Valve adjustment for a 5.9 v8 ?
 

A mechanic friend of mine was checking out my vehicle the other day while i was replacing my power steering pump, and after it was all hooked up i started it up and we started talking about the various issues i've been having with it.

He started to listen to the engine (5.9 V8 with 128k on it) and noticed that the drivers side valve cover is making a clanking noise.. I noticed this too but thought nothing of it when i did way back then.. He listend to the passenger side and its quiet. He said the valves need to be adjusted and that is whats making the noise.

Im wondering what you guys think ? Could the idle clanking on the driver side be the valves ? It goes away at 1,000 rpm or more at least when the engine bay is open we cant hear it. Could this cause engine dmg and what not ? Im just wondering what all is involved on adjusting the valves, and if i should attempt to do it myself or have a shop do it. The valve cover gaskets need replaced anyway so once i do that im thinking of getting the valves done too.


Just a brief history, timing chain, cover gasket, waterpump, thermostat, plugs,wires, cap/rotor, ignition coil are all new.

I dont remember seeing adjusters on the stock rockers? I've adjusted the valves on my old school flat tappet engine vw but I dont know if that even something that normally done on newer engine designs with roller lifters?... then again I'm no mechanic...

I believe that we have hydraulic lifters on our trucks. If you have hydraulic lifters there is usually no provisions for adjusting the valves. The hydraulic pressure of the oil keeps them properly adjusted. You may have excessive wear in the valve train or futhermore a stuck lifter meaning it seized and is not able to expand and contract to maintain contact with the pushrod. my 2 cents

I believe you are right.

You can adjust rockers on engines even with hydraulic lifters, just depends on the valve train design. Chevy small blocks (older) are all adjustable. On our engines though, no, there is no adjustment. If the valve train is making noise, there is a problem, collapsed lifter, broken spring, or something of that nature.

try some marvel mystery oil in your oil like 1/2 a bottle this stuff works it will clean out the holes in your lifters they might be cloppsing ive been a mechanic for 36ys, never said i could spell

Well I am using Rotella T6 5w-40 atm, when i first put it in the noise went away, but after about 1300 miles its back. Goes away tho when its hot, but cold its a slight clanking on that side of the engine..

Now when i say clanking i dont mean like very loud horrible clanking, its sorta just a tapping on that side, doubt its a broken spring, i've felt that before on a Jeep 4.0 and its was pretty bad, this is just a tapping noise no normal person would think about tbh. I've heared of the mystery oil thing, but putting stuff in the crankcase like that i dunno

Sounds alot like an issue i had on my old z28, it turned out to be that the port on the lifter was partially blocked and that the lifter wouldn't "pump up" until the oil pressure was sufficient at higher rpms. So i just replaced the lifters along with a bigger cam :icon_twocents:

my 5.9 had the same problem. i put some sea foam oil treatment on the oil and drove about 100 miles then changed to moble 1 oil. has not made any noise since.

1/2 a can of seasfoam made the noise go away within one minute. Ran her five hundred miles, changed oil, all has been good for 50k.