cost you a LOT more than a decent junkyard engine or a near stock engine from someone who did a stroker or something.

If you do the work yourself you could even consider a Caprice/roadmaster/fleetwood engine, with it's stock heads or your's if you want to do a cam at the same time.