Lifters

[Mitsubishieclipse03]

I have a 2003 Mitsubishi eclipse 2.4 and it has a lifter tick I was told it was just a sticky lifter how would I fix this.

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[BigC]

Hi Mitsubishieclipse03,

Happy Friday. Sorry to hear about the lifter tick noise. On the other hand, that is better than a loud knock noise. Two suggestions (one quick, one not-so-quick)

1. You can use a quart of Gunk Motor Flush. Empty into your oil with the engine cold, run the car for 5 minutes in park, and then drain the oil and change the oil filter. Fill the engine with new oil (and oil filter) and see if the lifter tick is gone. The objective in using the Gunk Motor Flush is to hopefully thin out whatever is clogging the lifter from working properly. Even if this does not work, the Gunk Motor Flush will hopefully loosen up some of the existing sludge that might be building up in the engine.

2. If the lifter noise is still there, here is a link that provides a step-by-step instruction on how to perform.

http://www.club3g.com/forum/maintenance/137563-how-remove-lifter-tap-completely-2-4l.html

Do you know which lifter(s) is bad? I used a stethoscope to identify which cylinder the ticking noise was coming from while the engine is running. Harbor Freight sells a stethoscope fairly inexpensively. You can also use a long wooden dowel. If you decide to replace all the lifters, then it won’t matter. But if the budget only allows for fixing the bad lifter(s), that would be my recommendation.

I have only performed one lifter job and that was on a Dodge Intrepid 2.7L engine. Anyone have any other ideas and suggestions? Keep us posted.

[Mitsubishieclipse03]

Thanks a lot I already sea foamed the car and changed the oil and it got louder.I am going to change out the lifters. Thanks for your help BIGC

[BigC]

Thanks Eric….learned something new! Makes sense with what you stated regarding the cam.

[EricTheCarGuy]

The general rule is that you should replace the cam along with the lifters but I have known and have seen people just replace lifteres without incedent on some engines in the past. Also be sure to use the correct oil in the engine that is called for on the oil cap, if you use thicker oil to quiet engine noise it will often backfire because the thicker oil will take longer to reach the top of the engine when it’s cold thus increasing the wear on the top end.

[Author]

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