Every once in a while (it could be 4 months, then 3 days, then 4 weeks, then 2 months, you get the idea...) one of the hydraulic lifters makes noise at start up ('92 GXE VG30E engine). After the engine runs for a couple of seconds, its fine, but nonetheless annoying at times. Anybody else experience this? The car is in great shape and has 115k miles and burns no oil. I use 10W-30 oil and the stock Nissan Oil Filter change it every 3K miles.

 

Mine ticks for a few seconds if I leave it overnight on an incline. Ticks about 5 times then stops for the rest of day, sounds ****ty but I dont think its anything to worry about. I went to Mobil 1 0-50 to see if it would get the oil to the lifters quicker but it became worse so I went back to a mineral 15-40 oil. Anyone know if lifter adjustment can stop the tick?

 

I've been told these lifters aren't adjustable because they're hydraulic.. that doesn't exactly make sense though, because I could adjust the ones in my Mitsu truck and they were also hydraulic.. ????

I can't say 100% yes or no, but I'd also side with the person who said they're not adjustable.

and yes, my car does that too.. the real fun is when the broken exhaust stud makes even louder ticking nd you're not sure whether it's a lifter or exhaust that makes the noise!

 

My dad was told by a mechanic that even though they are hydraulic lifters they have shimms and can be adjusted. My car also has lifter noise after start-up. I just got the car so I added some marvel mystery oil to it, and think it is helping it.

 

Mine has done this also.....but just a handful of times in 2 years. I'd say its cause after a while gunk builds up on them and they get sticky. I was thinking about one of those engine flushes.....but then I heard that they can dislodge some stuff and get it stuck in the oil passages. Also.....Got-rice told me I could add a capful of ATF fluid about 500 miles before my next oil change. That has lots of detergents in it. As I'm writing this I'm watching an add for Mobil's new "drive Clean" oil. I think I'll try that next....only if its synthectic. If not I won't. I have been using syn's for the last 15K and I don't wanna keep switching on and off.

Mike S.

 

According to the FSM if the valve lifters are noisy it could be that air is inside the lifter. To bleed the air you have to reinstall your rocker arm and cover, then run the engine at 1000rpm under no-load for about 10 minutes. Next remove rocker covers and arms to check that all air is bled out. Now if there is still air there replace valve lifter. Also there isn't any mention of adjusting lifter or valve lash.