Engine ticking - does ATF oil really work?

Goblin

Goblin

Being vague is better than this other thing
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My LJ has a typical engine ticking noise (possibly lifters) that comes and goes. Sometimes when I start it, it will tick for a few seconds and then go away. While driving it does the same - it comes and goes. I've seen online where people put in a quart of ATF, run the engine for 10 mins then do an oil change. I have also seen where people just add the quart of ATF with every oil change. Lastly, others have used Marvel Mystery Oil to remedy the ticking. Has anyone ever done either ATF method to quite engine ticking? If not, what other methods have worked? Thanks.
 
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Your saying the knocking is possibly lifters is confusing because lifters make a higher pitched ticking sound which is not at all like a knocking. Which is it?

If your engine is truly knocking, nothing like ATF or MMO will help. Knocking is a sign of low-end problems like bad rod bearings. Anything that helps with rod bearing knocking will just be temporary at best.
 
I have a similar ticking. Definitely not a knocking noise. It's upper end. It's either a lifter tick or a cracked exhaust manifold my guess. I've tried Marval Mystery oil, Lifter Free, and it does nothing to help.
 
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Mine ticks like crazy to, I ordered some new lifters and I'm gonna put them in when it warms up.


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I have had this problem before, and one of my previous jobs was an engineer for lifters and lash adjusters. They are minuature hydraulic cylinders with VERY small clearances and a check valve. They way they work is that the check valve opens when the valve is closed to fill with oil, then as the lifter needs to push the valve open, the camshaft pushed on the body and the pushrod pushes against the plunger. The oil is more incompressible than the spring, so the valve opens. However, since there is a slight clearance between the body nd plunger the plunger will move over time. That is how they adapt to valve wear, so you no longer have to set lash.

When a piece of dirt gets in the high pressure chamber, it can block oil from entering and cause the lifter to collapse (that is the tick).

Typically, when you have that ticking sound, 1st check your oil. That is the first sign that it might be low.

If the oil level is ok, then try a detergent. I've used diesel fuel, MMO or ATF should work as well. Drain a quart of oil from the pan, pour in the detergent, and run the engine for 10 to 20 minutes. Give it a fresh oil change and see if that fixes it. The detergent is trying to dislodge or clean the minute passages within the lifter, so that it can work properly again.

If that doesn't work, then they are worn and will need replacement.
 
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Ranger_b0b said:
I have had this problem before, and one of my previous jobs was an engineer for lifters and lash adjusters. They are minuature hydraulic cylinders with VERY small clearances and a check valve. They way they work is that the check valve opens when the valve is closed to fill with oil, then as the lifter needs to push the valve open, the camshaft pushed on the body and the pushrod pushes against the plunger. The oil is more incompressible than thw spring, so the valve opens. However, since thete is a slight clearance between the body nd plunger the plunger will move over time. That is how they adapt to valve wear, so ypu no longer have to set lash.

When a piece of dirt gets in the high pressure chamber, it can block oil from entering and cause the lifter to collapse (that is the tick).

Typically, when you have that ticking sound, 1st check your oil. That is the first sign that it might be low.

If the oil level is ok, then try a detergent. I've used diesel fuel, MMO or ATF should work as well. Drain a quart of oil from the pan, pour in the detergent, and run the engine for 10 to 20 minutes. Give it a fresh oil change and see if that fixes it. The detergent is trying to dislodge or clean the minute passages within the lifter, so that it can work properly again.

If that doesn't work, then they are worn and will need replacement.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the great info Ranger_b0b, I appreciate it. I will try the detergent method and post the result.
 
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Good luck! I had a grand am with the GM 3.1 l in it. Had an issue with the air filter once, where it was pushed out of place and a bunch of dirt got sucked up in the intake. Clattered like a sumbitch. Diesel fuel actually cleaned that mess up.
 
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Replacing lifters will be a fair amount of work, though nothing very complex. They live down in the engine block and ride on the camshaft. The only thing to keep track of would be making sure the pushrods go back in the original spots. You will need to pull the head though, so the whole intake manifold and exhaust manifold will need to come out. You need a torque wrench too, for re-torquing head bolts.

As far as 6 cylinder vs 2.5 vs 2.4

The 4.0 is definitely a pushrod engine, as is the 2.5L 4-banger (I think). Only difference between replacing lifters in those would be the number of them you'd need to replace (2 lifters per cylinder).

I think the 2.4L that came out in 2003 is an overhead cam design, which means the cam acts directly on the valves, thus negating the need for pushrods and lifters. There will be lash adjusters in that design though which function essentially the same, just that they are not inline with the valve train. They are on the other side of the rocker arm, and only function to take up the lash from the valves wearing. Replacing those is a much different process. Never worked on an DOHC engine before, so I can't speak definitively on it.
 
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RaymondT said:
Looks like it is possible to replace lifters without removing the head as long as you have the right tool.

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Hmmm, I replaced my lifters a few months ago and there was no way to get to them without removing the head. The whole process took me two days. It's pretty involved but not impossible, worth it to not have the ticking (if it bothers you as much as it bothered me). There's plenty of YouTube videos to study up on. Make a list of not only all the parts you're gonna need but the tools as well.

My engine is a 4.0L, so it might be possible that the head doesn't need to be remove on a 4 cyl.
 
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I was experiencing the tick as well. This may be bad advise, but I spent the past week driving my Jeep like I stole it, racking thru the gears on freeway on ramps, getting the rpm's up to the 4500 rpm range between gears, safely of course within the confines of the law. after a week of this sort of aggressive driving, my lifter tick disappeared. Hasn't come back since. As was mentioned earlier by someone else, maybe there was some debris blocking one of the lifter passages and the high rpm driving may have cleared it? Maybe. Just a thought.
 
bobthetj03 said:
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I was experiencing the tick as well. This may be bad advise, but I spent the past week driving my Jeep like I stole it, racking thru the gears on freeway on ramps, getting the rpm's up to the 4500 rpm range between gears, safely of course within the confines of the law. after a week of this sort of aggressive driving, my lifter tick disappeared. Hasn't come back since. As was mentioned earlier by someone else, maybe there was some debris blocking one of the lifter passages and the high rpm driving may have cleared it? Maybe. Just a thought.
Click to expand...

I've had noisy lifters for a year - so I put a quart of Rislone in my engine and that stopped the ticking - but then once I changed my oil the ticking returned.

I also have been driving like a maniac, now that I live in a huge city, and my ticking remains.

I am curious as to how to actually fix this myself; @Ranger_b0b, I am confused, if one of my lifters is collapsed, I don't understand how trying to add a detergent to my engine will repair my lifter (already tried Rislone a while ago)?
 
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