hydaulic lifters... movement?

[0range_240]

I had recently been experiencing a ticking/light knocking noise from under my hood.. and I spent a while trying to track down the problem.

I finally checked my hydraulic lifters, because I've read that they were a very common problem among KA24E's.. So I pulled the valve cover off, and began the slow process of slowly checking each lifter, making sure to turn the motor so every lifter I checked was in the "up" position, and not pressing down on the valve.

Heres what I found:

- the lifters on the exhaust valves, on the number two and three cylinders, had a large amount of play in them, when I shook them around.. and I mean like two or three millimetres of movement, enough to make a "click" noise when I tried to make them move.

- one of the lifters on the intake valve on the #1 cylinder, was also loose, although to a significantly less degree..

- the rest seemed to be very tight, and wouldnt not budge at all

I tested them when the motor had been warmed up

I also, through my own stupidity.. decided to run the car for a few seconds with the valve cover off...... well I found out two things

1) the oil pump seems to be working well still2) never run the motor with the valve cover off, unless you have many many rolls of paper towels around

Now to my question, are the lifters supposed to be loose, or tight, when tested?

[0range_240]

bad dum *BUMP* ching!

[navysnail]

i belive they are supposed to be tieght, i will check my fsm when i find it, lol. glad to hear you learned something, LOL. how much oil did it spray out?

[navysnail]

ok, here it is straight from the fsm:(1) Push hydraulic valve lifter forcefully with your finger.BE SURE TO CHECK IT WITH ROCKER ARM IN FREE POSITION(2) If valve lifter moves more than 1 mm (0.04 in), air may be inside of it.(3) Bleed air off by running engine at 1,000 rpm under no-load for about 20 minutes.(4) If hydraulic valve lifters are still noisy, replace them and bleed air off again in the same manner as in step (3)

Hope this helps

[0range_240]

alot of oil came out... covered my engine bay and fenders lol... not to mention my buddies face

and ill try that way of checking

thanks for the help dude

[89240sx]

sorry to resurrect an old thread but did you ever get this resolved? I think my valves are making some noise and it seems to be getting worse (unless it's timing chain, although i doubt it)

Thanks!

[navysnail]

just pull the valve cover and check the lifters using the method i posted earlier. that will tell you if its the lifters or the chain and what needs to be replaced

[89240sx]

k no problem, you have torque specs on the valve cover? and does it have to be tightened in an order? Some heads etc.. need to be tightened in a star type order etc..

Thanks for the response!

[0range_240]

IVE DECIDED..... to say "goodbye silly KA, I'll miss you so" and then say "helloooo CA"

I had always considered doing a swap, its about time I did now.. this just gave me the push in the right direction

Wish me luck, I'll keep everyone posted =D

[navysnail]

lifters? your gona ditch the ka for a little thing like that?anyway, good luck with the swap, are you gona part out the ka or sell it whole

89240sx- i do have the tourque specs on the valve cover, and i also have the order. ill post them up in a few minutes, i have to dig up the fsm, god knows were that is...

[89240sx]

thanks, I'm in no hurry at the moment because I work tomorrow and will not get to it until sunday or monday

[navysnail]

ok, here it is straight from the fsm:

tighten bolts as followes: (1) tighten 2 bolts to 3 N-m (0.3 kg-m, 2.2 ft-lb) temporarily in order shown in figure (1) __________.__________________._____________ | |. .| O | | | | | | | . |________________________________________|. . . (2)

Then, tighten bolts to 7 to 10 N-m (0.7 to 1.0 kg-m, 5.1 to 7.2 ft-lb) in order shown in figure instal any parts removed (12) (10) (4) (2) __________.__________________._____________ | |. (7)(6) .| O | | | | | | |(8) .| ________________________________________|. (5) . . (1) (3) (9) (11)

ok, the o in the middle of my bad ilistration is the fill cap, each period is a bolt, i belive the view is from the bottom, thats all that makes sense due to the placement of the filler cap.

hope this helps

[navysnail]

damnit, it streached, ill try to scan it in a few minutes, god that sucks, it took foreaver to make those

[navysnail]

ok, here it ishttp://www.nissaninfiniticlub....t=500

[0range_240]

my KA burns oil pretty badly too.. Ive been meaning to do a swap, now that the cars off the road, I might aswell do it

[navysnail]

ya i see what you are saying, are you gona part it

[89240sx]

240kid, You rock man!! Beers are on me next time we're at a pub!

EDIT: I have also posted the pic and put a thanks to you in my members ride page

http://www.nissaninfiniticlub....page=

[89240sx]

Ok another question, would losing oil on occasion cause air to get into the lifters? I have an oil disappearance issue that doens't happen often but does happen.... however after I top off the oil level I still have some valve noise sometimes... not all the time but it seems to be more frequent lately

Could this be the reason I have some valve noise?

And running the engine at 1k rpm for 20 mins sounds a bit odd... wouldn't driving it for 20 mins do that same thing?

[navysnail]

your loss of oil should not affect the lifters unless you loose so much oil that the pickup is above the level, but if that hapens, you have much bigger problems, lol, like destroyed engine.about running the engine at 1k, at idle, there is no load, no pressure on parts and such. if you were to drive it, there would be load on the engine. if you havent put new lifters in, it is very unlikely that they have air in them. when you pull the valve cover off, push down on the ends of them and see if they move up and down. make sure they are in the free position. i posted the exact instructions about 1/5 of the way down from the top.

[89240sx]

I know I saw it , just wanted some more clarification

[s13sr20chris]

oops, im late. lifters should not move at all. if they do they have air in them. if you cant get the air out by revving the motor or driving, they are not good. always check hot. low oil level can cause lifter probs. lifter probs are not serious, the car will prob run forever like that. old ka motors love to make oil disappear.