Lifter Tick

matt5545 · March 26, 2021

I've had my 2000 yukon XL (supercharged 6.0) for just over 5 months now and I've noticed I've got a lifter tick going on. The engine has 130k miles. The tick sometimes gets louder and sometimes gets softer at idle but its always there. I don't think it gets louder when I accelerate but I'm not 100 percent sure. I recently took it to my mechanic and he told me that he would have to take the heads off and replace the lifter. He told me this job could easily be over $3,000. Im going off to college soon and cant afford that so I told him I would sleep on it. After doing more research I've seen some guys using sea foam and other engine cleaning products but having limited success. (I also don't want to try an engine flush as I've heard some pretty bad things about them.) Ive seen a lot of guys replacing the O ring gasket on the oil pickup and that has made me think about how sometimes (only at idle) the oil pressure fluctuates and twitches pretty often. Could this be the problem I'm having? Could replacing that gasket make the lifter tick go away? The only reason I think this couldn't be the case is, as soon as I start to accelerate the oil pressure holds steady around 70psi and doesn't budge. I also get pretty good oil pressure at idle. It fluctuates around 40 and 45 psi but like i mentioned before, it does jump around a bit.

Hopefully replacing the O ring gasket will fix it because its definitely a cheaper repair than taking the heads off but I wanted to get some other opinions before I do anything.

diyer2 · March 26, 2021

If you have a lifter tick, that makes me believe that lifter has a problem and it needs replaced. Engine flushes are for removing sludge. Pull a valve cover to see if you have a sludge problem. The o ring cant be wasted or oil pressure would be more affected IMO.

Sounds like you're dealing with a limited budget. If it was me I would try short oil/filter change intervals, like 3 k miles. It may help after a while and not expensive. Maybe try 100% synthetic oil like Amsoil?

Edited March 26, 2021 by diyer2

Grumpy Bear · March 26, 2021

Your oil pressure is great. Not the issue.

Lifter tick can be varnish between the lifter body and internals. Puts a bit of slack in the system. It can also be a lifter with a failing check ball assembly which bleeds the lifter off enough to produce the same slack. That will vary with rpm. Ticking is looseness in the valve train. It can also be a rocker or push rod tip wearing out but in your case the intermittent nature says she's more the likely just dirty and sticky.

If 'sticky' is the case then a flush can help that. A failing part is replacement.

The horror stories of a flush come from doing it improperly or doing it to motors that have been neglected, poor oil maintenance. dyier2 calls it well. Pull a valve cover and look. If it looks pretty good, clean, then a flush might be the ticket. If it looks bad...hum....there isn't a good solution that cost next to nothing.

matt5545 · March 26, 2021

5 hours ago, diyer2 said:

If you have a lifter tick, that makes me believe that lifter has a problem and it needs replaced. Engine flushes are for removing sludge. Pull a valve cover to see if you have a sludge problem. The o ring cant be wasted or oil pressure would be more affected IMO.

Sounds like you're dealing with a limited budget. If it was me I would try short oil/filter change intervals, like 3 k miles. It may help after a while and not expensive. Maybe try 100% synthetic oil like Amsoil?

I forgot to mention in the original post but I changed the oil when it first started ticking and the oil that looked perfectly fine, no sludge or anything. Only thing is the old oil filter I took off was a brand Ive never heard of before, and I'm guessing it was your bargain basement filter. Some brand called "Federalists Automotive" doesn't even come up with a google search lol. When I changed it I put a K&N filter on along with full synthetic mobil 1 5w-30. And since its supercharged I'm guessing its seen full synthetic almost its whole life.

Im pretty certain the previous owners took good care of the car, as in they have kept up with oil changes and such. I've known them for a little while, only thing is I know it was driven really hard. Could the lifters really start going bad on an engine with 130k miles?

matt5545 · March 26, 2021

Update: I put some marvel mystery in there and while it will take a while to work its way through the engine, I decided I might as well post these videos I took to see and anyone could confirm or deny that this is lifter tick. On the first start up this morning after the MMO was added, there was no tick at all. As the engine heated up it slowly became louder. One video is a warm start and the other is just me revving. Sounds like the ticking sound gets quieter when I rev..