lifters ticking
 

'92 300SE. Sometimes as short as overnight, others it takes a day or so, but eventually, several of the valve lifters leak down and I get a ticka-ticka-ticka sound at startup.

All but one of the ticking lifters are fully silenced by the time the oil pressure hits 3 on the gauge - maybe 2-3 seconds after startup.

One persistent beggar will tick for some time afterwards, but once there's a little heat in the motor, he's quiet, too.

I run Castrol 20W-50 and change it regularly.

My mechanic suggests I try an oil treatment like seafoam on a couple of cycles to see if we can clean out what is probably some coking of the oil around the check-balls in the lifters.

Car runs fine, smooth at idle, etc.

I'd like to avoid paying probably $1500 to have the lifters replaced. I can do the work myself, but I simply don't have the time.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Regards

MMO (Marvel Mystery Oil) silenced my noisy lifters. I put 1/2 quart in the crankcase, and a quart or so in the gas tank. It took a few days but it made a difference.

cdplayer
 

I have read some suggesting to use Mobil 1 synthetic.
My SEC has 237,000 and tics too. Well, it did. I tried synthetic right after I got the car to clean it out. Boy does this stuff clean!
Then after 7000 miles or so I went back to my regular high mileage oil.

I noticed the ticking had returned. So I am currently using Mobil 1 15wt 50.

$8.00 a quart is a little stiff to handle, but this stuff really works.
Ticking gone again.

Heck if it works
great
Sure beats a engine rebuild...

Might even try it myself...

:D

I had that trouble with my 84 500sec when I first got it. I put rotella in it. I switched to mobil one 10w30 and it went away. Thinking it was cleaned out I went back to rotella and it came back. Then I switched to mobil one permanently. I ran the mobil one a bit longer and the money thing worked out about equal.

Tom W

Why use a lighter oil?
don't specs go 20W50 on hi mile engines?

20W50 is extremely heavy, I don't see why you would run it in any car.

Try some synthetic 5w40, see if that doesn't clear them up. I know Delvac 1 helped the lifters on my 603 a lot.

The owners manual for my car recommends 20w-40 or 20w-50 from temps of 32f up to "oh my gawd it's hottt".

It also shows 15w-40 and 15w-50 with same upper temp allowance, but downward to 5f, 10w-40 down to 0 f, and 5w-50 for any temp range found on planet Earth.

I picked 20w-50 because my mechanic recommended it, and we do get those "oh my gawd it's hottt" days down here in Houston.

Understand, the lifters aren't ticking when the motor is running - only at initial startup. I don't think the viscosity of the oil is going to determine how quickly the lifter leaks down. In fact, I would think a thinner oil might leak down more quickly. That assumption is based on my thinking that the problem is related to coking of the oil around the check-ball and sealing surfaces in the lifter, allowing the oil to leak back out when the pressure drops.

I will concede that the single lifter that is sometimes reluctant to pump up, but does so once the motor warms up, is slow to pump up because of the thicker oil.

With the amount of miles I put on the car, and my penchant for doing 3000 mile changes, I've stockpiled 20w-50 oil - grabbing what I can when the local Advance Autoparts puts it on sale. I'm fairly certain I can return it and swap for a lower viscosity oil, but I'm not convinced that's going to do anything for me.

driving in so cal we don't go below freezing

Always use 20W 50 in my volvo

summer can run 90's 100's

yesterday was mid 80's

20W 50 seems to work here

I have always thought it was recomended for older hi mile engines

I always used it on my older cars before the 500sec. It just didn't work out for that motor. The mobil 1 10w30 worked fine, including about eight autocross events last summer.

Tom W

Something to consider

Might try the synthetic next time

500 sec takes 9 qts

Shop out in 9 qts pennzoil 20w 50 7.5...whats the 7.5?

:freak:

Still would want to go with 15 W 50 in so cal

Thats where something like Delvac 1 would come in. It cleans like crazy and really helped the lifters on my 603. 90% of the ticking went away.

Never heard of Delvac
guess soemthing esle to look up...

:ukliam3:

Be careful using diesel rated lube oils in gas engines. Some of the additives can foul the cat.

Ouch
:eek:

Not on a 25 year old M117.:rolleyes:

I wonder how close Delvac 1 is to the 5w40 Mobil 1 that the dealers now use? On an 07 that may be an issue. I know they just changed Delvac 1 so its safe to use on the latest diesels with the all their emissions goodies.

I am supposed to have a high compression euro engine
so it does need thick oil
& it runs hot

Engine top at least looks pretty clean

I'm kind of surprised the M104 is ticking though, how many miles? My friend has a 97 S320 and his is smooth as silk. 80k miles, I don't know what the PO was using but he has been using Mobil 1 0w40 for the past 10k miles. The M104 is a really nice motor!

I don't think the euro specs change anything oil wise. I would recommend the synthetic especially if you have ticking hydraulic valve adjusters. (they actually are not lifters).

If you are running hot that is not likely an oil related issue and should be sorted out.

Now in my 280e (with mechanical lifters) euro, I was running 10w30 moblil one and caught a slight knock on start up that I suspected was bearing knock from the thin oil running off the bearings, so I switched to 20w50 castrol and that stopped.

Different oils for different motors. You have to be careful. The newer oils don't always work in the older engines.

Synthetics are no panacea.

Tom W

It's running 90 95 now so its in line
has new thermostat
that didn't help it any
then a new radiator

that brought temp down
as it used to run up close to redliine

The engine doesnt look dirty of slugdy
so its been maintained

will have to look into it as its not a new engine & might not be good to change its diet...

Thanks


:cool:

There's 125k on the odometer, but the odo has been changed at some point. (It has digital odometer & trip meter - no '92 140 I've ever seen has that). I'd like to think the change was by a dealer and was on the up-and-up, but who knows.

T Walgamuth is correct - my terminology is dated from my ohv-engine days. I think the car received less-than-ideal care from the PO-1. I bought it for a song from a good friend who bought it from them when they popped the serpentine belt and overheated it enough to blow the headgasket.

The mechanic that did the rebuild of the upper portion of the engine said he replaced "some" of the hydraulic valve adjusters (to properly identify the items) - I know they're not cheap (probably $25-30+ each wholesale) but for the effort to get to them, and if "some" of them needed replacing - why not replace the lot??? Such is the story of this car...

They only tick at startup, so they're leaking down. I'm not as concerned about the leakdown of several as I am about the single lifter that doesn't pump up readily (sometimes). Things like this don't tend to heal themselves, and eventually, that lifter will fail to pressure up at all, and the constant banging against the cam lobe will damage the camshaft - which is what I'm wanting to avoid.

How hard are they do get on on the M104? I changed all them on my 603 and it was pretty easy. You have to lock the timing chain to the sprocket, than unbolt the cam. Once the cam is out you can pull them out on the 603 with a magnet. The M104 has two cams so I'm not sure what that would change.

Pretty hard - most of a day's work, but the job is the same. Just have to be careful to properly re-align the VVT on the intake side when reassembling.

I can handle the job, it's just I don't have a spare day in my calendar for quite some time.