Lifter Chatter

[goose]

Hey, I'm new to this forum and I'd like to say in advance, thanks for any advice you guys can give. I'm hoping someone here can help me, over the last year or so my engine has become louder and louder. I've talked to a few people and everyone has said that it is lifter chatter or valve chatter. I'm somewhat mechanically inclined but I have no idea how to fix this. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks again for your help.
(2000 GMC Sonoma 2.2)

[gold2200flex]

Hehe yeah our 2.2s are known for the chatter. Mine does it too from time to time at low rpms. Mine stopped pretty much completly when I switched my oil brand to Royal Purple. I have heard that the cause for this noise is usually either the timing chain or the valves/rocker arms. You might want to just change the timing chain first since it is a lot easier. Make sure you replace Everything in the timing chain including the gears, chain, plastic chain tensioner, and all seals and gaskets. You can get them for 1/3 the price at a local parts dealer versus the dealership. If you do have to end up replaceing something up top... you might as well do some studying up and get some aftermarket ones. They should be composed of higher quality metals and would free up some hp too at the same time. If your mileage is getting pretty high it might just be the timing chain though... if that is not what it is then you would have at least done some good preventive maintenance. I hear that the timing chains are the major weak-link in our engines. If they break(which is extremly often for the older engines not so much on yours though) they tend to also bend valves and stuff. On the newer engines they did some modifications to fix some old problems. One of the mods was adding a lub point on to the chain. Hope I helped if not then good luck.

[goose]

Hey thanks for the quick response. I'm definately going to try using Royal Purple. The chatter doesn't begin until the engine is warmed up so I'm guessing a thicker oil would help. What weight did you use? Thanks again

[gold2200flex]

Look in your owner's manual. It says what weight of engine oil is best for what temp ranges that are around you. Royal Purple can often be hard to find though. Go to www.royalpurple.com (http://www.royalpurple.com) if you have to oder it straite from them. They have some other awesome stuff in their product line too. The oil chang interval is 12,000 miles for them too. So make sure you put on a filter that is good for 7000 miles or so. Then just change it at around the 7G mark and add another 1/2 qt. It is more expensive than all the other sythetic oils though. I have tried them all. With this I noticed an increase in hp and tq and my engine runs cooler and smoother too. Especially if you use it for a little while. It actually cleans out the muck that forms in the engine and has micro polishers in it that will make your eng.s internal bearing even smoother than they were straite from the factory. Buy it by the case to save some $ too. Hope I helped. Oh, I use 10w-30 in the summer and 5w-30 in the winter.

[T Man]

Try bumping up to 10-40 before you go buying expensive Synthetic oil, especially if your motor hasnt been run on synthetic, although rare, problems can occur due to the increased lubricity of the synthetic.

[gold2200flex]

Hehe yeah sometimes doing the switch can cause problem. Like if you already have a oil leak somewhere... then when you switch to RP and it cleans out all the gunk.... your oil leak can get larger becuase it is not covered with the gunk anymoe!

[sdime03]

It might not be your lifter actually the 2.2's timing chain is another "ticker" yours might be the stock one and if it is it's only about 100 for everything needed to change it from o'reilly's....you can get lifters there also but with the lifters you gotta take the head off

[goose]

Thanks again for all of the help. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.