Valve lifter noise?

[89ARIES]

I've been told since the dawn of time that all K-cars have a mild tapping sound when
the engine is running. I've been told its valve lifters or something slapping inside while
the pistons go up and down. My car has always had this sound since I owned it. Someone
riding with me mentioned the sound and set "is that your valve lifters"? It got me to thinking could the sound be getting worse or more noticeable at 140,000 miles. Is this
really normal? Can I expect it to get a whole lot worse until it sounds like a thrown piston? What makes this sound anyway? As a K-car nut, I should know the answer, but I have never really been concerned with this until now. Also, I find it weird that if the car has been sitting, and I start it, I can't seem to hear any tapping sound and while running, I hear it more in park then in drive.

[farmertom]

My 1988 Reliant with the 2.2 and 103,000 makes quite a bit of noise. I have heard that it is caused by the wrist pins which are located in the bottom of the engine at the crank and not in the head at the valves. What is even worse is that the tired old engine is starting to get some piston slap so the poor car sounds like a diesel! Although it sounds like crap the thing just keeps running.

I believe the turbo engines were even more notorious for creating this noise. I was talking to a guy at a car show that said he had owned several turbo K's and he said that ALL of them made some kind of knocking or ticking noise to some degree.

[88 aries]

my 86 was quiet when i got it, it had not been ran in about a whole year it was quiet as a mouse. it has loosened up and has a slight wrist pin noise. but not as bad as my 88 with the 2.5 engine. and the 85 well thats quiet as a mouse accept the knock knocking which will be fixed before winter.

[Butch]

I Got brand new lifers, their noisy. It's ampified due to the steel metal curtain covering the cam. Bare in mind these cars are economy car ( cheap ) so the engineers didn't worry about a little noise here and there. Boyd designed and built his own lifers for his outragous cam that are quiet.

[89ARIES]

Well, mine don't seem to be getting worse. I always shrugged it off
as okay. Always had the noise. Surprised my boss who used to own my
car has just now mentioned it.

[Hemi-Dude]

I've been told since the dawn of time that all K-cars have a mild tapping sound when
the engine is running. I've been told its valve lifters or something slapping inside while
the pistons go up and down. My car has always had this sound since I owned it. Someone
riding with me mentioned the sound and set "is that your valve lifters"? It got me to thinking could the sound be getting worse or more noticeable at 140,000 miles. Is this
really normal? Can I expect it to get a whole lot worse until it sounds like a thrown piston? What makes this sound anyway? As a K-car nut, I should know the answer, but I have never really been concerned with this until now. Also, I find it weird that if the car has been sitting, and I start it, I can't seem to hear any tapping sound and while running, I hear it more in park then in drive.

OK you guys, I guess I better settle this so you will all know.
The NON-TURBO engines have wrist pins which are pressed into the connecting rod. That means that all the pivoting by the piston is done on the surface of the wrist pin that is in the piston. There is less than adequate lubrication to these points and therefore the wrist pin wears down in that area. This causes the 'diesel like sound' you hear mostly at idle and a little above that.
The TURBO engines have what is called 'floating' wrist pins. That is, there is a bronze bushing in the small end of the connecting rod which the wrist pin passes through. Some engines have a lubricating hole in the top of the connecting rod to provide oil to the pin and bushing. Therefore wear is reduced and wrist pin noise, if it ever occurs, also takes much longer to occur.
The noise does increase with time on the non-turbo engines, but I have never seen any that are actually mechanically affected by this.

[turbokcar]

My turbo engine has pressed in piston pins. When I had the machine work done on my engine,
[bored, honed, decked, balanced, and rods re sized] he had to press the pins in. My pistons are not stock though. and I put a roller cam and roller lifters in the engine and it still makes noise. I think Butch is correct it's a cheap car, so they don't do much to keep it quiet.
There is a guy at the Shelby Dodge meeting that has an Omni GLH, and it's a noisy, smell beast, I thought it had all kinds of issues, then Butch told me it's an 11 second car. And I don't think I will race him for pinks.

[Butch]

ALOT of guys are switching to the PT Cruiser lifters that are quiet but require a shim under them as they are shorter than the 2.2, 2.5 lifter. I'm planning to do the same. This post explains why the CHEAP ASS lifters are noisy....http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/showt ... ht=lifters

[foamermetal]

I don't want to get a lot of grief but would this same diesel noise at idle apperar on the 2.6 Mitsubishi engine as the same causes

[gpaschen48]

I have the same noise on my Rampage; Dodge dealer tech said its the wrist pins, he has replaced hundreds, but not to worry , the noise comes back after40 k miles. He told me just to drive it.