5kcstq engine rattle noise LONG

[auditude at cox.net]

Hi Bernard,

First, thanks for reading my longish post.

There is a story behind this head somewhat.  It was out for a while and the first of two machine shops had hot-tanked it with the cam and lifters in place.  It sat in this dry state in my trunk and various places for a few weeks.  I didn't realize it would be a big deal until later when I went to pull the cam and assembly-lube it before reassembling the motor.

I found all the lifters frozen in their bores, to the point that valves would be held open without the cam installed!

So, I got them all free and everything cleaned up and reassembled.  One scary part was a couple of the cam bearing surfaces, which had what I suppose was dried up scaley deposits on them.  It seemed to scrape off with a fingernail, so I figured it was the engine oil and solvent combo residue.  It all came together pretty well, except...

I noticed that some of the lifters could be compressed by hand/finger, while others could not.  I wasn't opening the valves, but rather I suppose I was compressing the little springs inside the lifters themselves.  This was the first time I was aware that the lifters are compressible at all.  It makes sense that they are tho', expanding by oil pressure and internal spring pressure.

I think the lifters I could compress were probably worn.  However, this noise isn't the typical rhythmic ticking or tapping that I associate with lifters.

This car is intended to be sold, so I don't want to enrich it too much with new parts.  However, it will be sold to a friend, so I don't want to pass it along with problems either.

Does the ability to compress the lifters with a finger correlate to the lifters being bad?  Are lifters that "tick" able to be compressed by hand (in the bore on the valve), or are these two unrelated characteristics (since the compressibility may not be a "failure")?

If this noise turns out to be failed lifters, and if their failure corresponds with compressibility, then I may pick and choose which lifters to replace with other used ones to forestall buying yet more new parts.  I've got a 20v head with "two sets" of lifters I could cannibalize, maybe.

I'll probably check the distributor gear, although I think I would have noticed if it was damaged or worn.  I did look at both distributors of mine rather closely, as I was surprised to find they were different from each other.

In the event of a distributor problem, I think I should be able to swap the 1 window shutter for the 5 wheel version in my n/a distributors if I wanted to pick a different one, right?

I remember putting in a thin paper type gasket in the head prior to installing the distributor.  One of the distributors was missing the (green?) o-ring, but I didn't think it was a big deal since it doesn't rotate.  I don't recall if this is even the distributor with the missing o-ring.

Thanks,

Ken

"Bernard Littau" <bernardl at acumenassociates.com> wrote:
>
> > My '88 5kcstq is making a noise that sounds like it is coming from the
> > distributor or cam area.  It is intermittent at idle.  I haven't driven
> > the car much since it was back on the road.
> >
> [snip]
> >
> > Any ideas on what to look for?
> >
>
> The hydraulic lifters are always suspect if they have not been replaced.
>
> Also check the gears on the cam and distributor.  On mine, someone must once
> have installed the distributor incorrectly, and the cam had several of the
> gear teeth mangled.  When the mangled teeth touched their counterpart on the
> distributor, while the engine was running, I got clicking.
>
> Clicking due to the cam gear, on mine, was never intermittent, so I am
> betting more on lifters.
>
> Best,
>
> Bernard Littau
> Woodinville, WA
> '88 5ktq