Exhaust Manifold Gaskets/Lifter Tick

[JPVortex]

 

[rockola1971]

Did you put the fan on backwards? Facing the wrong way?

 

[JPVortex]

Did you put the fan on backwards? Facing the wrong way?

Should be on correctly. Theres a side labelled front, that side is facing the front of the truck

 

[JPVortex]

So folks, did some thinking and came up with this, thoughts? Sorry if formatting is a bit weird, I also posted this to a facebook group.

I did notice that oil is a bit slow to get up to the top end(running with valve covers off)
Now, also, most healthy 5.3s I see have around 40-45psi of oil pressure at idle. Mine only has 28-30psi at warm idle AT the pump. I have a full time mechanical gauge installed at the plug where you'd prime the oil pump, so it reads what the pump is making.
The tick started last October, and I noticed my oil pressure going down slowly overtime along with the tick, until it hit around 20psi at hot idle(used to be 35-40psi). So I did the obvious, and dropped the oil pan and replaced the pickup oring. It did raise the oil pressure to where it sits now(28-30psi at warm idle), but I never recovered my full original oil pressure and the tick still remains.
I did notice, when I installed the new oring, it took very little force to slide it into the oil pump, like almost none at all. Isn't it supposed to be pretty tight to install? I had a blueish green original oring and replaced it with Felpro 72401. I'm now wondering if the oring is not sealing well still and I should drop the pan again to replace the oring again with a different brand oring(probably Mahle) .
Thoughts?
Thanks!

 

[JPVortex]

Well well well. Some digging online has been done. Compared diameters of the Felpro oring that I put into my truck, and a Mahle replacement.

ID and OD are as followed:

ID:
Felpro: 19.5mm
Mahle: 20mm
OD:
Felpro: 28.04mm
Mahle: 29mm

So it seems, the Mahle oring seems to be just SLIGHTLY bigger than the Felpro counterpart that's in my truck... I bet that mm difference is the difference between a tight seal in the oil pump and a loosey goosey seal in the Felpro. I have to wonder if the oring is semi-sealing but is aerating the oil coming up to the top end, and decreasing oil pressure to lower than what it was before the original oring went bad. Have to wonder if the oil is aerating and that could be causing the lifter tick, or damaged the lifter/roller and that is causing a tick...

Think I may be tearing the oil pan off again and redoing this job with the Mahle oring instead of the Felpro that's in it.

 

[JPVortex]

Mahle oring arrived yesterday, I can indeed say it looks a bit better. Even without looking at the old oring(yet) I can tell it's just slightly bigger, also it's a bit more of a stretchy material, so I think that'll help conform it and make a tighter seal.

Started pulling the oil pan again this morning. Can say, the advantage to doing it multiple times is that the 2nd time goes way faster... Lol. The pan is ready to come out, diff is dropped down and everything is disconnected in less than an hour. I'm just giving the pan an hour or 2 to drip, so the mess once the pan is dropped is minimal.

Will make sure I post pics of the 2 orings side by side once it's out later today!

 

[JPVortex]

Well I kinda forgot to take pictures, so just take my word for it lol.... Pulled the old Felpro oring out, it looked like it was kind of in the pump crooked and wasn't pressed all the way in... Put the Mahle oring in, and it went way farther up than the Felpro did! it lined up, and I gave it gentle pushes and it went up higher and seated itself in the pump. It's seated so well I can take my hands off the pickup tube without it bolted in and the oring holds it in the pump. With the Felpro the pickup tube just fell off....

 

[JPVortex]

So, looking at this 5.3s oil. Looks nasty, that Liqui Moly MSo2 makes it look all gray and disgusting... lol.

Definitely a couple tiny metal specs in the oil, not too too worried about it.

Putting my finger across the windage tray I could feel a couple more tiny little metal specs on it(or it's just old sludge/crap that got in there from dropping the pan) it's really hard to tell to be honest.

Starting to wonder if this o-ring lead to insufficient oil/air pockets going to the valvetrain and it caused a lifter to be very unhappy(the one on cylinder 4 intake). Wonder if the few metal specs I'm seeing are pieces of the lifter roller. Maybe if it's not bad enough when all is said and done and if it has proper oil pressure, maybe the tick will quiet some, or the damage is done.

I can say though, the truck has been driven only around 500 miles since the lifter started ticking, so not a whole lot of driving.

Here's the video folks(if you don't like swearing then don't watch lol, I kind of cursed like a sailor in this one ):

 

[Marky Dissod]

So, looking at this 5.3s oil. Looks nasty, that Liqui Moly MSo2 makes it look all gray and disgusting.
Definitely a couple tiny metal specs in the oil, not too too worried about it.

Putting my finger across the windage tray I could feel a couple more tiny little metal specs on it(or it's just old sludge/crap that got in there from dropping the pan) it's really hard to tell to be honest.

Starting to wonder if this o-ring lead to insufficient oil/air pockets going to the valvetrain and it caused a lifter to be very unhappy(the one on cylinder 4 intake). Wonder if the few metal specs I'm seeing are pieces of the lifter roller. Maybe if it's not bad enough when all is said and done and if it has proper oil pressure, maybe the tick will quiet some, or the damage is done.

I can say though, the truck has been driven only around 500 miles since the lifter started ticking, so not a whole lot of driving.

Here's the video folks(if you don't like swearing then don't watch lol, I kind of cursed like a sailor in this one ):

The most definitive answers to your questions would be written in a used oil analysis -
if not more than one used oil analysis, so that you can also learn from emergent trends.

 

[JPVortex]

The most definitive answers to your questions would be written in a used oil analysis -
if not more than one used oil analysis, so that you can also learn from emergent trends.

Probably a really good idea. Think I will send a sample off to Blackstone on the next oil change. Probably not this one due to the fact it was only ran for 50 miles, it was dumped into a super dirty contaminated drain pan and it’s sitting outside for hours so far, where moisture has probably already gotten into it. So in short, this oil change it’d be a waste if money as it’s probably super contaminated and wasn’t run for any amount of time except a one day drive.

 

[JPVortex]

Ok update, something is going really wrong.

So I put the oil pan in and went to go get all the bolts started. For some reason, one of the oil pan to bell housing bolt holes is not lining up at all... Like it's over a quarter inch from lining up, and I can't understand why. It was just enough to get the bolt started and it cross threaded. I stopped once it hung up but it was too late. I pulled the pan back off and everything looks fine(minus that one hole) but why the hell is it not lining up?! All the other bolts line up fine, and I didn't have this problem at all the last time I did this.

 

[JPVortex]

Not quite sure what happened yesterday, but I tapped the hole on the oil pan that got messed up and tried again today, everything went in smoothly. Waiting for RTV to set for a bit now before I fill with oil. Probably not going to give it 24 hours at all, I used such a small amount on the 4 corners by the timing cover and rear main. Probably going to give it 3-4 hours.

 

[JPVortex]

O-ring job is done. Truck has similar oil pressure to before still and the tick is still there. The tick is slightly quieter though. So my thought is the original o-ring was bad, and it might've taken a lifter with it.

 

[JPVortex]

Hey y'all stupid question here, Want to make sure I have the right cylinder/lifter located as the one ticking. Question is, can I take the pushrod and rocker arm off cylinder 4 intake side, disconnect the plug wire and injector for cylinder 4 and do a test fire to see if the tick goes away? I just don't want anything to go wrong lol. I don't think the cam would possibly be able to shoot the lifter out right? Because it's being held in by the lifter tray...

 

[JPVortex]

Well folks I think the lifter tick is advancing even further. Code is now popping up for a P0322, knock sensor code. Also seems to have a slight stumble/miss to it at idle. Quite unfortunate really. It's my only vehicle and I just accepted a job with a 40 minute one way drive, so it definitely has me freaked out for sure.