Loose rocker arm help
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 100
Likes: 0
From: Gravois Mills Mo
Loose rocker arm help
98 vert vette with 5.3 heads and 224/228 cam. got the car last month and started getting valve train rattle. It doese not miss and still runs ok. sounded like it was coming from the rear right side so I took off the valve cover and the #8 exhaust rocker has a tiny bit of play in it. I can slightly lift it off the valve a few thousand. I swaped it with another to see it is was a bad rocker and it was not. I did not turn the motor over so I can not tell if it was on the base circle or if any others were the same. The push rod is not bent......please don't tell me I have a bad lifter as the power tour is a week away.
The miles are in the low 100's.
The miles are in the low 100's.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 10,924
Likes: 78
From: Forney Texas
If the lifter is not pumping up, that's a problem. If the bearings are out in the roller, that's a bigger problem. Better to fix it then find out all of your needle bearings are gone and have it chew up your cam. Spend some now or more later. Your oil pressure is good right? Low oil pressure may keep it from pumping up enough to close the gap.
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 3,526
Likes: 18
From: Santa Fe TX
How much play? There may be a (very) little when the valve is fully closed. Did you try rotating the motor to see if others are doing similar when cam is in different position? If so you may need .0025 longer pushrods. Or a pushrod length checker to determine if you need .0025, .0050 longer and so forth.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 100
Likes: 0
From: Gravois Mills Mo
If the lifter is not pumping up, that's a problem. If the bearings are out in the roller, that's a bigger problem. Better to fix it then find out all of your needle bearings are gone and have it chew up your cam. Spend some now or more later. Your oil pressure is good right? Low oil pressure may keep it from pumping up enough to close the gap.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 10,962
Likes: 29
From: Van Buren Arkansas
Wounded Warrior Escort '11
The lifters do fail. I lost one or possibly two on my '99 a couple of years ago. You can replace them yourself providing you have the books and tools. You will need the new lifters, gasket set, headbolts. You can do it in about 2 days of work on the car providing you do your homework first.
