Fordguy

Help!!

So I thought I was helping a friend out with quieting his lifter tick. I drained the oil and found serves needle pin bearings In the oil. Being a ford guy I got online started looking all over. Saw that the rocker arms were a good place to start. Well just pulled valve cover, and rocker arms can't be the area they came from. The needle pin bearings are about 1/2", rockers appear to be 1/4 or so. Where did these come from.

5.3l 250,000 miles very bad and loud knock/tick. Lower oil pressure about 20psi, I'm going to drop pan and check oil pick up oring.


Please be nice all you chevy guys... Help an auto guy out.

Fordguy

Another picture

CCLB4X4Dually

could be from the roller on the lifter I would pull the lifters first starting with the side making the noise

Fordguy

Would it be easier/cheaper to buy a newer motor?

CCLB4X4Dually

Is the vehicle worth it? is it worth a couple of grand to repair that is the owners call

gmc_guy

1/2" long, approx 1/16" diameter
Did you ever find where the roller bearing came from?

I have the same issue. The truck started ticking and the oil pressure was around 20 PSI. The oil level was fine. I ran motor flush through the engine and then changed the oil. Out came a needle bearing just like the one shown in your picture. It was attached to the magnet on the drain plug. I also pulled the head on the noisy side and removed the rocker arms and push rods. They appeared to have normal wear with no blockage in the push rods.

gmc_guy

TexasSteve

Same thing just happened to me on 2004 Tahoe 5.3L with 247K miles. (See pic- I found 16 pins in oil pan). Did you fix yours? Rebuild it? But new motor? Anyone know how many pins in a lifter? Any chance to rebuild top side including cam, lifters, rockers, springs, valves, clean heads, and it resolve? Or did anyone damage their lower engine?

gmc_guy

TexasSteve,

I ended up buying a crate engine and swapping mine out. I had a couple of lifters that were damaged. I didn't want to risk missing one bearing and causing engine damage at a later date. I tried to research the number of bearings in a lifter. I never did find the correct answer. I seem to remember there are around 20 +/- 4. I know that is of no help. The lifters are down low, so you might get away with taking apart the lower end of the engine. Good luck with the project.

TexasSteve

Thanks for info. I assume that engine was $4K or $6K installed? Jasper engine, etc?

i am going to risk it and replace lifters, CAM, and have heads rebuilt. Mostly because I had already purchased lifters and cam kit in March from RockAuto. I have found 16 pins and if I only find 1 bad lifter I am down to 0-4 pins in system. I will keep researching to determine count. If I am lucky and it only 1 broke lifter the odds of the other pins being in lifter tray or heading towards the pan like other 16 might be good. Thanks!!