camaronewbie

A friend has a sticky lifter - Hydraulic not Roller. I know about adding Seafoam or Marvins or Rislone or ATF to the oil in an attempt to 'unstick' it - I understand that the detergents in these products can help clean varnish deposits and such to help 'unstick' the lifter 'over time'.

But - what about a few shots of something stronger, right down the pushrod? Like PB Blaster, or a shot of brake cleaner, or something.

Do lifters have seals in them that could be damaged by this?

I was just thinking - you wouldn't be adding a ton of anything to the oil to really mess anything up - just a squirt or two straight down the pushrod hole and straight directly to the lifter innards where it needs to be. Then, if the lifter unsticks (which you should know in 30-45 minutes of driving), a simple oil change and whatever small amount of non-oil residue would be gone.

Or in the case of brake cleaner - it evaporates on it's own. I have no idea what happens when it's mixed with oil - but the end result couldn't be too bad could it? I mean we're only talking a squirt or two.

Thoughts?

I'm in a position where he asked me for help, yet he's freakishly paranoid about the valve ticking. I've removed the cover and adjusted the valves on that side with motor running - which helped alot, but some of the tick returned the next day, telling me he has a sticking lifter (or a bad lifter). He's added a bit of Marvels Mystery Oil (but I don't think he drained any oil, so he couldn't have added much. He's worried about running the engine, although I keep telling him he has to in order for the detergents to work, and that it might take several oil changes and adding detergents and DRIVING the car to get it worked though the system and clean the deposits. But he's chicken-$hit and thinks his car is going to blow up or something.

So I was trying to think of an alternative to attempt that might have a quicker response time, without tearing into the motor yet (can you imagine how paranoid he'd be about be taking the intake off?).

drknow90rs_ss@y

iTrader: (3)

I think the only thing I would try would be to run that mystery oil (About a cup.) straight down the pushrod, but it soulds like lifter replacement would be his best bet. A good set of lifters dont cost all that much, especially flat tappet hyd. If he really wants peace-of-mind, i would go with replacing all 16 lifters.

camaronewbie

Well, I finally talked him into actually removing a quart of oil and replacing it with a can of Seafoam, and most importantly driving the garage queen. The Seafoam or Marvels or whatever won't have any chance to do anything without getting it worked through the system.

And I'm hoping I got his mind at ease that replacing a lifter is no big deal!

ninetyone

iTrader: (2)

I have heard good things about running that mystery oil for things like that.

gwarren007

iTrader: (1)

After dealing with a used car company that bought this stuff by the case for its cars:

CD2 oil detergent
http://www.amazon.com/CD2-4111-Oil-D.../dp/B000AM8C76

I would buy this ...