Rb 25 Lifter/oil Problem

[nemesis-dk]

Im ready to NUKE my RB

long story short: Have an all in pro spec R32 RB25 drift-car and have now picked my engine apart 4 times now ,given it ARP bolts new-used head that been by the machine shop to be recon´d

Changed oilpump

alot of headgaskets

BUT

I have a lifter (oil) problem i cant seem to find !

The engine runs spot on !!..... until i rev it to 7000ish and here starts the ticking from the lifters and i have 80 psi oilpressure here fully warmed up ............. I dont get it !

Is there somewhere in the head i can meassure the oilpressure in the oil gallery ?

Bonus info

The ticking is on both sides

If i disregard the ticking and keep on "trucking" it just spreads to almost all of them.

then i stop the engine and scream at it go home and return the next day to start it up and the ticking stops !

I have an oil-cooler with fan on it

im running Sunoco 10-60 racing oil

I need to find the origin of my problem or i will go MAD

You can see my car here : http://bilgalleri.dk....aspx?ID=205765

Edited May 13, 2012 by nemesis-dk

[r33_racer]

When your head was reconditioned, were the lifters disassembled and cleaned or even looked at? There is a good chance they are carbon'd up or buggered. That would be my first port of call, drop the timing belt, pull the cam covers off and remove the sticks and inspect them all.

Unless your head was grubscrewed when it was cleaned, you would have to drill and tap into one of the oil galleries in order to 'T' off a signal line to measure oil pressure through the head.

[nemesis-dk]

Last year i smashed a lifter and the valve under at a competition where i could hear a lifter was dead and ignored it to complete the comp. the top of the valve stem had taken a lot of beating so i replaced lifter, valve, spring. retainer and lock and reassembled the engine just to find this problem.

There is now a different head on it from a running engine and it still has the same problem so im ruling lifters out .

Edited May 13, 2012 by nemesis-dk

[abr33]

What restrictors are you running in the head feed?

[r33_racer]

Okay...

You havent maybe restricted oil flow to the cylinder head too much or something funny?

Are you running aftermarket valve springs?

[nemesis-dk]

running oem springs and havent done anything to the bottom . 2 years ago bored and wossner pistons put in it

[The Mafia]

You should never have a head apart and not take apart every lifter and clean them.

Also, sounds like you're either running too thick of oil or there isn't enough pressure in the head.

[KiwiRS4T]

Do you have a thermostat on your oil cooler?

What are your oil temps like?

As above there is evidence that 10W 60 is too heavy for a high revving engine in good condition. Try some Motul 15W 50 or even 5W 40.

[r31 25t]

I've had a similar problem, my old 30 would do this after a good thrash, there was so much blowby that the fuel was mixing with the oil and making it real thin. Does it make the noise when you rev with no load?

[nemesis-dk]

I have always run it om Sunoco 10-60 with no issues

And its not dilluted oil.... been changed way to many times this last 2 month !

Yes it does it under load free reving too

I havent fitted a temp gauge....... i have a fairly large oil-cooler with fan on it to keep it "cool" its on same circuit as the water fans and controlled by MS

Im also almost 100% sure that theres not sufficient oil pressure in the head and need to find the source of it and the thing that i just cant get is that its on both sides and all the way from cyl 1-6 so it cant just be 1 clogged oil canal ...or what?

If it had thrashed the bearings i wouldnt get a good pressure.

Im just hoping that theres someone whos a RB nerd and know all the corners in that engine or someone who have tried the same and overcome it.

it could be some litte thing ive missed .... im not at all flawless

[KiwiRS4T]

I'm suggesting that your oil is not hot enough. You say you have always run it on 10 -60 with no issues but you have an issue now and changing to a thinner oil would be one of the simplest, cheapest things to try compared with ripping out your motor yet again.

[Guilt-Toy]

put some thin mineral oil in it. 40 weight max. see what happens

[nemesis-dk]

Well off course its worth a try using a thinner oil .... maybe a oil for diesel engines that has addtives to remove carbon deposits.... my only worry is if i will end up with a blown engine ..... its a drift car that gets hammered every time its used ...living its life on the limiter

[r33_racer]

You would be suprised how many non diesel engine cars use diesel oil. It wont harm your engine. If may even help if your lifters are sticky from excessive carbon build up over the last 15-20 years. As far as im aware, the only significant difference in most diesel oils is there extra cleaning and suspension additives as their oil gets dirtier quicker then a petrol engine and usually have longer service intervals. Just get a viscosity thats close to what you are using now, or abit thinner like others are suggesting.

Either way your not going to find out anything by just speculating or waiting for someone to give you the answer you want to see.

[abr33]

is it possible for the lifters insides to collapse/leak and not hold any oil?

Also dont flog it to bits with mineral oil in it. Or there might be bits.

[Dobz]

It hasn't been said whether the lifters have been pulled apart and cleaned yet.

Carbon clogged lifters will bleed down at high rpm and won't pump back up because of the sludge in them, it will go away after the car sits for a while because the tiny little spring inside the lifter piston pushes it back out to let oil in to it so it's pumped back up next day when you go to turn the car on.

[boostn0199]

Definately worth cleaning them up when heads off, bit of a headache of a job by having to disassemble each one and clean it separatley and not mixing up parts but worth it when there good as new and you save 120 each for 24 new ones.

[nemesis-dk]

Ok guys i took my Sherlock Holmes hat on today (again) because shifting to thinner oil might help but the oil is in my oppinion not the caurse of my problem.

So i took my old head and went through its oil channels and im maybe 1 step closer to solve this mystery ...

The lifters get oilfeed from 2 channels that runs through/past 4 of the head bolts....then i remembered .... had absolutly no problems before i shifted to ARP studs.

Im well aware that thousands of ARP bolts/studs find the way to our engines with no issues at all but it is possible that ive got a set that are a fraction thiker than normal so they will act as restrictors.

So when i can free some time from the costumers old US-cars i will try to replace 4 of the studs with oem bolts and see if that does the trick.

[JonnoHR31]

That wont be your problem....

[nemesis-dk]

ok why ?