I just took my 70 El Camino SS 396 for its 1st ride of the year. The valves on my 402 BB were ticking away...I took the Elko to my trusty mechanic to adjust the valve lash..which he did, with only minimal success...valves still ticked. He said he was concerned that the oil seepage/pressure while he was adjusting the valves was minimal. He checked the oil pressure at the oip pump...45 lbs at idle which is good...however, it didn't seem to increase with added rpms and the lifters didn't seem to be getting enough oil...problem appears to be somewhere in the motor...the engine does not have an external oil leaks.
Any ideas?

Steve:

Do you think the ticking is from the lifters not pressurizing enough? That should be more like a clacking. Was the mechanic able to adjust them, or just surprised that they still ticked?

The lifter galley is a pretty large oil passage, so I'd be surprized that you weren't getting oil there if you're getting 45 PSI at the gauge. Another question is... are all the valves are doing the same thing, or just a few ticking. It can be hard to tell.

What condition is the engine in? Does it have a lot of miles? Could you have just one or two bad lifters that have worn out and leak?

If you think you're not getting good oil pressure, you might have a bypass valve stuck open in the pump (like when the timing gear starts to come apart and pieces jam in the bypass valves preventing them gfrom closing). But then, you'd have poor pressure at idle. Strike that!


John

Good reply from John. Also, I'd ask if you are sure this is the original 70 block or if maybe it's possible that it's an early block? Pretty regularly we hear about guys who don't think it's necessary to groove the rear jounal of the cam in an engine built in one of the early blocks, results in inadequate top end oiling every time. The shallow groove in the early rear cam bearing is not enough, the rear journal must be grooved.

If the poor oiling is only on the passenger side there's also a weird problem that can occur if the distributor is not installed correctly.

Tom

The motor, I believe, is a 1970 "dealer replacement" 402 rebuilt about 1000 miles ago. It has been cursed from Day One...It was rebuilt and installed in Virginia and I drove it home (attempted to drive it home) to New Jersey. The rebuilder put a 262 degree cam with .55 lift (which I certainly didn't need...this a show/fun car) and sure enough I broke one then two valve springs about 100 miles from home...(I was towed the last 100 mi). It's never been the same since then...I put in a new cam (stock profile), new lifters, pushrods, springs and nuts...It ran well for about a week and then I started to get the valve ticking when I accelerate...we've re-adjusted the valve lash at least 3 times...no help.
Our current thinking is it might be bad cam bearings or blocked push rod(s). It definitely is not getting enough oil up to the valve train and certainly not enough to the lifters...
Any help is appreciated...I'm really down. To add insult to injury, this morning I started it up ran it around the block and smelled smoke...the engine just stopped...I opened the hood and the ignition resistor wire was smoking...my mechanic forget to re-attach it to the coil...The car wouldn't restart...pushed it home (1/2 mile)...I think we "fried" the Petronix. Anyway, want to buy a beautiful El Camino?

Steve:

Wow, you've certainly have had no luck.

You've changed everything that would affect oil from getting from the lifter galley to the rockers. If you're still not getting enough oil up top or enough to pump up the lifters, then you're not getting oil pressure to the lifter galley. So, on Tom's suggestion I'd suggest checking engine numbers to make sure you have the block you think you have.

Without hearing it myself, I'm not sure that bad cam bearings would cause ticking. But, I've never had bad cam bearings, so I wouldn't know. But, I'd be surprised.

Let me ask you something, why do you think you're not getting enough oil up top? Sometimes it just drips off the rockers, and sometimes it squirts. It doesn't take much.

I think the key here is that you hear ticking when you accelerate. If you're ticking when you accelerate, then it could be that an intake valve isn't closing and you're hearing the engine firing back up through the carburetor, which sugegsts a collapsed (or not pressurized) lifter. Also, a broken engine mount can sometimes sound exactly the same, and you hear it only when accelerating.

I hope this helps. Don't get rid of that El Camino just yet.

Regards,
John

Your further comment about hearing it ticking during acceleration is interesting. I'd check for an exhaust leak along the bottom of the manifods or headers. I've heard these that sound exactly like a lifter ticking. Does it have headers or manifolds?

Tom

The engine has stock exhaust manifolds...and interestingly there is a small exhaust leak on the drivers side toward the back of the engine...I'm afraid to tighten the exhaust manifold down any further for fear of cracking it.
I like the idea it may be a bad lifter or that the cam was improperly installed...but I don't understand where all the oil pressure is being dissipated...the motor is tight, no oil leaks and it runs very cool(no oil ...friction?). It's hard to believe that the pushrods are blocked...with what? Stupid question...could the ticking be caused by the rockers hitting the valve cover? Is it possible that they are OK when first tightened then loosen& expand as they warm-up?