rallywagon
Veteran Member
So, some may have seen my question about a tap or tick in my son's high mileage (308k mi) 2000 Jetta ALH. Thanks again if you replied. Last night we took off the valve cover and checked out the lifters and cam.
Number one, first lifter on the left, had slight marking on the face (mild discoloration in a spot or two near the outer edge), but the cam lobe looked fine. Inspecting I noticed that rotating the lifter in the head, it would hit a sticky spot. The other 7: I could rotate round and round freely....assuming I had the cam lobes pointing up. On the first, I could work a little harder with my oily fingers and eventually get the lifter to rotate past the sticky spot. All the lifters seemed to have yellowish discoloration right in the center...maybe a quarter inch in diameter.
I tried tiny drops of a few solvents around the sticky lifter in hopes of magically dissolving varnish which probably was not there. I then re-lubed the lifters and lobes with some Mobil-1 and reassembled. No change in the tick....which I still am not positive is coming from the lifter. Even with a decent mechanic's stethoscope, I can not pin point the noise!
Thoughts? Why is this rotation of that one lifter sticky? (varnish or mechanical wear or?)
Should we plan for a new cam and lifter set in about 8k miles when we do the timing belt? Is the bore in the head risky / repairable?
Should I try any additives?...Marvel Mystery Oil seemed to make it intermittent for the first few minutes after its addition, but no permanent improvement.
THANKS
Number one, first lifter on the left, had slight marking on the face (mild discoloration in a spot or two near the outer edge), but the cam lobe looked fine. Inspecting I noticed that rotating the lifter in the head, it would hit a sticky spot. The other 7: I could rotate round and round freely....assuming I had the cam lobes pointing up. On the first, I could work a little harder with my oily fingers and eventually get the lifter to rotate past the sticky spot. All the lifters seemed to have yellowish discoloration right in the center...maybe a quarter inch in diameter.
I tried tiny drops of a few solvents around the sticky lifter in hopes of magically dissolving varnish which probably was not there. I then re-lubed the lifters and lobes with some Mobil-1 and reassembled. No change in the tick....which I still am not positive is coming from the lifter. Even with a decent mechanic's stethoscope, I can not pin point the noise!
Thoughts? Why is this rotation of that one lifter sticky? (varnish or mechanical wear or?)
Should we plan for a new cam and lifter set in about 8k miles when we do the timing belt? Is the bore in the head risky / repairable?
Should I try any additives?...Marvel Mystery Oil seemed to make it intermittent for the first few minutes after its addition, but no permanent improvement.
THANKS