3400 lifter issue, TCE lifter springs installed

[bob442]

So after chasing around the sewing machine noise on my car, i pulled the top end apart to find out i have 4 lifters not pumped up, i can push them down with my pinky, the others are stiff as can be, so i pulled one apart to find nothing wrong with it, it had oil in it, and when i did have the valve cover off and the motor running it was oiling properly. i even attempted to pump up the lifter in oil and didnt do anything. no air bubbles. i'm stumped.

where should the hole on the inner piston be in relation to the oiling hole on the lifter? 180* anywhere? same spot?

Fun tip, as i decided to check this, the oil holes in each lifter, the ones that were pumped up were facing oil supply, which is the trans side or oil pump side, the ones that were not pumped up were facing away, still, i'm going to disassemble, clean, re-assemble and install, and turn over the motor a few times with the intake off, and see what happens.

[bob442]

well, cleaned them, put them back together with plenty of oil, they were stiffer after assembally, but the first bit of compression was air, assuming...
so with the plugs out, rods in, i ran the starter for a good 45 seconds in 15 second intervals, and i couldnt get any to pump oil up the push rod, and the 4 lifters are all soft now again, 2 rods had a air bubble form, and one started to pump up oil... i dont want to put this back together and have the same problem. i know what it is this time
the lifters were all in good shape, i inspected them all for excessive damage. just had a really clean parts with min. wear.
i guess i have to look into my valve stem length, and too much pre-load. someone please chime in to help me with that. i dont want to pull the heads. i could solve this with a die grinder, or shims, i just dont know a good way to measure. i'm thinking from the pocket beside the spring to the top of the stem with a vernier caliper, might not be accurate though.

[Fieroghini]

I had the same issue with my 3900 and had to go back to stock lifters. The problem, I believe, was low oil pressure. I later removed the oil cooler and gained about 30psi.

[Driver_10]

Well shit... I wish that new this mod had problems before I went and sold my 3x00 solid roller lifters. Is this an isolated problem, or is oil-pressure the cause?

[bob442]

I don't know if this is from the springs, 8 lifters are fine, 4 are not. This could all be from the valve job and the guy who did it, he might have not matched the valve stem length giving me too much preload, which would cause the lifter valves to not work properly and not making the lifter "solid"

I have 55 psi at idle...


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[SappySE107]

Well shit... I wish that new this mod had problems before I went and sold my 3x00 solid roller lifters. Is this an isolated problem, or is oil-pressure the cause?

Me too, because then I wouldn't have put them in the cars that I have, all of which have no valvetrain noise at all.

[SappySE107]

I have 55 psi at idle...

Why do you have 55 psi oil pressure at idle?

[bob442]

when i had the mentor scanner on there, thats what i read when i first got it running. isnt that just a bit higher that normal? come to think of it, it was idling at 1200rpm at that time

[Driver_10]

Me too, because then I wouldn't have put them in the cars that I have, all of which have no valvetrain noise at all.

Sorry about the way came out... *Ahem* I guess what I meant to say was, "is this problem I may encounter for one reason or another?"

[bob442]

this went from a problem i have discribing what all i have done to the lifters, to a bad product review....

[Superdave]

take the bad lifters back apart, if they aren't pumping up then there is something up with the check ball spring in the bottom.


I've done this mod (one of the first to do so) and the same for several other cars with 0 problems.

[Driver_10]

this went from a problem i have discribing what all i have done to the lifters, to a bad product review....

No... that was me saying something stupid.

[bob442]

Well, I have all 12 apart, a night light, solvent, compressed air(which is colder than wet hands when it's -15 outside) clean table, gloves, a bit of oil and I'm taking my time one again, going to make sure the check ball moves and seals with my lips lol


Update: now they are all installed, and i checked my preload using a vernier caliper, zero'd on a lifter between the outside of the push rod cup and the top outside of the lifter, with the push rods installed, rotating the engine till the lifter beside it is at the top i get measurments of .087-.107".... how much preload do these lifters require?
Before this gets out of hand, i am assuming that the guy who did the valve job and shaved my heads did not adjust the length of my valve stems, this could easly be over looked, and could be a problem as a 5 angle valve job was done. Not WOTTECH making a mistake on my push rod length, or anything like that.

As for the title of this topic, again i was only stating what i had done to the lifters, not saying the lifter spring mod is hocus pocus fail. Sorry Ben if it came out that way. Maybe I'm a shitty engine builder, but i had no one to show me anything, and no real material to read form, for every little thing that needed to be done, all i did was put together all the things i have watched, read and seen over the years to build my motor. It was all to challange myself and make myself a better mechanic by learning from my own mistakes on my own car. Not some inocent person trying to save a buck. I appologise for comming off as a total fuck off with my problems.

[3400-95-Modified]

take the bad lifters back apart, if they aren't pumping up then there is something up with the check ball spring in the bottom.


I've done this mod (one of the first to do so) and the same for several other cars with 0 problems.

I was right behind Dave on doing this and did it before Ben was offering the kits in his store. I bought a full set of LS6 lifters to pull the springs from. I had my parts in 09 and made the swap... never had any issues and they all pumped up fine. I had other noise after doing the lifters but it ended up being my timing chain. Car is quiet now.

[bob442]

Well let's hope this problem fixes itself then. Not much more I can do, this noise is clearly from the valve train, and more clearly from lifters. We may never know


Sent from my iPhone using my iPhone at work cuz I have nothing to do