loud lifters

[brian59]

I bought a 2000 camry with a 2.2 4cylinder engine. The engine has 200,000 miles on it. My question is this? When the engine is cold the lifters sound normal, but as I drive, the louder the lifters become (after driving 5 miles). One of the valves gets very loud after driving this distance when the rpm get around 2300. I change the oil to a 10W-30 hm oil, to see it would help, but no luck so far( 60 miles). Engine idles smooth, and no check engine light. Is this normal for an engine with so many miles? I was thinking, could this engine be so dirty in in the valve and lift area, they could be sticking and not moving freely?

[Mister_Perkins]

Well the way that the lifters work is that they are Simply a bucket shape that fits over top of the valve spring and valve. The camshaft spins around and pushes the top of the bucket down, compressing the spring and opening the valve. The only way you can adjust the lifters is to measure the space between the cam lobe and the lifter bucket top. Once you know how much space you have, you purchase the correct Shim to fill up the gap. There are various different shim sizes as well.

Changing the oil to a thicker viscosity will not change the performance of the Lifters at all though. Are you sure the lifters are making noise? It could be a noisy injector, Rod bearing thats starting to go bad, a water pump thats going bad, a loose timing belt. All of those I just listed besides the rod bearing will make a noise near the top of the motor similar to a noisy valve.

One possibility if you are certain that the noise is coming from the valve area is that your Spring may be weak on the valve.

[brian59]

The sound is coming from the valve cover area. It could be a bearing going bad, But when the engine is not at operation temp, it is much quieter. Would that be a bearing or is one of the barrels not moving up and down freely?