Expert: Mark Bisig - 10/13/2004

Question
I just got a 74 Nova SS that has been sitting in a barn for 13 years. In the owners manual wan a not that a new engine was installed about 10,000 miles ago. When I fired it up it was very quiet and ran fine. Now it has started making a ticking sound that I am assuming is lifter noise. I had 30 wt oil in it when I got it and fired it for the first time but I wanted to change the oil again and used 10w 40 and now the noise is a lot louder. Is it because the oil is thicker and will the lifter cause any damage to the cam. I got the car for free but it seems to be real strong but the noise is a concern. What is you recomendation?

Answer
Hello Ron, Wow you got this car for FREE!! Nice. Your lifter noise but just be a bad lifter that won't hold pressure. This will not hurt the camshaft. To repair this you should just replace all the lifters. After setting for so long they might have small pits in the check valve inside the lifter causing the lifter to make noise. The other thing might be that they just need a adjustment. I would remove the valve covers and check the adjustment on all the rocker arms, if this doesn't correct the noise then replace the lifters.


One other thing...check to make sure that the noise isn't coming from the fuel pump, I have seen the spring in the pump break and cause a lifter type noise.


Let me know how you make out


Have a Nice Day    Mark