I have another stupid question - NJFBOA - Home of New Jersey's Camaros and Firebirds

sleeperMULLET · 08-19-2005, 04:03 PM

I have found out that my rocker arms are squeaking alot, according to the mechanic at the speed shop, it is a loud squeaking noise,he took a look at them and said it won't hurt to drive them, but he would suggest getting some aftermarket rockers. What benefit will aftermarket rocker arms give me and what is the difference in 1.5 and 1.6? also will i have to upgrade the push rods too?

NJSPEEDER · 08-19-2005, 05:06 PM

squeaking rocker arms? never heard of that one. i think a second opinion is in order.
as far as teh difference between 1.5 and 1.6 goes it is basically like a minor cam upgrade. 1.5 is teh stock arm ratio, upgrading to 1.6 makes the lift and duration @ .050 larger at teh valve(total duration is unchanged). it will give you a bit more power and stretch out the power band a bit.

later
tim

Slow Z · 08-20-2005, 02:38 AM

rocker arms dont sqeek. Is the noise like a metallic hurt-your-ears sqeeky noise? I'd bet that its one of your hydraulic roller lifters that has failed.

which leads to the next question: why would they fail?

sleeperMULLET · 08-20-2005, 08:49 AM

yeah, its a high pitched noise like that but not loud enough to hurt your ears. there is no driveabilty issues from the noise though. what is involved in replacing a lifter?

sleeperMULLET · 08-21-2005, 11:26 AM

today i was driving it and if i get on the throttle pretty good, i can hear in the exhaust note that its like a crackling breaking up sound that happens around 4000rpm, it has never done that before, does anyone know if this is positivley the lifter thats is making this happen, if so what is involved for me to do the work myself? any help is appreciated, thanks

Slow Z · 08-21-2005, 12:22 PM

that is exactly what my old stock motor started doing. One of the lifters seized up, at idle it would run fine but then miss when you reved it. You gotta pull the intake to take out the lifters.

You must realize that hydraulic roller lifters simply don't fail for no good reason. When mine did I pulled the whole cam out and my cam bearings were worn down to the copper

the whole motor was at fault.

sleeperMULLET · 08-21-2005, 12:33 PM

hmmmm, i could probably take the intake off myself, do you think i should do it myself or have a mechanic do it, i'm quite capable, but i just have to be told exactly what to do. should i just buy i whole new set or lifters? thanks again

NJSPEEDER · 08-21-2005, 12:35 PM

first thing to do would be to check your oil for glitter. if there is an excessive amount of shiney metal in your oil it would indicate what slow z was saying about your cam and cam bearings.
check that and let us know

later
tim

sleeperMULLET · 08-21-2005, 01:31 PM

i just checked the oil, there is no glitter, also last weekened when i took off the vavle covers the oil was fine, i had changed it the weekend before that, also the mechanic at the speed shop took off the valve covers to torque the rockers to factory specs and he didn't see anything wrong there, but he didn't say anything about the lifters being bad, which makes me mad becasue he had the car in his possesion and you guys just tell me the exact problem but he didn't say anything about it.

Slow Z · 08-21-2005, 02:26 PM

well, its so rare for hydraulic rollers to fail that I doubt most people have ever heard them. Just think of it as a metal bearing thats seized trying to spin against an equally hard metal surface. As I said before, if your motor doesnt have an asinine amount of miles on it or any other mechanical problems something else is most likely wrong and it'll happen again. You could replace the lifters, but I'd atleast pull out the cam and inspect it for wear as well as check the condition of the cam bearings.

sleeperMULLET · 08-22-2005, 03:58 PM

dang it, my motor only has 76,000 on it, i don't drive it that hard either, i think i will take it to a mechanic to mess with it, with my luck i would probably make the engine blow up. oil is changed with less then 3000miles everytime. i only use M 1 sythetic oil and so did the previous owner, i first noticed the sound the last time a changed my oil. Could it have something to do with me letting the oil completely drain out for 30mins, becasue i left it there on the ramps becasue my grandma wanted me to water her garden, then i came back and put the filter and plug and then filled it up. thanks again

Batman · 08-23-2005, 05:26 AM

Before you go nuts was the problem there BEFORE the mechanic screwed with the rockers? If he didn't do it right and overtightened a rocker it could certainly cause a lifter failure. And if the lifter is seized up you can bet it scored the cam also. I wouldn't go with 1.6 rockers if it is a driver, stick with the standard 1.5, you don't need $400 rocker arms on a daily driver.

sleeperMULLET · 08-23-2005, 08:46 AM

yeah, it was there before he tightened the rockers

sleeperMULLET · 08-25-2005, 03:25 PM

ok, now i just took the car to a respectable mechanic, instead of a speed shop, and he says its not the lifters but it sounds like the valves need to be adjusted by tightening the rockers. he said just try 1/4 of a turn and start it up, if it runs bad then loosen them a bit, but he said it should take care of the noise.

sleeperMULLET · 08-28-2005, 05:33 PM

i think i figured it out, well not me personally but another mechanic. he looked at it for 10 secs and said it was an exhaust leak. i was totally confused in this whole situation becasue the guy at the speed shop said if it was an exhaust leak then you would hear it even at idle becasue thats when there is the most backpressure, but the last guy i took it to said thats not true, the faster the engine revs the louder it gets. so now i'm probably just going to get the aluminum MLS gaskets and hope that solves the problem.

Tru2Chevy · 08-29-2005, 09:33 AM

Please don't ever set foot into that "speed shop" again, unless it is to smack the guy who told you this stuff about your car.

- Justin

sleeperMULLET · 08-29-2005, 09:35 AM

Slow-V6 · 08-30-2005, 02:04 PM

But why is the car missing above 4000rpms??

sleeperMULLET · 08-30-2005, 05:21 PM

its more of a breaking up sound, it probably has something to do with the exhaust leak, i'm doing the gaskets on friday, i got the multi layered aluminum gaskets, if the sound is still there then we know its inside the engine.

Tru2Chevy · 08-30-2005, 11:24 PM

LT1 car......breaking up above 4000 rpm.....and you think it's the exhaust?

Wow, you're optimistic

(just messin' with ya man - how old is the opti?)

- Justin

sleeperMULLET · 08-31-2005, 09:10 AM

its 76,000 miles old, i don;t think it was ever replaced

Slow-V6 · 08-31-2005, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleeperMULLET

its 76,000 miles old, i don;t think it was ever replaced

If it aint the exhaust then next try the opti.. those things go out like every 75,000 miles or so..

sleeperMULLET · 08-31-2005, 08:09 PM

yeah i am opti-mistic, get it, opti, ahahah i made that up at work,
i'm just doing the header gaskets to rule a leak out, if the noise and the problems are still there then i will work down the list, if it is the opti i've read good things about the MSD cap and rotor for the LT1, its only 150.00 too.

j0n · 09-01-2005, 12:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleeperMULLET

yeah i am opti-mistic, get it, opti, ahahah i made that up at work,
i'm just doing the header gaskets to rule a leak out, if the noise and the problems are still there then i will work down the list, if it is the opti i've read good things about the MSD cap and rotor for the LT1, its only 150.00 too.

u could spend 200 and get a complete one...btw have the codes read...sometimes opti will come up

sleeperMULLET · 09-01-2005, 02:52 PM

do codes only show up if the SES light goes off?