alright so i just bought my 97 eclipse RS auto not to long ago with some tapping. I figured it was just in need of new valve lifters. I bought some new lifters and put them in, put everything all back together and it still is tapping. also i have a major oil leak coming from the cam gears. The tapping sounds like its still coming from the top end but im not sure. anyone have any ideas about what to do? or what the tapping is? This will be the third time in a week i will have to take it apart since we screwed up the timing the first time so it didnt start.

thanks guys

use a mechanic's stethoscope to locate the origin of the tapping. Once you know where it's coming from, we will be better able to help you.

a piece of rubber hose works too if you don't have the mechanics scope.

alright sorry for the delay on getting back to you. kind of busy. But anyway we got the leaking cam gears figured out (the seals just popped out). We THINK we know the tapping is coming from the bottom end, possibly cylinder 3. I changed the oil and put some lucas oil in it and it seemed to quiet it down a little bit. I'm not too worried about it since I'm finding another motor to build up and drop in, along with a 5 speed swap eventually i hope. The motor does run strong though, other than the tapping at low revs.

If your tapping goes away with RPM's it's probably not in your bottom end. tapping in the bottom end typically gets louder and nastier with RPM's and means you've shat a bearing.

well what do you think it could be then. we replaced the lifters, and that didnt solve the problem. but the lucas oil did quiet it down. I'm clueless now lol

were your lifters full of oil when you installed them? if not they'll tick like a muther

Could be carbon build up on the valve seats. :shrug Try a Seafoam water torture on it. Search "seafoam" on here and you'll get an idea.

My lifters were filled with oil before we put them in so that isnt the problem. I did search the seafoam and it seems like a good idea, if anything it will at least clean it up

seafoam is awesome stuff. period.

Actually if i remember correctly, you're not supposed to pre-oil our lifters like a SBC or other common types. The tapping issue could be a sort-of common one, as the valve angles from the factory were off a bit and caused the valves to sort of "stick". If you have your head redone, they use updated angles when grinding the new seats. Mine does the same thing, and bugged the hell out of me for a long time, until someone gave me a huge write-up on the issue. It really only does it for me when when the engine is cold of if i baby it. When I run it hard and get it nice and hot, it stops. Just my 2c

Originally posted by justins71
Actually if i remember correctly, you're not supposed to pre-oil our lifters like a SBC or other common types.

sorry but you're wrong. page 29 of the FSM engine overhaul manual states that the hydraulic lash adjusters must be at least partially full of oil.
http://az2gnt.net/FSM/2gnt_420a_overhaul.pdf

Awesome, I'm wrong then. Maybe I heard/read you're not supposed to fill them *all the way*... Something about they won't bleed off and it'll damage the followers or something like that... I did the PT adjuster conversion thing when I thought mine were bad (ticking, turns out it's the valve/seats), and that's when I was told about that. I basically dropped them in oil, then pulled them out and put 'em in the socket... *shrug*

Originally posted by justins71
I basically dropped them in oil, then pulled them out and put 'em in the socket... *shrug*

Yeah, that's pretty much how you do it