does anyone think that the lifter tapping can cause our evo's to lose power? there's a few people in the forums that have experienced loss power after the tapping begun. made me think about when i installed my cams, @ 18 lbs of boost, i was passing my brother's STi like nothing. a couple days later, i hear ticking. i race my brother again, this time with 100 octane and 25psi, and i never pull away. my set of JAM lifters are coming in this week. i'll install them and see , but i really want to know if that tapping has anything to do with power loss because my car just runs ****ty right now even with my new 20ggreen

 

i could see excessive lifter noise getting to the knock sensor, the ECU seeing it as knock, and thereby pulls timing and adds fuel to lose power. so yes, i think it would be possible. our knock sensors seem to be pretty sensitive.

 

hmmm ok. yeah, i recall someone saying they lost about 20whp when they began hearing the lifters tick. its weird but i guess i'll find out...although mine only ticks on warm-up, even in really hot weather..but only on warm-up.

 

if they're not making excessive noise under wide open throttle, then i don't think that's the problem. if they were, it could cause phantom knock just like someone with a DP that taps the crossbars, and the ecu thinks it's knocking and starts interpolating the low octane map into the high to reduce timing and increase fuel for a margin of safety.

 

ok, so i installed the new lifters for JAM. foolowed their instructions and ticked on start up. after that, no ticking! test drove it and ...wow, what a difference! i can actually feel the 20g now..pulling all the way to redline. 2nd gear is fast! i am not exaggerating at all.

 

JAM lifters FTW

 

it really made that big of a difference?! man my lifters tick like crazy after i put my 272's in.....probably cuz i didnt bleed them

 

I just ordered my JAM Lifters today. Cant Wait !!!

 

Some people get tick with the JAM lifters too.

 

I installed the JAM lifters and I still have tick, but its a different kind of lifter tick now... awesome. However, no power loss from it, just annoying at idle in hot weather.

 

I had a similar tick last summer that was worse in hot weather. It turned out to be a bad main bearing slowly wearing down. If swapping lifters didn't get rid of it, cut open a used oil filter and carefully check it for chunks of copper bearing material. In the beginning stages a spun bearing sounds a lot like a lifter at idle.

 

My ECU is pulling timing between 2-3K and I've developed a nice tick in the valvetrain so I'm going to swap out my lifters and see whats up.

 

how can someone know the diff between a main bearing and a lifter?

 

I've had a fairly loud valvetrain tapping sound for 15,000 miles. Much louder than the typical ticking folks get with the installation of cams, etc. If that was a bearing, my engine would have went BOOM a VERY long time ago.

 

Because a main (or rod or balanceshaft) bearing will cause lifter tick when when it first starts wearing. Once the bearings cause knock at the bottom you'll likely need a crank. Metalflake oil seems to cause oil pressure problems so lash adjusters don't work right. The oil can appear clean with rocker cover off, and even with a bunch of copper sludge on the bottom of your sump you may not see much flakes in the filter.

The only way to check is drop the oil pan - it's easier than cutting a filter (or your finger off)