valvetrain noise 5.9 magnum

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I just noticed the noise, and no I have never taken this engine past 5000 rpm before, And I run valvoline synpower 10w-30 engine oil. And I have no clue about the valve train lol so some pictures of what bolts to check would be nice. I have had the valve covers off once before to put new valve cover gaskets on and that's it. I noticed bolts holding the rocker arms on, if I remember right 2 bolts per rocker arm? Ca I just go around and make sure they are torqued to spec? Or do they have to be in a special position to check torque on them?
 
Just make sure none have loosened up(NOT likely). I doubt you'll find any issue there.
 
And as I said I still need to rule out the pcv valve, I can only hear the noise while its at an idle, when I give it some throttle I don't hear it anymore. When I get my carburetor back I will make a video and post it and maybe you guys will be able to hear it. But in the mean time I guess I can take the valve covers off and check the torque on the rocker arm bolts. But I thought I read the engine had to be turned over and the rocker arms needed to be an a specific spot to check the torque on the bolts?
 
so just make sure none are (loose) don't use a torque wrench.
 
Another way to check is to start the engine from cold for a couple minutes, enough time to get the oil going, shut it off. Take off the valve cover, bring each cylinder to TDC and roll the pushrods with your fingers and see if one is looser than any of the others.
 
Magnums with factory heads use a shared pedestal. They shouldn't ever "loosen up". But - things wear. The cam might not have, but I can tell you the lifters wear internally (the plungers and the bore they ride in), the lifter bores wear, pushrods and the contact points wear, and the valve stem wears. Over time the wear can "remove" the preload or cause enough oil pressure bleeding that the preload isn't enough. RPMs are not the only thing that kills engines faster. Full throttle does, intermittent detonation, cold starts, cheap filters... All can add to it. If you've ever heard a high-mileage Magnum you usually hear a little lifter noise. It's not a big deal. When/if it starts to smoke or you get a lot of visible blow by with it running and the oil fill cap off then things are wearing. My thought was if you were thinknig of changing something - don't waste time diagnosing and repairing - make the decision and then get things set up properly. Lifters are not part of the heads and they can be changed by removing the intake and rockers - just make sure the oil holes are pointing towards the valley.
 
x2 $100 on rockauto for sealed power, grab some intake gaskets and your good to go.
 
Well this engine is not a high mileage engine, it has around 20 to 25 thousand miles on it. And its always had wix filters and synthetic oil ran thru it and its always had premium fuel ran thru it all its life, And when my old man had it he didnt have a very radical timing curve on it. He ran it at 8 degrees initial and 34 degrees total all in by 2800 to 3000 rpm and with premium fuel.
Since i have gotten it i changed the timing a little bit, i run it at 16 degrees initial and 34 degrees total all in by 2800 to 3000 rpm. And i still run premium fuel (91 octane) and wix filters with synthetic oil. It never burns oil upon start up, it was burning oil upon de-acceleration a few months back, but i found out what the issue was. I was running a pcv valve and no breathers on any of the valve covers and i had a vaccum leak at the intake manifold on the drivers side. I added a breather to each valve cover and fixed the intake manifold vaccum leak by installing a new gasket and it hasnt burned oil upon de-acceleration since then. And the compression on each cylinder is 150psi and i am 4000 feet above sea level and my vaccum is steady at idle. It always has good oil pressure, it idles around 20 to 25 and running down the highway it goes up to 50 to 60 psi and it always runs right around 190 to 195. As far as i can see this engine is in good condition, the only thing i have not done to it yet is a leakdown test wich is something i want to do.
But if this issue does turn out to be lifters, would i be better off to get brand new cylinder heads, like iron rams from hughes or eq magnum heads? ones that are more resistant to cracking and putting new lifters in while i'm at it? or would i be better off just putting new lifters in and keeping the heads i have?
 
If you have good compression, no weird colors on any plugs and no oil in the water/water int he oil, I'd just do the lifters.

As soon as you take off the heads to check you are gonna end up replacing them, even if it runs great right now they are currently cracked (they just are, the casting is kinda shitty, my 96 5.9 ran great on the bench but were cracked between the valve seats on at least two holes) and as soon you take them off you should replace them with some Civia or Iron Rams ($700-900) which have an updated casting.

Valve lifters can wear and die and you don't have to pull the heads to get at em, you can just pull the intake manifold and the valley tray, mine I was able to just pull out with the pushrods.
 
Ya, i seen some iron rams on hughes for 795.00 for a pair and they are direct replacements. It says i would need to put the stock valve train on them, wich is rockers and push rods correct? Would i be better off getting all new rockers and push rods if i went that route? And if so what brand of rockers? mopar or crane or comp cams?
 
i might just do lifters and see what happens. I still need to get a video posted of the noise it's making and i will, just waiting to get my carburetor back, i'm having teflon bushings installed on the throttle shafts because i'm tired of dealing with the vaccum leak at the throttle shaft. But i will make a video post it up and go from there.
What brand of lifters are the best for the magnums?
 
still working on getting a video for you guys to listen to, carburetor shop has had my carburetor for a week today and they told me originally that it would only take two days to put bushings on the throttle shafts, it wont be done till tommarrow and then i will have to most likely wait till monday to get it back.
 
I was talking to an older mechanic friend of mine who has been working as a mechanic since 1990 and he knows his stuff pretty well, he has some expierence with mopar's but he is very knowledgable when it comes to fords. Anyways i was describing this noise to him that my 360 magnum is making and i asked him if he sounded like a lifter going out to him and he said if it was a lifter it would be more of a ticking noise and the sound would get louder with more throttle not go away.
Is he right?
 
If the lifter is collapsing it would get worse. Do you have an oil pressure gauge in the car? if you do watch the gauge and listen to the lifter as you slowly rev it up. Does the sound vary with the displayed oil pressure?
 
my new 360 does the same, after its hot it likes to tick, when coasting and idling only. on power makes no noise

all rebuilt, cant be more then 1000 miles. but, i did use the old rockers. i believe my intake bolts are leaking a smidge (damp from oil) so ill rip the intake and valve covers off and tell my status if any push rods are loose and whatnot. i know there is some play on the rockers.

but, the only thing it could really be are the rockers. on the old 318 a valve was alll goofed up, so ill mash my finger in there n see if any move, but heads all rebuilt so idoubt it.

ive also heard other mopers with this tick, and i believe its all in the rockers
 
Well im still waiting for my carburetor, but when i get it back on i'll post a video. I dont know if you would or could consider this a tick or not, it kind of sounds more like a knock, sounds like something is tapping on the valve cover from the inside.
 
What timing chain is on there? Condition?
I'm not sure if this is what you are experiencing, but back in the early/mid 90's when these motors were new I was a Chrysler tech. I experienced quite a few complaints if excessive lifter/valve train noise in 5.2 and 5.9 Magnums. I personally never saw a cam or set of lifters go bad in a magnum back then. I tried a MP double roller timing chain in a particular noisy one, and the valve train noise went away completely. Chrysler didn't want to pay for the chain, as i recall even though it was less money in our parts dept for the Mopar double roller than the stock chain. I've been out of dealers for 17 years but i remember there being TSBs for Double rollers and or the timing tensioner from the 3.9's to address this.
These motors also had issues with distributer drive bushings. I changed a lot of those.
The third thing to look at is that it is easy to damage a magnum block if the intake bolts are overtightened when installing the intake manifold.
 
I dont believe my block is ruined, everytime i have had the intake manifold off i have never seen any cracks anywhere, and i always torque my intake manifold bolts to 25 ft lbs. Never go anymore then that.
Also the timing chain has to be the original chain that was put in this engine when it was made, this engine is a 300hp crate 360 magnum purchased brand new in 2002. So i'm sure it has a double roller chain in it. And i have checked top dead center with a piston stop and my timing mark is dead on. So i dont think the chain has slipped.
And yes i do have a mechanical oil pressure gauage on it. The oil pressure has always been real good. When its at operating tempature the oil pressure will drop down to around 15 psi at idle, but as soon as you give it some gas it shoots up to 50 psi real quick, only when idling at operating tempature does it drop down to around 15 psi, wich i think is ok cause my idle rpm is 800.
 
Why don't you test it like I described instead of guessing and worrying about it? Better yet replace the f***ers and be done with it. Next topic please.
 
Because i am still waiting to post a video of the engine idling too see if anyone can identify the noise or not. I will be getting my carburetor back today. It's been off getting throttle shaft bushings and i have not had it for 13 days.
And i am going to test them as you described poisondart74, but again i have not had a carburetor to put on it. I get it back today and i will post a video tonight or tommarrow and i will pull the valve covers and test the pushrods.
Sorry, i did not intend to irritate anybody.....
 
Not test the push rods, i meant bring each cylinder to top dead center and roll the push rods and see if any are looser then others to test the lifters. I just have not had a carburetor so i have not been able to fire the engine up.
 
And false alarm on getting the carburetor back today, According to the tracking number it said it was expected to be delievered today, got our mail today and no carburetor. So i had to call and ask where it was and why i didnt have it yet and they said it should be here tommarrow.
So we'll see what excuse they have for it not being here tommarrow ether.
 
I am trying to upload a video of my engine right now so that you guys can hear it, my computer is having a hell of a time downloading it for some reason, I guess it is kind of a long video, but I approached the engine from different angles so that you could hear it.
 
All that reading and I was hoping to listen to the video :violent1:

Here listen to my noise :D

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=307100


pjc360 said:
I am trying to upload a video of my engine right now so that you guys can hear it, my computer is having a hell of a time downloading it for some reason, I guess it is kind of a long video, but I approached the engine from different angles so that you could hear it.
Click to expand...
 
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