XSeries-forum

Hi Richard,
I was looking at it even simpler with the idea that the rocker rail is simply unbolted off the top of the head & the offending hydraulic adjuster is simply lifted out & replaced ???

I'm guessing that the effect of the cam lobe lifting, the pressure created on the adjuster as the valve is depressed & the return of the cam lobe downwards is what sets the adjustment - together with hydraulic pressure from the oil etc etc...

I have read that often these adjusters rattle because the engine has done a few miles & the adjuster units get gummed up, and some engine deposit cleaner clears them nicely ... what says you ?

Edited my previous post.  Lifters look to be under the camshafts!

It could be an injector as well.  Several reports of that being the source as well as the lifters.  Still looking......

Well,
If it's under the cam shafts, it can rattle till the engine falls out...

However, the theory of an injector also sounds possible.

I have a can of expensive fuel system cleaner going into the tank when the fuel level is lower, and will investigate an engine sludge remover additive to sling in the oil 1,000 miles before it's due for its next change.

Several write-ups on you-tube vouching for a Lucas additive that claims to very gently dissolve build-ups and frees up jammed hydraulic lifters..

Incidentally, how big a job is it to take a head off one of these 6 pot diesel engines ?..
... and how likely is a good success rate at the engine working again afterwards ?

A result...

I bought a can of Instant-Engine-Rebuild... actually a bottle of Valve Lifter Cleaner...
some Wynns sloppy goo..
Added the bottle of stuff, that was almost water thin, about a Tea-Cup Full to the warm engine oil.

Within 10 miles, the valve ticking ended, and the whole engine quietened significantly... possible allowing ALL the lifters to seat properly and set the clearances properly at last.

This stuff stays in the engine oil until the next oil change - which is about 500 miles or so.
The oil is Tar Black now, and getting darker by the trip, so its gradually breaking down the grunge in the engine.  ::)

The details on the bottle of Wynns make it clear that it breaks the engine grunge down Slowly, so there is minimised risk of oil gallery blockage.  :blink:

So far, I'm impressed, and the diesel 6 pot is now purring nicely again & very even running.
The start-ups are a lot cleaner too, where the engine is firing evenly on all 6, where as before there was 1 pot not running cleanly for 15 seconds.

The sound difference is quite striking, as it's obviously been getting worse & worse as the months went on.

At least I don't have to dismantle the engine now - just an oil & filter change next week...

Regards to all. 

Sounds very positive.

Makes me wonder if these 'extended' service intervals really are a good idea?  I have only ever used premium oils too, though how much that plays a part in reducing 'gunge' I cannot say.

Yeah, agreed - premium oils ARE the way to go.

Having been involved in performance motor manufacturing & testing with McLaren & Porsche in years past, I can absolutely vouch for the premium grade oils...

Even when these premium quality lubricants have done their 10k mileage, very often they are still working better than the butt-bottom El-Cheapo oils.
My partners motor has the pour-outs from my X5 diesel, and does another 10k in it, without any issues, and it is still working well even then.

The key issues with premium oils is their ability to keep working at super-hot & high pressure situations where bog-standard oils will break down, thin out, separate to component parts or simply BOIL, thus failing.
I've been lucky to have been involved with some pretty clever people who knew their lubricant chemistry in detail... and literally witnessed lubricant testing in bench mounted engines...

The torture an engine puts on its lubricants is actually quite scary, and its amazing the damned things work at all lol

One substance I came across a while ago is some stuff to ZX1... Blue Bottle / Yellow Label.
This stuff has an ant friction quality that makes PTFE look like gravel... and its key quality is that this stuff is attracted to heat, thus instead of being driven out of a hot bearing or surface, it is attracted to the area.
I saw some tests where even when two contact surfaces weld due to heat & friction stress, this ZX1 stuff keeps working well past other lubricants that have long since welded the surfaces solid together...
With Leyland & Rover engines, it's friction reduction was so damned good, it could dismantle an engine from the inside. Any bolt or nut without a locking tab of sprung/star washer would simply undo - this led to big end caps falling off & cam rails falling apart in use lol...

But it should be good at £70 a pint...

Err, £70 a pint...I.  Think.  I'll.  Pass.  That even makes BMW Dealer oil prices look cheap.

I did used to used Slick50 many many moons ago.  In Vauxhell engines, anything helped..  )

Re £70 a pint, fortunately you only need to add 1/4 pint to a sump of oil.

The ZX1 supersedes Slick-50  1,000 times over, you would be shocked if you saw a trial of this goo in action.
It's anti friction properties are so good, that if you added it to a new engine that was not run-in, it will take almost forever to run it in... and because the pistons/liners & rings will not bed in, the oil consumption will be awful as a result.
Once an engine has 10k on the clock, then it goes in - not before.
Porsche used some on a new-build engine trial, and the engines would not free up & stayed tight for months of trials.
On a Cayman engine bench test, we had an engine that had timing issues, due to inaccurate crank timing lug/keyway locations etc... the engine was going to be scrapped, so we decided to coat the turbo charger bearings with this stuff, ran some thru the engine oil and ran the engine for 10 minutes, then drained the oil from the engine completely.
We loaded the engine to 140hp viscous crank loading at 3500 rpm, and it ran bone dry of oil for 35 minutes.... even the turbo kept running all that time.
The only visible damage on strip down was the piston liners/bores & pistons where the bores weren't cooled with oil, and there was a small amount of piston scuffing.
The water temperature was Hot on this run, but not high enough to warp a cylinder head.
The turbo was measured up & tested lubricated later - no damage & well within useable tolerances, & was swiped by one of the team for their own spares box...

This trial only stopped, because we got bored waiting for the engine to burst or seize up - it did neither.
It beggers belief that a liquid can stand such intense stress - but the bench trials of the ZX1 are worth seeing on U-Tube.

Penny for your thoughts when you have seen this on You-Tube

Re my valve lifters & Wynns deposit cleaning goo, just gone out & started the beast from cold - purrs nicely.... never done this while I owned it until yesterday lol

Looks interesting, and certainly worth considering on higher mileage engines.  Mine has less than 22k at present so it needs to run in properly yet....

Might be worth putting in the 3-series though as that's heading for 60k.

Someone on Amazon wanted to know it if was good for automatic transmissions.....as they need friction to work properly that's probably a no then!

Good info on it though.  I only knew of Slick50 from the 80's.

If your truck only has 22k on it, let it do another 10k before you wave ZX1 any where near it..

As for an Auto boxes.... and friction.... I think it will cease all functions of an auto box wet clutches in one hit lol... there may be a variant specifically for auto boxes ?

Many yrs ago I also raced IC model cars, these rev out at anything up top 30,000rpm... and the bearings in the little gearboxes etc were a regular swap out, as too were engines.
This wear also ceased by using ZX1. I did however bugger one engine, because I didn't fully run in an engine & put some in one - oops

I had a Discovery TDi and was going thru lots diffs & gear boxes over 5 yrs & was doing 1,000 miles a week - and those TDi Disco's were never built for that...
the ZX1 ended mechanical wear of these parts & loosened the engine up so much that it rattled like a bitch... but I never had a cam or pump or turbo wear out after I used this stuff.

Re an engine, I'd make sure you had a look thru all the drawings/layout & fixings in an engine before you put this stuff in one, or risk the engine dismantling its self internally if nuts n bolts are not locked in situ.