Lifter fix

NightFire · Post by **NightFire** » Tue Mar 30, 2004 5:52 pm

Just took my car in for a Warrant of Fitness, and I spoke to the mechanic about my noisy lifters. He did a full oil change, and added some stuff (not sure on what its called) that he said will help the noisy lifters. It is a Mitsi product apparently (from a place called Mexted Motors in Wellington, a Mitsi dealer).
So far it has worked wonders. But I was worried it was a temp fix, and the mechanic said he has had no problems with this product, but at worse he could change the noisy lifters for $24 each (I guess minus labour.) So at most replacing all lifters could be around $300 he said.

Its been running for well for a few days now. I'll find out the name of this product, at approx $12, its been worth it so far.

FTO338 · Post by **FTO338** » Tue Mar 30, 2004 6:43 pm

I've tried few different oil treatment stuff before, & they all work at the start, but the noise does come back after a while. So they aren't a real long term solution.

If they are Teflon base product, it will leave a residue affect on your engine, which will cost you more to fix later. I'm sure ruchi can give you further information on this topic

I assume you got an GPX, so you can get your mechanic to adjust the tappet, & theres already few post on this topic already as you might aware.

NightFire · Post by **NightFire** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 7:59 pm

Thats what I'm worried about, is that it won't fix the problem, just mask it for a few weeks. However the mechanic did say it was the best stuff etc, and it is manufactored by Mitsi, so I gave it a shot.

I have a GR, so I believe my only option is to replace if this doesn't work?

GPXXX · Post by **GPXXX** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 9:25 pm

aren't GRs equipped with self-adjustting tappets/lifters??

Post by **smorison** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 10:15 pm

GPXXX wrote:aren't GRs equipped with self-adjustting tappets/lifters??

yeah they are...

not sure what it means if they don't stop knocking (tapping) ... they will tap when the engine is cold but should be fine once the engine has warmed up.

payaya · Post by **payaya** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 1:23 am

they jam up! ive given mine a clean when cleaning them 80% of them were jammed. Take them oil, give them a good clean in diesel!

ive cleaned mine they havent been so quiet in 100000kms!

Its been about three weeks so i'll give it more time till i make my judget, so far so good.

Post by **smorison** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 2:43 am

payaya wrote:they jam up! ive given mine a clean when cleaning them 80% of them were jammed. Take them oil, give them a good clean in diesel!

ive cleaned mine they havent been so quiet in 100000kms!

Its been about three weeks so i'll give it more time till i make my judget, so far so good.

hey would you mind giving a very detailed description of how this is done so i can add it to our FTO information. this sort of thing is a huge benefit to our members and if you have time i'm sure all GR owners would be very grateful.....

please email it to me if you have the time to write this down

payaya · Post by **payaya** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 3:13 am

ive posted a some info on

http://www.ftooc.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=8791

theres some pictures of me taking off the rocker cover.

there more detailed instructions for a EVO but its bascially the same thing.

http://board.performanceforums.com/foru ... ifter+free

picture can be found no http://www.pbase.com/snavy/inbox

a lot were just jammed up, so it didnt spring back into place, but after a while of cleaning they seemed to work again, and the spring action was fine.

payaya · Post by **payaya** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 3:21 am

smorison wrote:
GPXXX wrote:aren't GRs equipped with self-adjustting tappets/lifters??
yeah they are...

not sure what it means if they don't stop knocking (tapping) ... they will tap when the engine is cold but should be fine once the engine has warmed up.

mine were tapping when the engine was hot even after an oil change, and some nulon performance additive.

Now they dont tap ever, maybe a couple taps after not starting for a couple of days. Hasent been this good since 45,000kms after the prob started. Im on 145,000kms now.

payaya · Post by **payaya** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 8:35 pm

i bet you any money they put in Nulon E20 Performance additive in your system.

That stuff did work wonders for me, when i had lifter noise during startup only. It reuduced the duration of the ticking and sometimes never during startup. It works for around 4000kms then slowly lifter noise will reutrn. Worked for 20-30000 kms then the noise reutrned worse than ever!

I couldnt get my lifters to shutup even warm! Even on a hot day, above 2000rpm, no ticking noise, but as soon there was idling ticking.

Guys trust me give your lifters a clean, if you want a brief procudure how to do it i would do it for you guys. I'm nto saying that my process is a cure, but its been three weeks, and the lifters havent be soon quiet since i got the car.

Give you an idea how bad my lifters where.

Start car, tick for around 30 seconds
Noise goes away but returns when warm.
It was just one lifter you could tell.
Even time im stationary lifter noise reappeared.
Take off after 2000rpm noise goes.
Stop at lights noise returns.
Seemed to be worse on cold days.
Some hot days lifter noise during warm wasnt that bad.

The lifters are very sensitive to how oil and how clean there are.
They have a sping and oil hole in them
Over time the oil seems to get dirty inside them and jam them up.

When i was cleaning my front 12 lifters, about 10 were jammed up when inserting a small drill bit into the oil hole seems to unjam then after repeated presses of the lifter. When i was cleaning them in diesel, so much bad oil came out of them it wasnt funny.

It takes around 2-3 hour per bank. You dont need special tools, it looks duanting at the start but after the removal of the first rocker arm and lifter, you notice how easy the it is to fix.

In my case, just clenaing the front bank of lifters eliminated all my lifter noise. Seemed there was one sticky lifter causing all the noise when warm. But a good way to see which bank is the noisy one, if there is only one bank making the noise, apply a big scewdriver to one bank, place ear to handle, and you can clearly hear where the noise is coming from.

I would clean my lifters if your lifters are bad during startup, and are noisy during warmup and when hot.

But if you only get them while starting up, this procedure will help but not cure the problem.

I still get lifter noise sometimes after not starting the car up for a couple of days, or really cold morning. But its very broef probably 5 seconds, compared to 30 seconds.

You got nothing to lose by cleaning the lifters, the gasket is reusable. The only thing you'll need is some diesel, get a jerry can full (4 litres) and thats it.

You'll need a big screwdriver or a pry bar to push down the valve spring though.

bear in mind i just added magnetec to the engine after the lifter clean, no nulon or any other additive was added.

if anyone needs more detailed instructions ill write one up.

payaya · Post by **payaya** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 8:41 pm

smorison wrote:
payaya wrote:they jam up! ive given mine a clean when cleaning them 80% of them were jammed. Take them oil, give them a good clean in diesel!

ive cleaned mine they havent been so quiet in 100000kms!

Its been about three weeks so i'll give it more time till i make my judget, so far so good.
hey would you mind giving a very detailed description of how this is done so i can add it to our FTO information. this sort of thing is a huge benefit to our members and if you have time i'm sure all GR owners would be very grateful.....

please email it to me if you have the time to write this down

if theres enough interest, ill do it. There other forums where they have done the same procedure, but on other mitsubishi, like the one on PF, they cleaned the lifters on an EVO, same lifters, rockers, cams everything internal is similar to the FTO. The only harder bit is getting to the rear bank which requires the removal of the inlet manifold, not hard, also the gasket is metal and reusable.

I didnt know there was going to be so much interest otherwise i would of taken more pictures.

But as i said its too early to tell if the clean worked. Im not lying but my car has done around 150,000 kms now, tappet problem appeared at around 50000kms, my tappets have never been so quiet during startup, the duration of tapping now is nothing comapred to how it use to be.

02 Mar 2004 is when i did my lifters, as i posted on the FTO owners club, its been a month actually, ive clocked up around 1500kms since then i think, lifter noise is still as good as when i cleaned them.

Im trying to give you guys a good understanding of what i did, im telling you guys the affects after a month. Im not saying the procedure will cure the problem but after a month its still awsome. If the noise does reappear you guys will be the first to know.

jez001 · Post by **jez001** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 9:38 pm

So are mivec ones adjustable, no need to clean? How do you adjust them? Could i do it, or would i need a mechanic to? Mine are gettin pretty noisy at times....

payaya · Post by **payaya** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 10:30 pm

i think all you'll need is a adjustment? Im not really sure about adjustable lifters, but i guess the lifters would be exactly the same, so cleaning would do it good.

But i'll probably adjust them first.

You'll need a mechanic to do them for you most likely.

fto12345 · Post by **fto12345** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 2:58 pm

Hi,

What you would have to do is you clean your lifters and then get your mechanic to adjust your lifters for you.

I have a gpx as well and am thinking of doing this soon too....not sure when though....

But you will have to change the engine oil as well if you don't cover your engine properly while the cover is off.

I'll let you guys know when I get around to doing this but don't hold your breath....

Thanks,

fto12345 · Post by **fto12345** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 5:43 pm

Hey Payaya.

Sorry to dig up the old grave but how is your car going with this tappet clean you did?

i am thinking of doing mine soon, but I have a GPX and I will need to get my tappets adjusted.
Just wondering if it's worth it!
Not sure if I will suceed in taking the manifold off!
Let alone clean the tappets.

Let me know how your car is doing, as it has been a while since you cleaned them.

Also, while you have them open, can you think of things you could replace, apart from tappets and spark plugs?

Thanks,

payaya · Post by **payaya** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 3:30 am

well still way better than how it was at 45,000, its been over 10,000kms on second oil change. They were damn noisy before the clean, no where near how it was.

Its worth to drive now, before i never use to drive it.

We'll worth it imo.

Its a tad noisier than it was at first, startup noise duration is up a tad, but i believe its the cold weather.

So its been over 3 months. Even if i had to clean it again, i'll do it. Well worth the effort.

fto12345 · Post by **fto12345** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 10:50 am

And the things you could change while you have the manifold off?
Apart from fuel filter and spark plugs...
Anything else?

Thanks,

payaya · Post by **payaya** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 2:39 pm

fuel filter change, doesnt require the removal of the manifold.

only thing i can think of is leads, and plugs.

a special tool i saw on ebay once, that is sort of like a vice, that as you turn it, pushes down the valve, i guess it would make the job a lot simpler.

NightFire · Post by **NightFire** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 5:29 pm

Just thought I'd drop an update on my car, whatever the stuff was the guy put in, its still working. I *sometimes* get about 2 seconds worth, but thats usually on the real cold mornings.

payaya · Post by **payaya** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 6:24 pm

he would of put a engine treatment in. I use to do it. Most likly something like Nulon E20 engine treatment. Worked wonders on my lifters for a while, but after 30-40k the treatment didnt do much.

Its great stuff, we'll worth the ten bucks, but its only a temp solution.