Replacing lifters...is it worth it??

Hey guys!

Yes, another problem with the Blazer. Never did get the 4wd fixed...oh well, no more snow to deal with! :)

Anyways, I have a 1995 Blazer LT with the 4.3L Vortec in it with 189,000 miles. About a month ago it started knocking pretty bad. I had a mechanic look at it and he feels one of the lifters is bad. He estimated it to be a $1000 fix. I have a read some posts on here about lifter problems but am wondering how hard of a fix it would be to do it myself. (Well, my dad would be doing most of the work!!) Would if it be a tough fix, any pointers?

Also, I came across a lot of negative stuff about Fram oil filters. YIKES... I have changed oil plenty of times and used those!! How bad is that?

Any suggestions would be very helpful! Just not sure if we should take on this task or not!

Thanks in advance!

#1: Are you using Fram now?

#2: do you have a lifter claking noise? Or a rod knock.

#3: What oil Are you using?

I have a 1995 and can help you directly, the #1 thing about this engine is that you need 4.5 quarts to fill the oil up.

Do NOT go by the dipstick, full on the dipstick is 1/2 quart overfilledd and you will be having the crank slap the oil, introduce air into it which will migrate to the lifters and collect causing the noise.

I used to have the valve train noise until I Auto-RX's the truck, and only used the right volume of oil instead of filling it to the full mark on the dipstick.

I suggest Auto-RX, worked great on m truck. And the stuff it removed plugged a 10,000 miles capable oil filter in 1500miles.

www.auto-rx.com



At full, the oil should be up to3/4 in the cross-hatched area.

Thanks for the reply BlazerLT.

I stopped using Fram about a year or so ago, now use a NAPA brand and oil I believe is Citgo. I have had a couple different people listen to it and they all seem to think it is lifter noise. It is a pretty loud clanking noise. I have always filled it with 4.5 quarts... the dipstick half the time doesn't tell you anything even close to being right.

I think the Auto-RX would be worth a try. Would you suggest using a synthetic oil as well?

If you switch to synthetic you may be switching out a lot of your seals also. It is not guaranteed, but it is a possibility with switching over a high-mileage engine to synthetic.

that is totaly un true synthetic oil will not cause youre seals to fail it will just elmnate the junk that was stoping up the leak

Where did I say the seals would fail? I didn't. The better cleaning property of the oil along with the smaller molecular structure can allow oil to seep out of seals by cleaning away the build up caused by oil sludge and dirt. When this happens you have to switch out the seal. I never once said the oil would cause a seal to leak, only expose leaks that are already there, please read what I said before you jump on me. Thanks.

im not jumping on you but i do beleve that this is saying that swiching to synthetic will cause a leak "If you switch to synthetic you may be switching out a lot of your seals also."

I've seen synthetic oil stop more leaks lately than start them. It aeast to me that the seals just don't do their job when they're full of crud

BlazerLT, is there a store that you know of which sells Auto-RX on the shelves in Canada?

Depends on what synthetic you use, Mobil 1 does not have nearly as many additives used to swell seals as they used to. So when I personally switched to synthetic, oil leaks started. Say what you wish, but if you switch over to synthetic, and your oil starts to leak, the synthetic has removed the gunk from the seals, and the seals are now leaking.

Hey guys!

Yes, another problem with the Blazer. Never did get the 4wd fixed...oh well, no more snow to deal with! :)

Anyways, I have a 1995 Blazer LT with the 4.3L Vortec in it with 189,000 miles. About a month ago it started knocking pretty bad. I had a mechanic look at it and he feels one of the lifters is bad. He estimated it to be a $1000 fix. I have a read some posts on here about lifter problems but am wondering how hard of a fix it would be to do it myself. (Well, my dad would be doing most of the work!!) Would if it be a tough fix, any pointers?

Also, I came across a lot of negative stuff about Fram oil filters. YIKES... I have changed oil plenty of times and used those!! How bad is that?

Any suggestions would be very helpful! Just not sure if we should take on this task or not!

Thanks in advance!

If it is a deep knock you may have other problems.
Lifters like woodpeckers do more pecking than knocking.:grinyes: :lol:
If you have a lifter noise pull the valve cover and have a look.
A rocker bad or lose or push rod bad will give you a noise to.
Does it do it on start up or all of the time?
MT

Hey guys!

Yes, another problem with the Blazer. Never did get the 4wd fixed...oh well, no more snow to deal with! :)

Anyways, I have a 1995 Blazer LT with the 4.3L Vortec in it with 189,000 miles. About a month ago it started knocking pretty bad. I had a mechanic look at it and he feels one of the lifters is bad. He estimated it to be a $1000 fix. I have a read some posts on here about lifter problems but am wondering how hard of a fix it would be to do it myself. (Well, my dad would be doing most of the work!!) Would if it be a tough fix, any pointers?

Also, I came across a lot of negative stuff about Fram oil filters. YIKES... I have changed oil plenty of times and used those!! How bad is that?

Any suggestions would be very helpful! Just not sure if we should take on this task or not!

Thanks in advance!


Lot of pros and cons on oil .
The main thing on the oil is to keep it changed regular and use a good oil filter to keep it clean.
Oil synthetic or regular is good and will last beyond the recommended oil changes but it gets dirty. The dirt is what does the damage to lifters and engines.
On oil filters here is a couple of links to a oil filter study.
http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilters.html
http://people.msoe.edu/~yoderw/oilfilterstudy/oilfilterstudy.html
mt

I had the same thing sounded 100% like a lifter.. ended up conrod bearing which seems to be a weak point in the engine.

I've seen synthetic oil stop more leaks lately than start them. It aeast to me that the seals just don't do their job when they're full of crud

BlazerLT, is there a store that you know of which sells Auto-RX on the shelves in Canada?

Synthetic will not cause leaks period, I switched to synthetic at 130,000 miles and no one drop, actually, the oil cooler lines also stopped leaking.

The Auto-RX has to be used with conventional oil for it to work. Follow the directions to the letter on the site.

Also, there are no Canadian Distributors. I per sonally bought mine from the site.

Hey guys, thanks for all the replies. My Blazer was driven home after the mechanic had looked at it this weekend and about a mile from home it lost all power and the noise which we thought to be lifter noise became much louder. Could bad lifters explain the loss of power, or (much to my dismay) are we talking a lot more damage here then just lifters? It makes constant noise. When I first noticed it a while back it was more of a constant ticking noise. Now, it is a pretty loud.

It's possible for a lifter to colapse altogether, which could cause a power loss. Although I've never seen it happen.

Someone else might have another idea what it could be.

Hey guys, thanks for all the replies. My Blazer was driven home after the mechanic had looked at it this weekend and about a mile from home it lost all power and the noise which we thought to be lifter noise became much louder. Could bad lifters explain the loss of power, or (much to my dismay) are we talking a lot more damage here then just lifters? It makes constant noise. When I first noticed it a while back it was more of a constant ticking noise. Now, it is a pretty loud.

That does not sound good.
Time to have a good look at it.
To check lifters or rockers you need to pull valve covers.
Also I would check oil pressure with a manual oil pressure gauge.
Have you got pressure?
And see if you can short out the noise by disabling one cylinder at a time.
A good trained ear can tell a lot from a noise.
Got any mechanic freinds that can listen to it?
Let us know how it goes.
MT

I have never heard of a lifter causing a loss of power. Is it smoking at all?

No, it's not smoking at all. We haven't got a chance to tear it apart yet. But, when we do I will update you all on what we find out! Thanks for all the help!

Hey Guys!

Been a long time, but I finally got the Blazer back on the road. Turns out it was a bad lifter. After tearing it all apart we found the bad lifter (if I get a chance I will attach a photo)...it was pretty bad. The roller in the lifter was completely gone and took part of the casing with it. Only found a few of the pieces! :) A new set of lifters/$200 later and she runs like a charm! Sure saved some cash doing it myself rather than bringing it in.

Thanks for all your help!

Hey Guys!

Been a long time, but I finally got the Blazer back on the road. Turns out it was a bad lifter. After tearing it all apart we found the bad lifter (if I get a chance I will attach a photo)...it was pretty bad. The roller in the lifter was completely gone and took part of the casing with it. Only found a few of the pieces! :) A new set of lifters/$200 later and she runs like a charm! Sure saved some cash doing it myself rather than bringing it in.

Thanks for all your help!

Thanks for posting back and letting us all know how it went.
Glad you got it going and all is well.
Good Luck
MT

Hey Guys!

Been a long time, but I finally got the Blazer back on the road. Turns out it was a bad lifter. After tearing it all apart we found the bad lifter (if I get a chance I will attach a photo)...it was pretty bad. The roller in the lifter was completely gone and took part of the casing with it. Only found a few of the pieces! :) A new set of lifters/$200 later and she runs like a charm! Sure saved some cash doing it myself rather than bringing it in.

Thanks for all your help!

Aren't you meaning the rocker?

Aren't you meaning the rocker?

The stock lifters have a roller on the bottom that rides on the cam, the rockers are stamped, and do not have rollers, so it looks like countryg22 described correctly.

The stock lifters have a roller on the bottom that rides on the cam, the rockers are stamped, and do not have rollers, so it looks like countryg22 described correctly.

You are right, major brain fart here.

How did the cam lobe "not get hurt" ? if the roller was gone?

Lucky if it didn't touch the lobe. A winner.

It might have gotten slitly scored, but I don't think it was run enough to seriously do any real damage. A lot of lubrication down there during engine operation.

One thing that shocks me is they never found the other pieces, but for some reason think they will be down in the oil pan.

Countrygirl...

Did you change the oil after this?

BlazerLT -

I did change the oil after everything was done. I did not check it though.