Feeling a tad foolish...

[Dolamite]

My AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l has been making a loud ticking noise for some time. I was absolutely certain that it had to be an exhaust leak from the headers, as I've read this is a common occurrence with headers. Tightening up the header bolts "seemed" to help slightly, but the ticking never went away and seemed to get worse after driving for awhile.

My wife's birthday was Sunday and I spent the day pulling off my headers and replacing the exhaust manifold gasket with the addition of some red high heat silicone. When I inspected the old gasket it appeared like it was leaking from the center two ports (carbon build up). Upon completion, I let the jeep sit so the silicone could cure and I took my wife to dinner (I'm not a complete as@!)

Monday I fired the Jeep up and took it for a ride. I was disappointed to still here the ticking! Could it be a lifter after all??!!

I did a little reading about lifter noise and found somebody somewhere used some Motor Medic Motor Flush, changed the oil, and added some Rislone Engine Treatment to quiet a noisy lifter. I also read that these old AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l engines seem to like Rotella 15w40 oil. Prior to winter, I had changed the oil to a 10w30 for the cold weather.

I figured it was worth a shot to give the above procedure a shot. Heck, I've been meaning to switch over to Rotella anyway.

Just got back from my second ride and have about 40 miles on it since I've flushed the engine with Motor Medic Motor flush, switched to 15w40 Rotella, and added the Rislone Engine Treatment. I can't believe how much it has quieted down the ticking! Wish I would have tried this first!!

Chalk it up to lessons learned. I'm a Rotella man now.

 

[Torxhead]

Good for you, it took me forever to shut that dam lifter up on my rig. Rotella is a great oil in my book and Rislone also helps clean out a clogged lifter.

 

[Posi]

I've used Marvel Mystery oil with the same results, they use MM on aircraft engines as well.

 

[rufus1138]

I've used Marvel Mystery oil with the same results, they use MM on aircraft engines as well.

+1 on this, i was gonna say that before, absolutely true about the aircraft engines too. do an oil change and swap one quart for mm then run for 20 minutes or so at idle, shut off and change the oil again drive for a week and change it one more time. good to go.

 

[cj7inthetwigs]

Good deal, sounds like I am going to try this method next oil change myself… I have been wanting to treat it with seafoam as I usually just dump it down the tank before I fill up with white gas. Thanks for sharing

sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX HD

 

[Posi]

You can also trickle water down your carb at 2000 rpms and it will do the same thing, if not better, at no cost, saves you a lot of time. However, the results will be ugly if you add too much water.

I've done the seafoam but I added it to the throttle body instead of the tank.

Cleaned it out pretty good.

 

[noah]

trickle automatic Transmission fluid down carb. cleans valves & lifters the plus is it gets the mosquitoes

 

[Petescj]

Im a Shell Rotella convert myself. And if you want to see a tad foolish read just about any of my build threads.

 

[elwood blues]

Im a Shell Rotella convert myself. And if you want to see a tad foolish read just about any of my build threads.

I'm a Brad Penn oil user, but if you don't have access to it, it's expensive to get over the internet, I'm kind of surprised you don't run it too Pete...

Anyway, when you get done laughing at Petescj's threads, find some of mine, they'll keep you lauging

 

[Fastatv]

The tranny fluid down the carb will clean the valves and top of the pistons...to a degree but wont do a thing for the lifters unless poured into the crankcase oil, and that may be what you meant. Here's what I did for noisy lifters....and it works. The oil of your choice but preferably at least 10W40, then one can of V8 restore ( Walmart and it doesnt matter, 4 banger, 6, or V-8 ), and one can of CD Oil Burn Reducer which can all be purchased at Walmart....or some anyway. I have done this to two vehicles and noisy lifters were gone, even when starting when in below freezing temps and....a significant reduction in oil burning. Rick

 

[Posi]

Restore does work however, it is not a cleaner like seafoam/MM rather a filler, that works similar to radiator stop leak. Restore contains spherical particles of CSL = (copper, silver, lead, amalgam) and they fill all the scratches in your engine.

 

[Hedgehog]

One of my favorite automotive smells in the entire world is Marvel Mystery Oil. Dad used it for everything, as a gas additive it was great, it was a standard for all diesel motor oil, as a gun cleaner or a place to soak crud off parts. Ahhhh a whif of the stuff takes me back 50 years.

 

[Fastatv]

One of my favorite automotive smells in the entire world is Marvel Mystery Oil. Dad used it for everything, as a gas additive it was great, it was a standard for all diesel motor oil, as a gun cleaner or a place to soak crud off parts. Ahhhh a whif of the stuff takes me back 50 years.

May remind you of great times with your Dad Hedge.....a great thing if it does. I used to use the MM oil years ago, added to fuel, and to crankcase for cleaning inside the engine a bit but I have gotten away from it I guess. Next time I'm in Wally world, I may grab a can of it. It does have many uses for sure!

 

[Fastatv]

Restore does work however, it is not a cleaner like seafoam/MM rather a filler, that works similar to radiator stop leak. Restore contains spherical particles of CSL = (copper, silver, lead, amalgam) and they fill all the scratches in your engine.

Yep, I know what its supposed to do, but not sure if it actually works as described. I had an old gear head ( like myself ) friend tell me that he had tried the Restore, a can of CD Oil Burn Reducer and fresh 10W40 oil to reduce oil burning in a couple of his older vehicles and it had worked. I gave it a try in a couple of very high mileage vehicles of my own. Two things happened, there was a significant reduction in smoke ( only smoked after periods of idling...which is probably valve guide seals ) and in both vehicles, the lifters would tick when the engines were started cold......the lifter ticking went away.....so I guess between the mixture of the additives and fresh oil, no more ticking. And I was happy....... Rick

 

[my76cj5]

Wow! I'm learning so much on here. Wish I had more time to play with my jeep!

 

[TamasseeJeepster]

My problem was just the opposite. I thought the tick was the lifters so I first tried seafoam but it didnt work. Next, I changed the lifters which took me 6 hours to replace and sound was still there! After examining the headers I noticed that I had a bolt missing around the cylinder that was making the noise. Went and bought new bolts and installed them and the sound went away! If I had only checked the headers first I would have saved a lot of time and about $100 getting the sound to go away.

 

[KKiowaCJ]

I tried Rotella 15w-40 diesel oil in one of my old XJ's that was at 197k. I blew the 4.0l with 199232 on the odometer! Threw two rods when the head sized up and just kept dumping cylinders until I could safety make it to the shoulder.

After that, went back to Kendall oils. Back to looking at oils for the tractor motor, I found that mag1 oils to be a good contender for old cruisers, to high hp motors and always comes out constant with wix.
It comes in 5w/10w- to 30w/40w and has the zddp additives in it with a better viscosity range. IMO it's a much safer gamble for the fact many want the zddp additives from diesel oil. Cold weather starts etc help out a lot when oil can travel at 5w to 10w.
Best thing, it's around $3 a quart in my area, so its cheaper than wally world Rotella! I know some swear by it and run it in everything, so to each their own. Never see mag1 mentioned, when a zddp additive oil is nèeded.