• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Lifter tick -- Valve adjustment directions

M

Mark_West

New CEG'er
Joined
Mar 19, 2003
Messages
24
Hey -- Can anyne point in the right direction for a how to on adjusting my valves on my 98 SVT 2.5L
 
Mark_West said:
Are you serious?

why would they not be adjustable?
Click to expand...

Dont quote me on it, Ive just never heard of it discussed before.

I know the SVT motors make a ticking noise in the upper part of the engine, and its been proven that this ticking noise usually is just older fuel injectors. I know of a guy that has 200K on his duratec and it doesnt make any valvetrain noise.
 
hmm alright.. well I'm reading a lot about lifter collapses and stuff like that. A friend pseudo mechanic told me to adjust my valves. If it can't be done, that's cool.. but how do I fix this noise? I'm scared the engine is going to seize on me.
 
Mark_West said:
hmm alright.. well I'm reading a lot about lifter collapses and stuff like that. A friend pseudo mechanic told me to adjust my valves. If it can't be done, that's cool.. but how do I fix this noise? I'm scared the engine is going to seize on me.
Click to expand...

depends on what the noise is.

If its lifter tick who cares? Doesnt mean your motor is going to sieze.

If its rod knock you are screwed anyways. Post a sound/video clip.
 
ok define "who cares cause it doesn't mean that my motor's going to seize"

I'd still like to fix it -- posting vid in a sec
 
sounds like you have a bad lifter, not something an adjustment can fix.
 
I'll start by saying I'm not an authority by any definition and have never done this kind of work on my car.

I've researched this subject on the old forums recently, and there are many lifter related posts. Several people have removed their valve covers while investigating excessive 'lifter tick' to find lifters/rockers out of place. While I've read of our engines functioning in this state for months and years, it's far from ideal and should be addressed.

V6 duratecs have a lot of sounds that may concern a mechanic with no experience with them. I recommend taking your car to someone with either SVT Contour experience or general V6 duratec experience to help you decide if there's cause for concern.

I believe that Todras has said that they're not actually called lifters in our engines, but that's the term to search for regarding this subject.

Here's a link to the old forums. There are a lot of posts on this subject. Try searching the Troubleshooting and Duratec Maintenance forums for "lifter". Be sure to change the date range to 'all posts'.

http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/search.php?Cat=
 
you can replace them if youve worked on a motor like this before. in the car is tricky. ive seen some try to take the valve covers off and undo the cam caps and tilt the cams up slightly so they can reach the rollers and the lifters. the only problem with this is that the timing could jump or the chain could pop off the cam gears. this is trouble. id say a safe way is to remove the engine and remove the cams and timing equipment. replace the lifters and check the bearings while your at it, wouldnt hurt. but dont go doing this until you take the valve covers off and seeing if the rollers are all in the right place. one might have somehow kicked sideways and thats what you hear. just my .02
 
Thanks shaved that helped a lot. I will probably try to tackle this with a buddy this weekend. I'll let you know how it all turns out.
 
Well, thinking that it wouldn't cause any problems I drove to work today and walked home.

Just before it died on me I hear some pretty bad (what sounded like metal on metal) noises. I'm going to try that additive to see if I can get it home, then tare into it. woo
 
Mark, please post your finding when you do get into the engine. The sound in your clip is alomst exactly the same as the one I've been troubleshooting for weeks now! Doesn't seem to affect performance, but loud and annoying! As soon as I have a clear garage, I'll be tearing into mine as well, but I can almost guarantee we have the same issue.... All the additives haven't changed a thing in mine. A high performance engine rebuilder listened to mine, and suspected a sticky valve. Considering the previous owner hadn't been using Premium gas for the past 5 years, it wouldn't surprise me! But I was more on the lifter, sounds more like that...
Keep us posted please!:eek:
 
Mark_West said:
Are you serious?

why would they not be adjustable?
Click to expand...
Hydraulic "lifters" are "adjusted" by oil pressure to put it in layman's terms. Back in the day of solid lifter engines with pushrods, they were adjustable and set, usually cold, to a specific lash or distance between the pushrod and rocker arm so that as the engine warmed up, that distance would lessen but not so much that it kept the valves open when they were supposed to be closed. The distance depended on the cam profile and changing the spec will change the lift and duration. Anyone with an air cooled engine knows about this and this ritual of adjusting the lifters is done every 10K or 20K miles or so. Solid lifters were, and maybe still are, better to have in high rpm racing engines. With the hydraulic lifter, that lash distance is preset usually (some engines had an adjustment depending on the type of rocker arm) and oil pressure keeps the lifter at the prescribed distance. Hydraulic lifters also have the benefit of being quieter than solid lifters but care must be taken to not over rev an engine with hydraulics before oil pressure builds and they pump up or at the minimum, excess wear will occur where they meet the rocker arm or follower. In a pushrod engine I've seen a pushrod fly right by its rocker arm because of excessive lash before oil pressure had built up. Just as hydraulic lifters can collapse in overhead valve engines, it may also be the case in your situation.
Karl
 
Canadian 98 CSVT said:
Mark, please post your finding when you do get into the engine. The sound in your clip is alomst exactly the same as the one I've been troubleshooting for weeks now! Doesn't seem to affect performance, but loud and annoying! As soon as I have a clear garage, I'll be tearing into mine as well, but I can almost guarantee we have the same issue.... All the additives haven't changed a thing in mine. A high performance engine rebuilder listened to mine, and suspected a sticky valve. Considering the previous owner hadn't been using Premium gas for the past 5 years, it wouldn't surprise me! But I was more on the lifter, sounds more like that...
Keep us posted please!:eek:
Click to expand...

Canadian Stop driving yours man... the sound got worse for about 2 minutes while I was driving, then stopped running on me. Would hate for the same thing to happen to you. I was sick all this past week so I didn't have the time to dig in, but I am just starting now. Will let you know how it goes.

- Mark
 
98SVTC said:
Hydraulic "lifters" are "adjusted" by oil pressure to put it in layman's terms. Back in the day of solid lifter engines with pushrods, they were adjustable and set, usually cold, to a specific lash or distance between the pushrod and rocker arm so that as the engine warmed up, that distance would lessen but not so much that it kept the valves open when they were supposed to be closed. The distance depended on the cam profile and changing the spec will change the lift and duration. Anyone with an air cooled engine knows about this and this ritual of adjusting the lifters is done every 10K or 20K miles or so. Solid lifters were, and maybe still are, better to have in high rpm racing engines. With the hydraulic lifter, that lash distance is preset usually (some engines had an adjustment depending on the type of rocker arm) and oil pressure keeps the lifter at the prescribed distance. Hydraulic lifters also have the benefit of being quieter than solid lifters but care must be taken to not over rev an engine with hydraulics before oil pressure builds and they pump up or at the minimum, excess wear will occur where they meet the rocker arm or follower. In a pushrod engine I've seen a pushrod fly right by its rocker arm because of excessive lash before oil pressure had built up. Just as hydraulic lifters can collapse in overhead valve engines, it may also be the case in your situation.
Karl
Click to expand...

Is there a possibility that the oil pump may have gone out, or maybe going out? And, that could have also been the start of my issue in the first place?
 
shavedsvt said:
you can replace them if youve worked on a motor like this before. in the car is tricky. ive seen some try to take the valve covers off and undo the cam caps and tilt the cams up slightly so they can reach the rollers and the lifters. the only problem with this is that the timing could jump or the chain could pop off the cam gears. this is trouble. id say a safe way is to remove the engine and remove the cams and timing equipment. replace the lifters and check the bearings while your at it, wouldnt hurt. but dont go doing this until you take the valve covers off and seeing if the rollers are all in the right place. one might have somehow kicked sideways and thats what you hear. just my .02
Click to expand...

Okay.. got the valve cover or UIM (same thing?) off ... now it just looks like these black covers over the engine. I'm assuming these are the Cam Caps you are talking about?
 
Post a picture, it sounds like you just took half the intake manifold off and you are looking at the imrc butterflies. There are Two valve covers on a V6. Look at the FAC for intake manifold cleaning and see if you have the right thing off. Also check autozone for a manual on what to do.

http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1b/c8/aa/0900823d801bc8aa/repairInfoPages.htm

http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1b/c8/36/0900823d801bc836/repairInfoPages.htm

http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1b/c8/6e/0900823d801bc86e/repairInfoPages.htm
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top