Head swap...Car doesn't sound right??

[vlaar]

I wanted to get your guys input on this. My mechanic and I did a head swap on my car over the past few days. We fired it up last night and it was really, really loud. Sounded like loud lifter tick (louder than normal). It was idling at 1500 rpms during this. We let it idle for about 30 seconds and it was still loud. Not sure what to do now. Thanks.

Kevin

 

[BigBADGSX]

maybe it was lifter tick? was the head rebuilt before you installed it? If it its lifter tick you might wanna invest in new lifters. I say fire it up a few more times and see what happens...also are you sure you guys did everything right? maybe go back through everything and see if you missed a step or what not.

 

[vlaar]

It was a rebuilt head from Clearwater cylinder head. All timing marks were lined up, etc. Timing belt was done right, etc. I have an electrical problem though so the car is gonna have to sit, which kinda sux. Oil pressure by the way is up when all of this noise is occuring. Thanks.

Kevin

 

[REDBLUR]

It may take awhile for the lifters to pump up with oil if they weren't primed. Were talking like 10-30 mins driving around. I recently had a similar problem, but one of my lifters had collapsed and made a loud ticking noise.

Pull the valve cover and push down on each of the lifters when the cam lobe isn't contacting them, they should all be really firm (hard to push down, if at all). If you find one that you can push down real easily, it may be collapsed, or not fully pumped up yet. You can remove it and prime them slightly, I don't recommend fully though, it could cause some damage on a cold engine.