Seafoam helped lifter tap
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 3,187
Likes: 266
From: Virginia
Seafoam helped lifter tap
Just thought I'd share this. I have been dealing with a pretty loud valvetrain tick/tap on cold starts for awhile now that makes me cringe everytime I hear it. I have tried everything other than pulling the heads and visually inspecting to find out what the noise is. I used a stethoscope and finally narrowed it down to coming from cylinder 3. Anyway I was going to be doing an oil change soon so I said what the hell and bought a bottle of seafoam, I used to put it in my Trans Am and never had any issues. I put about 6oz in the crankcase and maybe 4 or 5oz in the gas tank, took the car out and ran it pretty hard. I have only cranked the car twice since doing this but both times the lifter noise is significantly quieter. I can still hear a little bit of lifter noise but nothing I wouldn't consider normal. The obnoxiously loud tap seems to be gone and it was present every single time I cranked it on a cold motor. I would assume that if I actually had a damaged lifter roller or bad cam lobe then the noise wouldn't have gone away just by putting a cleaner in there. Crossing my fingers that I had a gummed up lifter and it has free'd up. Also I didn't have any smoke at all from the exhaust after using the seafoam so I must have a pretty clean motor!
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 3,187
Likes: 266
From: Virginia
Acct Suspended APR 2026 by request
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2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
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to really help clean the combustion chambers you need to run seafoam through the intake via a vacuum hose, doing it that way will create a lot of smoke if the chambers have carbon buildup in them... you can also use atf in the crankcase to help clean it... put a quart in with the oil and run it for a few hundred miles before your next oil change and the detergents in the atf will help break down sludge buildup... on a properly maintained engine you shouldn't have to do that though, regular oil changes will prevent that from happening
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 3,187
Likes: 266
From: Virginia
to really help clean the combustion chambers you need to run seafoam through the intake via a vacuum hose, doing it that way will create a lot of smoke if the chambers have carbon buildup in them... you can also use atf in the crankcase to help clean it... put a quart in with the oil and run it for a few hundred miles before your next oil change and the detergents in the atf will help break down sludge buildup... on a properly maintained engine you shouldn't have to do that though, regular oil changes will prevent that from happening
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 30,894
Likes: 1,189
From: chicago
if a lifters sticking,its in the oil system,,,,not the fuel system,
ive fixed sticky lifters by draining the eng oil,filling crankcase with 5qts atf fluid,letting eng run for 1/2-1 hr,draining oil and filter,putting fresh oil and filter on and driving car
ive fixed sticky lifters by draining the eng oil,filling crankcase with 5qts atf fluid,letting eng run for 1/2-1 hr,draining oil and filter,putting fresh oil and filter on and driving car
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 3,187
Likes: 266
From: Virginia
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Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 3,187
Likes: 266
From: Virginia
So I've driven the car a bunch of times now with the same results. I can still hear that one lifter over the rest but it's not nearly as loud and goes away faster than before the seafoam. So why would it be quieter but not go away completely? Maybe the seafoam has thinned out the oil and it's getting oil up in there faster? Or possibly the plunger was clogged and has free'd up some but not completely. What do you guys think?
Pro
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 550
Likes: 53
From: Fort Myers Florida
So I've driven the car a bunch of times now with the same results. I can still hear that one lifter over the rest but it's not nearly as loud and goes away faster than before the seafoam. So why would it be quieter but not go away completely? Maybe the seafoam has thinned out the oil and it's getting oil up in there faster? Or possibly the plunger was clogged and has free'd up some but not completely. What do you guys think?
Last edited by midnight01; Sep 4, 2018 at 12:17 PM.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 3,187
Likes: 266
From: Virginia
take the valve cover off the offending side and push down and up on the rocker arm of the lifter and see if it is very easy to do so. Hydraulic lifters use oil to pressurize them so if you can push down on the lifter with the rocker and its very easy to do, you have a bad lifter. look at the rocker arm to valve and see if its a little crooked or does not look like the rest of them, the visual may sometimes detect an issue as well.
.
Joined: Apr 2013
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From: Oregon
St. Jude Donor '14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19-'20-'21-'22-'23
So I've driven the car a bunch of times now with the same results. I can still hear that one lifter over the rest but it's not nearly as loud and goes away faster than before the seafoam. So why would it be quieter but not go away completely? Maybe the seafoam has thinned out the oil and it's getting oil up in there faster? Or possibly the plunger was clogged and has free'd up some but not completely. What do you guys think?
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 3,187
Likes: 266
From: Virginia
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 3,187
Likes: 266
From: Virginia
I appreciate the offer. I'm not ready to pull the heads just yet but I may end up getting a cam not far down the road so I will prob go with ls7 lifters then. Thanks tho!
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 788
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From: Olathe Kansas
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 3,187
Likes: 266
From: Virginia
[2QUOTE=cuisinartvette;1597929710]Youll never get rid of it 100% Its just the way these engines are. Sometimes real loud, othertimes not much at all.
No magic fix in a can[/QUOTE]
Oh I know, and I'm okay with typical LS lifter noise but when I hear one consistantly clacking away much louder than the rest I get a little aggravated
No magic fix in a can[/QUOTE]
Oh I know, and I'm okay with typical LS lifter noise but when I hear one consistantly clacking away much louder than the rest I get a little aggravated