Re: new lifters - still noisy

[Bob Kunz <bkunz@hpbs114.boi.hp.com>]

> 
> My '88 5KCSTQ has always made the famous audi valve lifter "clicking" noise,
> especially when cold. Mystery oil fixed it briefly, but it soon came back.
> 
> Last week I replaced all the lifters, expecting to solve the problem
> once and for all.
> 
> Guess what? No darned difference. What is going on here. Can anyone theorize
> what else may be causing this?

Mine did this. I suspected lifters. It was the exhaust manifold. Did you
use a stethoscope to find the exact location? I was even able to see
the carbon tracks from the exhaust.

> The clicks are at a frequency of about half the rpm's (e.g. 500 clicks per
> minute at 1000rpm). Engine cold: always present < 4000rpm. Engine warm: barely
> audible at idle, louder the more you open the throttle, but quiet when cruising.
> In other words, loudness seems to be proportional to throttle  opening, not to
> rpm's or to load.
> 
And there it is...

Manifold leak. It seals itself up as the manifold warms up. Try this. Do you
get noise after the car sits for a short while? Probably not. Just in the
morning, eh? Or perhaps late in the day after the car sits for 6+ hours?
Check it out.

I had the dealer fix this since I could see how to get to the exhaust 
without takling the intake and a bunch of other stuff out of there. They
charged me 2 hours labor plus parts. It would have taken me two trips to
the local tool store and a weekend.

Bob Kunz
bkunz@boi.hp.com