Dry hydraulic follower

Dry hydraulic follower

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Oldred_V8S

Original Poster:

3,715 posts

238 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
quotequote all
Anybody else had this?

I stripped the top of the engine to investigate a persistent tapping noise (not manifold gaskets) and found that a couple of the hydraulic lifters were bone dry. Others that I pulled out were a lot heavier and had a liberal coating of oil around them. It is almost as if the oil had just drained away or not got in to start with. Has anyone else had this issue?

I am pleased to say the cam and the face of the followers had virtually no wear in either of them.

Engine is a 400.

PRTVR

7,101 posts

221 months

Thursday 30th October 2014
quotequote all
Oldred_V8S said:
Anybody else had this?

I stripped the top of the engine to investigate a persistent tapping noise (not manifold gaskets) and found that a couple of the hydraulic lifters were bone dry. Others that I pulled out were a lot heavier and had a liberal coating of oil around them. It is almost as if the oil had just drained away or not got in to start with. Has anyone else had this issue?

I am pleased to say the cam and the face of the followers had virtually no wear in either of them.

Engine is a 400.
No actual experience of this, but its something I have thought about, on older engines with wear in the lifters they may not be fully pumping up with some thin oils along with high temperature oil, the second thing is how small the path ways are leading to the lifters, could these get blocked? I change my oil frequently but was amazed how black the oil was when I used a engine flush prior to my oil change.

My thoughts are maybe either of these factors could lead to premature came failure.

Hoofa

3,151 posts

208 months

Thursday 30th October 2014
quotequote all
Had a similar problem , changed from running expensive thinner millers oils to valvoline vr1 20/50 and been fine since.

NZ fan

310 posts

134 months

Thursday 30th October 2014
quotequote all
The oil gallery,s that run the length of the block and intersect the lifter bores are quite large and have full pump pressure on them. I think if you have a dry lifter it's likely to be the lifter itself that is blocked and not the supply. The lifter has a waisted section half way down with a small hole to allow oil to enter and "pump up" the lifter, I would be inspecting this area and even dismantle the lifter to see if it is gummed up etc.

Oldred_V8S

Original Poster:

3,715 posts

238 months

Thursday 30th October 2014
quotequote all
Thanks for the feedback guys, I think I will be stripping the lifters.