I was testing out my lifters today.

I first took out all my lifters, and pushed in the pluger with my fingers as hard as I can.. They didn't budge, so I figured they were good. So I put them all back in, and reassembled and readjusted my roller rocker arms.

i manually turn the engine over by hand 180 degrees, then test the lash at the pushrods. Strange, some feel loose.

So I push down on the rocker arm on the pushrod end - and it sinks in about 2cm! I can use about 2 fingers and push, and it will feel a bit spongy and sink in, then come back up when I let off.

So I took the rocker off, and took out the lifter.. and I was able to easily push the plunger in with my finger. It felt like a spring - it went down easily, then quickly came back up.

I'm pretty sure this is not normal! I ended up finding 7 other lifters doing this same thing.

What effect could this have had? No wonder my car ran like crap..

could this have caused a lazy valve, possibly causing exhaust gasses to leave through the intake valve, and pushing oil everywhere all over my engine?

 

umm...I'm not usually the pessimist and go off and say the worst situation first, but it sounds like you have collapsed lifters. I may be wrong, and it could be that you're not doing something right. But yes, the answer to your question is yes. "IF" you have collapsed lifters then your car would run like crap. How many miles do you have on it and what kinda work have you done to it?

 

If your lifter had no oil in it, then you could push it down with your fingers. But once the oil pressure builds and the lifter fills up then it becomes rather stiff.

If you are not hearing the valves smack the heads when the engine is running, then your lifters are functioning correctly.

-Dave C. '97 Z28

 

So if this is the case... How do you adjust them correctly if they are not "primed." I'm just trying to understand.

 

You just set them to zero lash, then down 1/2 turn.

They'll still take a little effort to push down even when there is no oil in there, because they have a spring inside to keep the plunger up.

When they're primed with oil and you adjust them, alot of times when you turn down 1/4-1/2 turn you're actually pushing the valve open slightly until the rocker settles.

-Dave C. '97 Z28

 

thanks for educating me, Dave.

 

doh, so these rockers are normal? I found only 8 of them that were pushed in pretty easily.

Even when I had the lifters out in my hand, I could use one finger to push in the plunger.. hm.

Well I've replaced them with good lifters anyway. Thanks for the responses, and scoobysnax - the car has 95k on it. The lifters had about 90k on them when the hotcam and 1.6rrs/springs went in..

 

the beauty of Comp R's

- spring is preloaded. I coudn't push mine outa the box-

guess this explains it