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
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...!
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.
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
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!)
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.
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
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:
and while we're at it:
really? where's you get that information from?
why diesel lubes? what's the composition difference?
We went through this a few months ago. I'm much too lazy to do it again.
JT
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...
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