Valve noise, lots of it.

[Mike McKown]

10w30 is the right grade of oil for these things. Used to get a lot of festys in with rattles from people putting 20w50 in them. The lifters would get slightly noisy but a lot of the chatter was actually from the oil pump.

Just curious. Could this oil pump noise go away when you accelerate the engine in neutral and commence when the engine is coasting down? Kinda' like marbles in a can rattling?

[gareth69]

Generally you would get the noise at idle speeds when there is acceleration and decelaration of the crank, would go away when accelerating. More of a chatter than marbles in a can. If you have that sort of noise I would think that something is loose and rattling. Possibly cat converter/ muffler internals.

[Mike McKown]

"marbles in a can" was referring to the random cadence of the chattering, clattering or rattling noise. Does this mean the pump is worn? Emminent failure? What causes it?

It's not a baffle in the exhaust. It's in the engine. Not the valves.

[FB71]

Got the motor from Dean with my car. I am not sure on the year of the motor, 90 and up I would assume as it is EFI.

will you be at Madness? If so, I can take a look at it for you.

[KrayZFrameRate]

will you be at Madness? If so, I can take a look at it for you.

I am not going to be able to make it. When I have the time I am going to pull off the upper valvetrain and prime it.

[gareth69]

"marbles in a can" was referring to the random cadence of the chattering, clattering or rattling noise. Does this mean the pump is worn? Emminent failure? What causes it?

It's not a baffle in the exhaust. It's in the engine. Not the valves.

Try running 10w30 oil, if it is pump chatter it should quieten it down.

[darkdan]

0w30, 5w30, 10w30.......it's basically all the same this time of year It's very important in MN winter though.

The number before the W doesn't come into play on OHC motors until about freezing. Until that point all of them flow pretty close to the same. Most 0w and 5w will flow a bit better at room temps, but it's not a big difference when it comes to how the motor works (oil pumps are positive displacement, so every turn of the engine moves the same amount of oil.....so the only way to move more oil is for the engine to turn faster).

But the holes on those HLA are pretty tiny. So a thinner oil does go through them better, but they also clog up very easily since they're so small.

[Mike McKown]

The engine already had 10W-30 in it. Yesterday, I added a pint of motor honey. I don't know what the viscosity is now but the lifters have quieted down and that oil pump(?) noise is mostly gone.

I think I'll add another bottle of motor honey.

[darkdan]

I wouldn't advise it.

That stuff is WAY WAY WAY too thick.

Chances are, it managed to get into the HLAs and now is just too thick and gummy to leak out of them.

[Mike McKown]

Too late. I added 8 ounces this afternoon. Running like a Swiss watch!

[dacusville5]

That's pretty interesting. the blue festero has the valve noise on again/off again. I'll try the lighter oil.
"I'm a maintenance fanatic. I believe in changing my motor oil every 75,000 miles whether it needs it , or not."

[GenevaDirt]

Wow....that often....I wouldn't waste the money....I just overtighten my valve cover gasket so I have to add oil every once in a while....then no change is needed at all!

[BigWheel]

You're supposed to change the oil???

[solatare]

hrm. i got less noise running 20w50 synthetic in mine, responds better too, for winter i ran 15w50. this has also given me a mile or two improvement in economy. does not like to stay in the motor tho, running the thicker oil motor tends to leak abit. last festiva i had i drove it for almost two years with this combination, 240000+ miles on it and it did not smoke or burn. no valve clatter or other noise from the bottom end and i drove it over a 5000 foot pass in my combined 700ish miles a week commute at the time. i would lose maybe a sixteenth to an eighth on the stick to leaks on the bottom end over the 4 to 5k miles i went between changes, and this was mostly dependent on temperature; did not leak during winter.

[geezerstiva]

is there a specific torque for the VC bolts? maybe THATS why my VC's always seem to leak... :lol:

not trying to thread jack, just curious.