Thread: lifter noise? 3.5l V8

Originally Posted by timbocruiser

hey all, just wondering if it is a common problem for the cam and/or lifters to wear and cause a tapping noise under load? had one of the rocker covers off my 3.5 yesterday and seemed to be too loose in the valve train for a hydraulic setup!
any help would be appreciated!

Yes replace the cam and lifters

Yes, quite likely worn or collapsed lifters, and cam lobes.



One obscure question though,

Have you had any large backfires before the tapping started?


Dad's old rangie had a similar problem. Eventually we found, that when someone cut off the air mixer tubes on the heads, they placed a ball bearing under each compression fitting to assist in the sealing of the cut and crimped tubes.

They were knocked loose by a large backfire, and rattled away under load, as they were knocked up and down the chambers by the exhaust gases.

thicker oil?
what oil do you use,
multi grages are thin when cold, so more tappet noise on startup.

The early 3.5 engines had very thin hardened surface area on the face of the lifter, and they it would chew lifter and cam.
I don't recall when they fixed this problem with better lifters got an idea it was around mid 80,s.

the tapping noise is there cold and hot, only starts to happen around 2000rpm and when under load.
running 20w50 oil in it. seems to me that the lifters are buggered!

thanks for your answers!

If it makes power and gets good economy, just keep driving.

have done a bit more driving of the rangie over the last couple of days and the tapping pretty much goes away after a good 40 minutes of driving so when the oil has reached its good operating temp. I'm just going to keep thrashing it i reckon, see what happens!!