lifter o-rings source?

[edwardo928]

My shop pulled all my lifters on the "92 Q45 prior to sending the heads for reconditioning. They say the o-rings were all hard and cracked apart getting the lifters out and they can't find a source just for the o-rings. Does anyone have a source for just the o-rings? Any data on exactly what size/composition they are? I don't want to buy 32 lifters! Everything Infiniti doesn't have them.

Thanks in advance for any info.

[DAEDALUS]

I doubt you'll find them. They are tiny. Honestly, I doubt they were doing much good anyway. The lifters are a very close net fit in the bores; I bet the amount of oil loss is minimal. I broke a few as well on my Q, but the oil pressure is just fine. That's the only concern. Just verify the oil pressure.

[squeefoo]

Did they tick at all?

You can find o-rings online, just check a compatability chart first. Measure the o-ring and the orifice where it fits EXACTLY. (digital caliper set on metric) Call them with the results and they will send you something that fits and won't fall apart in the fiery hell that exists in our engines.

[DAEDALUS]

Squee, have you seen these o-rings? They're very atypical. I don't think the cross-sections are even circular.

[maxnix]

Squee, have you seen these o-rings? They're very atypical. I don't think the cross-sections are even circular.

Then indeed they would not technically be O rings, but just another proprietary seal.

[DAEDALUS]

I assumed the "O" in o-ring was for the overeall shape. A redundant term. But the cross-section of the material, what you see along the edge if you cut through the ring, is perhaps not circular. A washer is round but has a rectangular cross-section. I just remember them seeming kind of flat, and very brittle. Didn't even seem like rubber or butyl. They weren't even seated in the lifter grooves anymore because they had warped so much. Same on all 6 VH heads I've inspected.

[edwardo928]

Thanks for all the info. I went down to the shop this morning and took a look. I was planning on buying the rings on line, good viton high-temp stuff, once I had the sizing right. The owner just started laughing when I pulled out my calipers and feeler guages and started measuring the groove diameter, width, etc. "Engineers!", he said. But they are not even close to any standard o-ring...large diameter compared to the cross-section. (By the way, they are circular cross-section to begin with, before time, heat, wear and compression set take their toll.) My shop has 32 new lifters they bought a couple of years ago when he was going to rebuild a V8. (He halted it when he found out it was not cost-effective.) He is selling me them for $30 each, so that's the way I'm going to go. By the way, I suspect the purpose of the o-ring is to make sure the proper amount of oil goes through a by-pass circuit in the lifter and comes out the the top at the rocker pad contact.

[Q451990]

$30 each gets expensive when you multiply it by 32! Now I see why so many buy take-out engines or just let htem die...

Good luck!

Heath

[DAEDALUS]

Much cheaper than even Joe's price. I think around $50 each.

[maxnix]

Ah, good, so they are indeed O rings. And we are talking about the hydraulic lash adjustors. Can't imagine the O rings are not available in the channel or from Joe.

[squeefoo]

So they were o-rings. Did the lifters tick at all?

[edwardo928]

There was some ticking, I would say a minor amount, but couldn't say for sure if it was a lifter(s) or not. Might of been a ticking lifter, but read on: All the exhaust valves were all badly carboned and the valves in cylinder #4 were sticking badly. 150,XXX mi. We knew there was something mechanically wrong with that cylinder causing a miss and that one cylinder alone to run lean and detonate when fully hot, which is why we pulled the head. All other causes had been eliminated. So the noise I was hearing might have been from the inconsistent lash of two sticking exhaust valves. Another scare: the oil pump sprocket was cracked. I just updated the chain guides myself a few months ago and it was fine. I put in a new oil pump (the loose chain had nearly cut through the old one) and chain and had cleaned all the reused parts real good so I know there was no visible crack in the sprocket. So the crack grew really fast.

[DAEDALUS]

You're certain the sprocket didn't go in backward? That can cause them to break when you torque the bolt down.