92 maxima sounding like a diesel.... help

I am selling my 92 Nissan Maxima 184,000 miles. About 2 weeks after I bought it (last October in 06) I noticed it started making a tapping noise like it was a diesel. Sometimes the noise goes away - there seems to be no rhyme or reason when its present or not. I dont seem to hear it when the car is moving quickly, only idling. I have tried adding a few quarts of Lucas to the oil change (about 60% Lucas and the rest oil)... this seemed to work (noise went away for about a week) and then came back. My mechanic says its the hydraulic lifter.. The noise doesnt seem to affect the performace of the car thought and it runs great otherwise. I need to sell it since I am moving overseas and feel like no one would buy it with that damn tapping noise. Ugh. I have recommendations about adding Rislone Engine treatment?

What to do?

Change the lifter, add the Rislone, Marvel Mystery Oil, 30 W oil, oil change often????

Recently I had a noisy lifter in my 94 Maxima SE, of course it had to be in the right hand side of the engine (against the firewall)!!

After inspecting the lifters as per the service manual recommendation, I found that all of them were good. Never the less, I followed the procedure to bleed air from the lifters: dunking them in fresh oil, opening the lifter check valve with a paper clip, and in vertical position, submerged in oil, compressing and releasing them several times, until no more dirty oil came out of them. I did one by one, and made sure I put them back in the same position they were.

After reassembling the engine, i could not believe how quiet the engine was, and how well it performed. The pickup improved alot. In my case, the cost was about $25 (rocker cover gasket, plenum gasket, 2 qts of oil) plus my labor.

Good Luck!

clc wrote: