Easy Valve Ticking Question (for some)

Post by **Eddystone** » 31 Oct 2019, 08:15

I have the "tick, tick,tick,tick" valve noise that just suddenly started.

1998 V70 non-turbo

Hydraulic lifters, yes or no? Any adjustments to be made?

Assuming a sticking valve. At the mechanic's to be inspected today, and he says it's not bad or worth messing with, so it may have freed up a bit as my wife was driving it in. At most, we put 8,000 miles a year on this car. Mostly commuting to work at 40 mph. Have taken two long trips this year in it at about 70 mph for a couple thousand miles each trip, so it hasn't been sitting. I use what in the USA is called "full synthetic" 10W-30 oil.

Snake oil recommendations? Run it at 4,000 rpm for 5 minutes?

Post by **abscate** » 31 Oct 2019, 08:27

Give it to June for a day, or maybe just an hour.

Post by **Eddystone** » 31 Oct 2019, 09:30

abscate wrote: 31 Oct 2019, 08:27 Give it to June for a day, or maybe just an hour.

If June is not nearby, can you answer the other questions?

Post by **scot850** » 31 Oct 2019, 10:40

I am waey of snake oils as they can bite. The problem is they may fix one issue while causing another.

Your car may have reached the stage of
Needong the oil 'o' rings being replaced between the oil pan and the block if not already done in the past. These shrink with time reducing oil pressure to the cylinder head. I think I am correct in your car having hydraulic lifters. If the car is left for any time they will drain down and being noisy for a while until given a good run. You could try 5 or 10-40 oil at next change.

I have run seafoam in the oil prior to a change for about 100 miles. Downside is it can clean the carbon off the pistons teducing compression

Neil

Post by **Eddystone** » 31 Oct 2019, 15:51

scot850 wrote: 31 Oct 2019, 10:40 I am waey of snake oils as they can bite. The problem is they may fix one issue while causing another.

Your car may have reached the stage of
Needong the oil 'o' rings being replaced between the oil pan and the block if not already done in the past. These shrink with time reducing oil pressure to the cylinder head. I think I am correct in your car having hydraulic lifters. If the car is left for any time they will drain down and being noisy for a while until given a good run. You could try 5 or 10-40 oil at next change.

I have run seafoam in the oil prior to a change for about 100 miles. Downside is it can clean the carbon off the pistons teducing compression

Neil

Neil,

After looking around and reading things and watching Robert, I think I will either go with a limited amount of Seafoam used only as directed or perhaps stick with Marvel Mystery Oil products. I suspect that giving it a good short run at 4k might be good. Robert's message in his video regarding Seafoam was that it is "aggressive" and I think he is quite right. The videos of people pouring quarts of Seafoam into their intakes are pretty alarming. I think that when Robert was holding up the can I saw printed on it something like "Don't put this in through a vacuum line."

And if the Seafoam owers your compression by removing the carbon, you can always mill your head down to recover it.

Post by **bmdubya1198** » 31 Oct 2019, 16:19

Marvel and Seafoam have good track records, and I wouldn't hesitate to use them if you want to try an additive. But, I wouldn't use anything too thick and syrupy that's made for eliminating lifter noise.

The lifter noise is fairly normal on these engines. It's usually not a big deal, but it could be related to the oil pickup o-rings wearing out. You should definitely take care of that at some point in the near future, but in the meantime, I high recommend an "Italian tuneup". If the engine isn't run in the higher RPM every now and again, it will start to tick. My P80 engines rarely tick, but I drive them hard.

As for the oil, 10w30 normally helps in high mileage engines to keep oil up top, but in my experience it makes the lifters noisier. I run 0w40, and I've always been very happy with it. When I ran 10w30 in my GLT, the lifters would tick on cold starts for a minute during the colder months. I switched back to 0w40 next oil change.
My R has never had any lifter tick issues (given the history before I purchased it, it's a miracle! The oil was sludgy and the car was likely always babied... not a good thing to me!), and I've always run 0w40.

And yes, your engine has hydraulic lifters.

Post by **Clemens** » 31 Oct 2019, 16:47

Try running synth oil for a while and keep the revs beyond 4k frequently. this cured the ticking on both of my T5s

Post by **MoVolvos** » 31 Oct 2019, 17:19

bmdubya1198 wrote: 31 Oct 2019, 16:19 When I ran 10w30 in my GLT, the lifters would tick on cold starts for a minute during the colder months. I switched back to 0w40 next oil change.
My R has never had any lifter tick issues (given the history before I purchased it, it's a miracle! The oil was sludgy and the car was likely always babied... not a good thing to me!), and I've always run 0w40.

Agree, and the manufacturer recommended viscosity is always for when the car was new. Even they don't know how the engine well fair in real day to day abuse overtime. Most of my cars I've purchased over the years were way over 120K. In the last 7 years I've discovered a good 5W-40 should cover almost all cars except for perhaps a 2019 vehicle.

This year I decided to try Mobil again and my test bed 03 Odyssey's lower end groaned and really complained. Back to Rotella T6 5W40 and all is quiet again. Use either a 0W40 or 5W40 but don't go with back to the 10W30. The additive package is not good enough for the winter nor heat of summer.

Post by **bmdubya1198** » 01 Nov 2019, 08:46

MoVolvos wrote: 31 Oct 2019, 17:19 Agree, and the manufacturer recommended viscosity is always for when the car was new. Even they don't know how the engine well fair in real day to day abuse overtime. Most of my cars I've purchased over the years were way over 120K. In the last 7 years I've discovered a good 5W-40 should cover almost all cars except for perhaps a 2019 vehicle.

This year I decided to try Mobil again and my test bed 03 Odyssey's lower end groaned and really complained. Back to Rotella T6 5W40 and all is quiet again. Use either a 0W40 or 5W40 but don't go with back to the 10W30. The additive package is not good enough for the winter nor heat of summer.

I actually used Castrol 5w40 in my GLT the last oil change I did, and that was my favorite. It ran great, the least ticking on cold starts and it ran beautifully otherwise. No consumption issues either.
Rotella is good, I've just been wary of it since it's no longer rated for gas engines. However, that shouldn't be a problem unless you're burning a ton of oil (like me

)... then it can damage the cat. Otherwise I think it's perfectly fine for gas engines. 5w40 is a good grade for most cars.

Post by **Eddystone** » 01 Nov 2019, 10:12

Clemens wrote: 31 Oct 2019, 16:47 Try running synth oil for a while and keep the revs beyond 4k frequently. this cured the ticking on both of my T5s

Right now it has Mobil 1 High Mileage full synthetic (by USA standards) 10w-30. Has had it for several changes. I think I will change it again with some lighter oil, especially with winter coming on here.