VH45 lifter question

[peakhp]

I pulled the valve cover yesterday and notices that as I crank the engine (by hand) that some of the hydrolic lifters don't collapse under load, but some do. Upon further examination some of them are weak enough to press in with a finger, whereas the others don't move at all.

My question is what are they supposed to do under these circumstances, are they supposed to be soft or "seized"? I am under then impression they would be soft without any oil pressure under them..

thanks,

Peakhp

[DAEDALUS]

I think they tend to bleed down over time, probably some faster than others. Could be seized I guess. Don't know what's behind it, but I can say I observed the same things as you on a couple Qs. But if bled under oil per the FSM, all lifters I've seen maintain pressure for at least as long as it takes to install them in their ports.

[Q45tech]

Varnish from letting oil stay in more than 90 days in past history. The input hole is tiny. BG Quick Clean for engine treatments eventually clears this up in roughly 1/10 the time it took to gum them up................say 4 treatments over a year prior to each oil change............of course if the dirt wore the check valves replacement is the answer.

[peakhp]

I bought the motor and trans by itself but I don't know how many miles are on it. I suspect quite a few, and its probably been sitting for a long while too. I'm turbo charging the motor and doing a full build on it, so with it torn down I'd rather spend a little more and have everything working perfectly. How expensive are lifters do you think?

I am under the impression they are supposed to stay quite firm with oil pressure. So over time as the valve spring sags (or valve stem wears) they take up the slack between the roller and the cam? Does that sound right? Otherwise a simple pivot cast into the head would work the same, but with zero maintenance.

You know I bet if you could regulate the oil pressure in those lines electronically, and not use check valves I bet you could have a variable valve lift engine. Interesting.

Peakhp

[DAEDALUS]

I seem to recall lifters being $40-50 each. Verify with Scottsdale, but that doesn't seem unreasonable.

[Q45tech]

$1200- $1500 worth of lifters [32-HLA] and the same in labor says you should be very careful when selecting a used engine for replacement.

[peakhp]

Thats pricey considering that these lifters are just one of like a hundred little things I want to take care of. Does anyone know how these can be serviced?

thanks,

peakhp