How noisy is your roller valvetrain?

[Maltman]

I'm not sure if I should be concerned, but I hear "ticks" that are magnified with a metal rod to the ear in and around the manifold. It isn't overwhelming and is generally limited to when the hood is open...but it does increase with higher revolutions and is definitely rhythmic. It definitely is not exhaust and has been there since the rebuild...and hasn't grown worse.

It is a full roller setup, but not solid lifters. Therefore, I can't figure out why they would make noise in the first place..but I was told before that roller setups tend to be a little noiser....again, it doesn't make sense to me. The only thing that I can think of is that when the engine was put together the builder had one lifter that "stuck" and had to be torn down and cleaned. After that, he said it pumped up fine and wasn't a problem.

So, I listened to every section of the valve cover and couldn't find one area that was worse than the other...in fact, the noise seems the loudest around the front of the manifold around the temp sensor mount area.

Anyway, a bunch of rambling, but I could use some advice and I'm not sure how to break this down any shorter.

Thanks,

 

[BLKCreeper]

why dont you just dump some oil detergent in there before next oil change or right now.. then when you change the oil add some cd2 to it to make sure that it isnt something "sticking".. just an opinion.

 

[JeffG]

Mine made noise like a sewing machine. Both my 214/210 and 210/210 grinds. Some say theirs are super quiet others say they make noise. Maybe it's preload, maybe it's the brand of lifter, how much oil pressure you make down low, and ramp on the cam grind.

 

[FWD turbo]

I've got a roller cam & lifters in mine also. And I have the same problem. Tick, tick, tick. I only have 1800 miles on a fresh motor. It's been making me a bit nervous too. I'm wondering if it might actually be the rockers themselves making the noise. The first time I noticed the noise, I had less than 100 miles on the engine. I had always thought that rollers were suppsoed to be alot quieter.

Jeff may be onto someting. I have a 215/215 duration at .050 with a .503 lift. Is yours a similar grind? I also have close to 45 psi of oil pressure at idle, so I don't think that is my problem. Have any of you guys noticed a correlation between noise and loss of performance or other problems? Should I be worried?

 

[SPOOLN]

I had a roller in my motor and it made so much noise i ended up taking it out and went to a quiet hydraulic. No matter where i adjusted the preload it made a bunch of noise. It was a comp cam.

 

[Lee Thompson]

roller

Roller cams have a faster ramp, stiffer valve springs, steel gears and chain, which all contribute toadded valve train noise. As long as 1 does not STAND OUT, you are probably OK. How is you cam sensor?
I know of 4 eng. that have the exact same cam, lifter, pudhrods,timing chain, roller rockers and the preload is set the same (1/2 turn past 0). Mine is louder than the other 3.

 

[joe schmo]

Similiar problem here.

I have about 300 miles on a brand new motor & it sounds like a sewing machine also. I've tried adjusting the preload 1/4..1/2..& 3/4 turn to no avail.

I have roller rockers on mine.

I'm afraid to drive it until this gets solved. I think I may have a bad set of lifters in there.

I really don't understand how some say it's normal..while others say it's not.

Hydraulic lifters aren't supposed to be making noise like this.

It really sucks how I have to go back into this thing after spending what I've spent on this motor.

 

[JeffG]

Joe,
Just drive it. I would not worry about it. Mine was noticable inside the car, but with the hood closed you couldn't hear it outside the car. I'd bet yours is the same. It seemed to perform just fine. It reminds me of my old Boss 302 (solid cam).......but with torque

 

[azgn]

all rollers I have had were noisy relative to a stock flat tappett

my setup now is really noisy.....solid roller 224/224, 1.65 roller rockers.....

 

[Fuelie600]

Lots of noise hear. Webber/Comp 210/206 and Hyd lifters. Noise is as you explained----prominent from center front. It's the lifters. Went through 2 sets, and still the same. Nature of the beast I would guess. Aluminum heads, intake, and valve covers seem to amplify this sound. Brian

 

[Maltman]

Well, I think I feel much better after seeing all these responses....descriptions are pretty much what I've been experiencing in a nutshell.

I didn't notice a change when I went to full synthetic from regular 10-30 and I maintain about 15-20 psi at idle.

I can't remember the grind off the top of my head and I'm too lazy to dig out the cam card...but it was one of those billet kits from precision with the addition of T&D 1.55 roller rockers with hydro roller lifters. I went with the step down from the "wild" cam...that is about all I can remember.

...but it sounds like it wouldn't make a difference in noise anyway. Good thing is the car keeps getting faster, so I doubt I'm in any serious trouble

Thanks for all the replies!!

 

[joe schmo]

I had a Turbo Buick "enthusiast" & mechanic tell me mine was the loudest he had heard..& he's been around these cars since their introduction.

That's not good imo.

I'm going to get the lifters swapped out in the next couple of weeks.

We'll see what happens..I'll post the results.

On a side note..my knock sensor has been going off like crazy..I'm hoping the lifter noise is the culprit.

We shall see.

 

[mjdwyer23]

reviving this old thread....
i've got the same noise as you guys were describing, could this cause false knock issues? thanks!

 

[1turbo6]

i am running a comp 206 roller and it sounds like a sewing machine and has lots of low boost knock! this thing sucks. gotta get a set of adj rockers to try to fix it.

 

[mikestertwo]

I have also experienced valve train noises with different cams. All of the performance cams (flat tappet) I have used all had the sewing machine noise except for the 208/208 cam. I have also had problems with the tapping noises. No matter how much preload I would put on the lifters, I would always get one that would tap. In each case, when I went to the GM lifters, the sewing machine noise was still there, but the tapping noise went away. It seems like the after market lifters cannot handle the faster ramps on some of these performance cams. Just my 2 cents.

 

[wbrophy]

I have been running the same 224/224 since 1999 or so with regular and Hi-rev hyd. roller lifters (no drifference in noise) and the valve train has always sounded like a sewing machine to me compaired to a stocker. Car has always ran well & no valve train problems or "wear". 1.65 rocker ratio too.