Howdy all.
I've got a noticeable ticking sound on my 2.8 which I'm assuming is a stuck lifter. It's been fairly cold here lately (single digits) in the morning - and the tapping is pretty loud when it first starts. Once fully warm, the tapping is much, much queiter - nearly imperceptable.

I checked the dipstick, radiator etc to make sure all is well in there & it all looks ok. The motor makes good power, but I have not done a compression check (I'd have to take it to someone to do that).

Kind of funny - I finally got the smaller belt on to bypass the smog pump which was making a racket - and now I can actually hear my engine! Of course now I found new sounds to worry about.

THe short block, including the heads were redone 2 years & 10k miles ago. Is it possible to un-stick the lifter? Is it super involved - 'cause that will have to wait for spring...

There are some chemicals that address noisy lifters. If that doesn't do it, there really isn't much way to free a stuck lifter without tearing down most of the top of the engine.

What weight oil are you running?

...that's a good question. I just bought the troop last month & haven't changed the oil yet. Any suggestions as to what would be best?

I suggest looking at it like this:

The 2.8's are not known for lifter noise. If you have lifter noise, something is wrong. That wrongness could just be a sticky lifter, but it could be a few more things; expensive things. Worn or misadjusted valves, worn or cracked rockers, or even a flatened lobe on the cam could all do what you are describing.

While we treat the tick-tick-ticking from the 3.2's as a factory installed option, I would suggest you consider tearing into it to find out what is the problem and fix it. If it is someting that is on the more severe end of the scale, you might even catch it before it frags and takes out more parts and pieces.

An oil change is probably the easiest place to start, but adding chemicals (especially to an older motor) in hopes of making the problem go away could be asking for problems. The chemicals are solvents. Solvents think your oil. If this is a bigger problem, restricting oil flow and lubrication might not be the best thing to do.

Good Luck,
Michael

I tore down the top end of my engine with limited experience. Check out the link in my sig for pictures of what to expect.

So... what sort of gains did you see with the conversion???