my recent solution to noisy valve lifters??

[Carl DeSousa <desousa@cisco.com>]

Its not very often that I get time nowadays to contribute
to this group but after that "simple question gone to flame,
fiasco" I figured it was my que to contribute.

I've been dealing with the valve lifter clatter for oh.. about 6
or 7 years now.  Been listening to the the conversations on this
list as well.

I have replaced lifters, tried marvel mystery oil, slick50, engine cleaners.
Even tried cleaning out the engine with transmission fluid.
Most of the cars I experimented with were high milaege 
and for the sake of learning, IMO worth the risk.  

Recently I tried a new engine cleaner.

THE CAR: 86 4000CSQ, milaege unknown but shows definet signs of
being over 100K miles.

Since this is a 3rd car, it sat a lot.  The lifters were the worst
I had ever experienced.  This thing clattered even when warm.
My neighbors thought it was a diesel.  :(

THE EXPERIMENT:

I noticed a new engine cleaner on the shelf of a local parts store.
It was in a fancy boxwith color graphs showing the affectiveness of 
how this cleaning process affected different parts of the engine.  I
think it was STP but sorry, I need to go back to the store to verify.

THE RESULTS:

Instructions said to pour this stuff in when the engine was warm.
Run it for 5 minutes at idle, then change the oil.  DO NOT DRIVE 
THE CAR.  For really dirty engines go 15 minutes.  

I dumped it in, drove to the oil changer place being careful to stay
below 2000 RPM.  By the time they changed the oil, 10 minutes of driving
and 20 minutes of idling.  

With the new oil, all clatter was gone.

It has been a week now.  It clatters a little during startup like most
normal I5's but all is well.  I'm very happy with the results so far.

I have no idea what the long term affect is on the engine 
so I take no responsibility for anyone else who may want to try it.

Most of us have observed for a while now that fresh oil and a clean
engine seems to be the trick.  On this particular car even fresh oil 
wasn't working so I had to try something.  

I would like to send the bill back to the mechanic who charged me the 
$400+ to replace lifters a couple years back, only to find the problem
return. 

My unscientific conclusion: dirt, grime, sludge, old audi engine snot(or
whatever), must be what forces these cars to disguise themselves as
diesels.  

Good luck, happy holidays,

Carl DeSousa
Mechanical Engineer.
Cisco Systems