a little off for some groups: 1989 Mazda 626 clacking from top of engine

Reply to
Michael Pardee
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I agree. Once a lifter becomes noisy, it's time to bite the bullet and replace 'em all.

Regarding "fitting to the cam," well that's another issue nowadays since modern motor oils tend not to support good lubrication of direct contact engine parts (also due to EPA restrictions). So far, diesel rated lubricants still have the additives to prevent wear on direct contact engine components.

Roller lifters available for vintage cars including Honda anyone?

JT

(Who's manual calls for motor oil for the tranny which is also a no-no these days...)

Reply to
Grumpy AuContraire

I just thought you'd like the association with what looks like an Atomic Bomb...

Reply to
Hachiroku

I put what I had left of a Qt of MMO in the Mazda...after a 20 minute drive the clacking was gone. Sure beats ripping the Valve Cover off, taking out the rocker shafts and replacing the HLA's!

Reply to
Hachiroku

I suspect it's a temporary fix, that wear will cause the problem to return. Sometimes a few months' reprieve is a very useful thing. If you are far from home on vacation or in the middle of rotten temperatures it is mighty attractive.

I don't know how Marvel Mystery Oil changes the operation of oil for bearings and such though.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

Hmmm...excuse me if I seem a bit ignorant here. What this car has is Hydraulic Lash Adjusters (HLAs). It is at the end of the rocker and pushes the shims over the valves down to open the valves. (Um, what's the difference between this and a hydraulic lifter...?)

You can replace them without removing the rocker shafts, but I have seen a couple write ups that say they don't go bad for no reason, and the reason is usually that the holes that feed the oil to the HLAs are plugged. So, it is possible to clean the HLAs and the holes feeding them oil.

I guess I'll investigate when I park the Mazda and put the Supra on the road...!

Reply to
Hachiroku

Me either, but I've had a couple of high mileage engines using Castrol and MMO mixed.

As long as it lasts until I get the Supra on the road and the Mazda parked, I'll open the valve cover and have a look. It doesn't look all that tough.

I have heard of this (MMO or ATF) solving the problem long term, though.

Reply to
Hachiroku

I never heard anything negative about MMO in the forty-five years that I've been "tinkering" with cars. Makes a hell of an "oil can" squirter lubricant too..

JT

Reply to
Grumpy AuContraire

If a lifter begins to make noise, two possibilities are lack of oil pressure (unlikely) or excessive wear of the component itself (likely)

Plan on replacing 'em all.

JT

(Who owns nothing with hydraulic lifters!)

Reply to
Grumpy AuContraire

It's not really a 'lifter', as I think I understand the term.

The car has an OHC, 3 valves per cylinder. They are actuated by rockers, and at the end of each rocker is an HLA (Hydraulic Lash Adjuster). I guess it's supposed to eliminate the need to adjust the valves by expanding or 'deflating' with oil to take up the slack. It seems they collect gunk, as do the holes providing the oil.

It seems the MMO added to the oil has taken care of this for now. They look fairly easy to replace. Once it comes off the road for the summer.

Reply to
Hachiroku

Sounds like the same operation as a hydraulic lifter, but located on the other end of the rocker arm. Lifters deflate in pretty much the same way, but I don't know if it is usually that they stick "down" or if they leak too badly to work.

Your plan to tackle it when more convenient sounds good to me. At least a collapsed HLA (almost wrote "lifter") won't strand you anywhere.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

Marvel Mystery Oil

Manufacturer Name THE MARVEL OIL COMPANY, INC Street 5655 W 73RD STREET City CHICAGO State IL Country US Zip Code 60638 Emergency Phone 708-563-3766 Information Phone 708-563-3766

Ingredient # 01 Ingredient Name BENZENE, 1,2-DICHLORO- CAS Number 95501 Percent 0 Ingredient # 02 Ingredient Name MINERAL SPIRITS CAS Number 8052413 Percent 0 Ingredient # 03 Ingredient Name NAPTHENIC HYDROCARBONS CAS Number 64742525 Percent 0

I got the above info from here:

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Reply to
I. Care

Interesting...BENZENE?!?!?!

Reply to
Hachiroku

good on you! i have a really strong opinion on anything related to oil sales and the total lack of labeling thereof. it's all to deceive the consumer. manufacturers all know what their competition is using - they have labs. consumers don't, and this information vacuum is the void into which garbage is sold. msds info like you've dug up /is/ available, but it's not exactly front and center, and even then, there's get-outs for "proprietary" contents. the whole machine is a scam.

i say:

  1. label all products, just like food and shampoo.

and while we're at it:

  1. make publication of the calorie content of gasoline mandatory. alcohol content is mandatory on beverages, calorie content is published for natural gas. same principles should apply to gasoline.
Reply to
jim beam

really? where's you get that information from?

why diesel lubes? what's the composition difference?

Reply to
jim beam

We went through this a few months ago. I'm much too lazy to do it again.

JT

Reply to
Grumpy AuContraire

Well, once it fianally STOPS snowing I'll pull of the valve cover and have a look. I have a Supra I use in the summer, the Mazda's a winter beater. When the Supra goes on the road I plan on giving the Mazda a better going over than I did in December when I bought it. But the forecast is for more snow this week.

And the funny thing is, I drove it about 20 miles yesterday, no problem. This afternoon it fired up just fine, I drove it about 7 miles and the ticking came back. I stopped for a cup of coffee, and the next three times I started it, it ran fine.

So, I guess the cover comes off in the (real) spring...

Reply to
Hachiroku

I did a little research on this Mike.

" On the other side of the engine block are those additives which will cleanse your engine, not coat it. Stuff like Bardahl, Rislone and Marvel Mystery Oil claim they can make your engine run quieter and smoother, and reduce oil burning. These are products which contain solvents or detergents such as kerosene, naphthalene, xylene, acetone or isopropanol. If used properly, I suppose these products will strip off your Teflon and zinc protective coatings! But unless you have a really old and abused car, you probably have no need of stripping away sludge and deposits from your engine. Thus, you probably have no need for these wonder cleaners. If you overuse such products you can damage your engine by promoting metal to metal contact".

This came from the following site:

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I couldn't find much about the contents but I would conclude that it is a petroleum distillate solvent that removes sludge, dirt, and other corruption thereby enhancing the oil flow but I can't prove such. I would say it is a temporary fix for an engine that has been neglected over time... DaveD

Reply to
Dave and Trudy

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