Possibly valve sleeves?

[CLASSVT]

I had a guy take a listen to my buzzy/clattering noise coming from my engine on cold start-ups. He said it's quite possibly that when my engine was rebuilt they tightened the valve sleeves too much, causing the noise. The noise has only been present since the rebuild, and it's the best explaination I have got so far. If it is the valve sleeves, could they be adjusted or would something need to be replaced? I just would like to know your opinions of this guy's opinion. onder: Thanks.

 

[Big Jim]

OK, what's a valve sleeve?

There is nothing in the valve train of Duratec that can be adjusted.

 

[SVTGT350]

Whats the location of the noise? Does it go away after warm up?

 

[CLASSVT]

Yes it goes away after the car warms up, and it seems to be coming from the area of the fuel rail. Isn't the usual injector tick. Another guy thought it could be a broken lifter, but you would think I would hear that regardless of engine temp. I didn't/don't know enough to rule out the valve sleeve theory, so I thought I'd post. :shrug:

 

[SVTGT350]

There are no valve "sleeves" there are valve "guides". What kind of head work was done when the engine was rebuilt? A valve guide can be knurled if there is to much play between the valve and the guide effectively reducing the clearance.

It is possible that you have a lifter that will not retain oil after it is pumped up. Upon shut down the oil will slowly drain from the lifter and the next time you start it you will get valve clatter until the lifter pumps full of oil again.

 

[CLASSVT]

The rebuild was just of the shortblock, but the whole engine was torn down piece by piece as they were originally troubleshooting.

What would cause there to be too much play btwn valve and guide?

What would cause they lifter to not retain oil?

Thanks.

 

[SVTGT350]

What would cause there to be too much play btwn valve and guide?

Valve guides are usually made of bronze (soft) some wear is normal, if you had a malfunctioning cam follower or lifter it can put to much side pressure on the valve, which causes the guide to wear excessively.

What would cause the lifter to not retain oil?

Wear and tear, dirty/contaminated oil (from before rebuild possibly). The hard part with that is determining which lifter is no good, or the semi expensive part is just replacing all the lifters.