Rockers Not Rocking All The Time, Ticking, No Oil Up Top End(Video)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b38/subdude17/th_Tick.jpg (http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b38/subdude17/?action=view&current=Tick.flv)

I finished building my LE2 383 a week or so ago and got in in my car. First startup was great. Ran like a champ and no odd noises.. I was gettin 70 lbs or so of oil pressure based on the stock dash display.

threw the next 3 days I drove the car a few times and put about 32 miles on it. It ran great the whole time.

The next day it was running good for 10 mins or so then when I came to a stop light I could hear a little faint ticking on the passenger side. it also stumbled a little (felt a little like a misfire) at idle.. it was definatly ticking.. fairly quietly but I could hear it reverbing off houses when i drove by. It could have been in my head but it didnt feel as powerful. I gave it a little more throttle and it pulled good but then when I let off it was clicking quite loud now and it took alot of throttle to get it to move.. felt like maybe 5 cylinders or less. it wouldnt idle without throttle.

I pulled the pass side rocker cover and put a white rag over the rockers and started it.. and I got no oil at all on the rag.. I let it run for about 45 seconds still nothing on the rag.. this while time I had 70+lbs oil pressure.

I pulled the other rocker cover and did the same test on the other side and I got no oil on the rag their either.. one pushrod had a little oil dribbling out but thats all.. with 70lbs of oil pressure why is oil not shooting out of those pushrods?..

I should mention im using a M155HV high pressure/volume pump..but I did not measure any clearences on the cam bearings. I did pay close atention to oil hole alignment on the cam bearings when I installed them tho. I used a paper clip to be sure it the oil feel hole was over the little gally.

I do see a little bit of oil res in the heads, and everything is a little wet, so im sure some is makign it up there. and I am using the poly locks that came with my comp rockers..


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here is some video of what it sounded like under the hood a few days ago.
[URL="http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b38/subdude17/?action=view&current=Exhaust.flv";]http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b38/subdude17/?action=view&current=Exhaust.flv (http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b38/subdude17/?action=view&current=Tick.flv)

I was just watching those rockers closly, and somehting does not seem right about those.. the valves open a few times then the lifters colapse it looks like.. its eratic.. they open and close fast a few times then stop for a while.. thats not correct..

so im thinking the noise we are hearing is the lifter plunger bottoming out in the lifter when the cam trys to lift the valve, then the plunger is being pushed back up by the spring when its lettin the valve go and then it tries again on the next rotation and it bottoms out again and we hear it again. why would I only hear it on one bank?.. and not alot more times?.. maybe its only one or 2 lifters making the noise? the most starved ones?.

I dont understand why it was fine for the first 30 miles..that makes me think that maybe some thing is blocking oil flow up top, something that was not there before, that made it ways in.


I pulled the intake manifold and ran the oil pump with a drill and got 60 psi on the dash. I pulled the lifter that is NEARest to the passenger compartment on the passanger side (hopein to see a cloged oil gally or somehting) and run the pump and oil came out of the lifter bore quite fast, it was alot of oil, so I know that lifter has good oil flow.

So I decided to pull the lifter furthest away on the DRIVER side, and spin the pump and I get no oil coming out of there.. It should be pouring out of all of the lifter bores with the lifter out and the pump spinning. I did put the other one back in so none leaked out there.
the 2 lifters I pulled out looked great, I even took them apart and there is no debris in either of them...
So, could I be not gettin enuff oil to the oil gally for the lifters due to cam bearing clearences??.. I do get tons of flow out the first lifter bore closest to the pump, but none out of the furthest...

what else could cause the rocker to not rock all the time?...

If you are using an electric drill to run the pump you probably won't get any oil in the farthest lifter, not enough power to turn the pump for that.
Looking at your video, you do have an oiling problem, there should be oil gathering in the downhill side of the heads. A couple of things could be happening, when you built the engine...was the oil galley plug installed (the internal one by the pump) And is it possible that the pickup screen has fallen off? If the pickup fell off you'll read pressure but won't pump enough oil to reach the heads. You could also have the rockers adjusted too tight preventing them from pumping up.

Thanks for the fast reponse and the help.

I am using an electric drill to run the pump, it does not sound like its stressing at all and its spinning quite fast. But that could be the case.

I did make sure to install this plug under the main cap:

http://www.ellweinengines.com/KingERE3/oilgalleyplug.jpg

I put the plug 1.450" from the surface of the block to the center of the plug down in the hole.

when I pulled the motor appart for the rebuild I found that the pickup was off. It has a very loose fit. so I ordered a brand new one and used the correct tool to put it in. it was a very very tight fit. so I would have to think thats not the problem. but to be posative I can pull the drain plug and stick my little camera and light in there and check.


as for the rockers being to tight. hmm. intresting. but they didnt get any tighter and they were pumping up (I think they were, no noise) for the first 30 miles or so.

Maybe I should put my stock lifters in. these are LS7 lifter in here now. (forgot to mention that)

Maybe I should put my stock lifters in. these are LS7 lifter in here now. (forgot to mention that)
Also, check your pushrods, make sure they aren't bent. If they wern't the right length or the rockers were too tight you may have bent them in those first 30 miles.

good idea. I will definatly do that. thanks

good idea. I will definatly do that. thanks

I doubt this is your problem but I will throw it in anyway just in case, when I first tightened my rocker arms I didn't tighten the locks down enough and the eventually worked loose and started ticking.

I doubt this is your problem but I will throw it in anyway just in case, when I first tightened my rocker arms I didn't tighten the locks down enough and the eventually worked loose and started ticking.
Right. If the poly locks aren't done correctly they will come loose.