Lifter Tick Options

[kbear951]

Hey guys…I have a 2013 Camaro 2SS L99 with 123,000 miles that has a pretty bad lifter tick. It has been on going for a while, but nobody else “could hear it.” ��
The day before my warranty expired, it got louder, still the liars at Chevrolet said “that’s what it’s supposed to sound like.” I’m not stupid, I know they heard it. Anyway, here we are 1 month later and it’s gotten progressively worse and now I’m really worried!! Apart from going in there and replacing them, is there anything I could do that is less invasive? I was going to do my oil change again soon. I only put desos Mobil1 5w30 in it. One time I tried the desos Mobil1 5w30 high mileage oil and it got louder (this is back when I was the only soul on earth who could hear it), so I took it back out and put the regular Mobil1 5w30 and changed the filter again. I believe for filters I’ve been doing the AC Delco filters, but can’t remember for sure. If I did something else is was probably Mobil1 or KnN. Should I try a heavier oil? If so, which one? Is that for sure safe? Have you tried it repeatedly over a long period of time? I really don’t want to sell her, I just want to take good care of my car and keep it, but have been mulling the idea around because of this. A few weeks ago I noticed my oil pressure at idle was a bit low intermittently (around 20-ish), but haven’t been paying attention since bc it stresses me out lol. Any suggestions? What is the consensus on additives? Are there any that are for sure safe? HELP!! ��I love her….��

[gtstorey]

No oil change or additive will fix a mechanical problem. Find a non-dealer shop you can trust and let them do a proper diagnosis.

[ChibiBlackSheep]

It's the DOD lifters, they are a known bad spot. The best thing is to replace them and do a DOD delete

[Ponchonutty]

What others have said. It’s just a matter of time when they let loose and send shrapnel through your your engine at which time you’ll need a new one. I just had this issue with my 12 with half the miles. I change my oil religiously at 5k no matter what but it still happened. My GM Denali all I did was tuned out the DOD and it had no issues all the way past 280k miles

[Rock-It Man]

There is an improved design of the Active Fuel Management lifters, and a TSB to go with them.

I had this work done under warranty, around 30,000 miles. All is good at 80,000 now. With your high mileage, you're probably gonna need the lifters AND the camshaft replaced. But you don't have to delete AFM necessarily. If yo do, though, the conversion will require a numvber of parts and a tune.

[morepowerjoe]

If your going to keep it then I would recommend a afm delete, small cam upgrade, and a tune. The afm system is really crap. You will be way more reliable without the afm and it doesn't really affect gas mileage, maybe like 1 mpg at most only when cruising on the highway. I did the afm delete and cam upgrade on mine at 153k miles so it's definitely worth the investment if consider how much a new vehicle will cost. And you should be good well past 200k miles.

[Ponchonutty]

I started having cold start lifter noise but would quiet down shortly after startup last summer. Then it melted a solo performance cat. I wasn’t sure if it was from the last tune or what and I didn’t want to take that chance. I was running with the DOD tuned off for about 25k miles with no issues before this. Anyways, I ended up replacing all of it and put a small cam in it too since I was already in there. Wish I would have done that years ago.

[1JEWLDSSRS]

Originally Posted by morepowerjoe

If your going to keep it then I would recommend a afm delete, small cam upgrade, and a tune. The afm system is really crap. You will be way more reliable without the afm and it doesn't really affect gas mileage, maybe like 1 mpg at most only when cruising on the highway. I did the afm delete and cam upgrade on mine at 153k miles so it's definitely worth the investment if consider how much a new vehicle will cost. And you should be good well past 200k miles.

^^^^ This right here, spot on 100% great advice!! I did mine at 98k..

[kbear951]

I suppose if now my cruising 70 mph oil pressure is 40-45, shooting up to 50-55 when I punch it and it feels like there is resistance and it gets a little shakey when punching it (which I won’t be doing again), that would mean I now have metal in my oil clogging something up a bit, right? Feeling like this is a ticking time bomb I think I’m going to get a little ding on the body patched up and try to ditch it ASAP and start driving my truck in the meantime.

[morepowerjoe]

Originally Posted by kbear951

I suppose if now my cruising 70 mph oil pressure is 40-45, shooting up to 50-55 when I punch it and it feels like there is resistance and it gets a little shakey when punching it (which I won’t be doing again), that would mean I now have metal in my oil clogging something up a bit, right? Feeling like this is a ticking time bomb I think I’m going to get a little ding on the body patched up and try to ditch it ASAP and start driving my truck in the meantime.

Well I don't think that you have metal in it yet because it still runs correct? And it doesn't have a rod knock right?It's more then likely just fixing to let loose. But if you do something about soon then it will be very reliable once again. So I like I said before, you need to get it fixed one way or another cause it will be cheaper to fix it then to get a new car. Unless you have your eye on something less than the amount it will cost to fix it which I think can be done for around $3500 give or take including labor. Now if you find a tuner to do it for you, you could possibly save about $800 because I'm including the tune which a tuner will have access to tune it himself. I wish I would have thought of this when I did mine.