Oil Pressure but nothing on top

[Teeman]

I narrowed my top end noise down to no oil pumping up top. I have over 32 psi at idle and when I pulled lifters and rotated engine over I stuck my fingers in the lifter bores and I could feel oil pumping thru(how much psi ?) Could something be going on in camplate, if so what to look for (stuck spring?) or clean out plug or something. And do plate have to be removed for repair.

[ederdelyi]

See my reply in your other thread ... unless you already have and don't like what I said :>)

[ederdelyi]

Here it is again:

I doubt you'll see any evidence of oiling to the top end cranking by hand. Besides the oil mist that goes up the pushrod tubes the top end is oiled only by the piddle valves in the lifters and the oil that goes up the center of the pushrods. Flow rate is usually about 3 - 5 oz. per minute. Any signs of oiling? Look for oil pooled by the exhaust valve. If it has been oiling at all there should be some evidence of it. It'll make a bit of a mess, but with the motor running and the cover off you should see the oil slinging off of the rocker tip if it's oiling. As long as the lifters are getting oil and the piddle valves are working the oil should be getting there. Nothing to do with the cam plate or relief spring once you get to the lifters and beyond.

When you re-adjust the lifters are they full of oil and take quite a while to bleed down ... 10 - 15 min?

[Teeman]

Here it is again:

I doubt you'll see any evidence of oiling to the top end cranking by hand. Besides the oil mist that goes up the pushrod tubes the top end is oiled only by the piddle valves in the lifters and the oil that goes up the center of the pushrods. Flow rate is usually about 3 - 5 oz. per minute. Any signs of oiling? Look for oil pooled by the exhaust valve. If it has been oiling at all there should be some evidence of it. It'll make a bit of a mess, but with the motor running and the cover off you should see the oil slinging off of the rocker tip if it's oiling. As long as the lifters are getting oil and the piddle valves are working the oil should be getting there. Nothing to do with the cam plate or relief spring once you get to the lifters and beyond.

When you re-adjust the lifters are they full of oil and take quite a while to bleed down ... 10 - 15 min?

Ederdelyi I'm not dubting your advice, I"m glad to hear your input. I'm just trying to cover all bases and don't want to ruin the rebuild. It's just I'm a diesel mechanic by trade and played with a lot of chevy and so on. I'm just used to seeing some oil squirting from the rockers and have never had lifts to take so long to build up. And that noise is so loud I just want to make sure all bases are covered. Thanks again for your input.

[ederdelyi]

No problem. I thought you may have given up on your other thread and missed my reply there. I was trying to save you from tearing into the cam plate when it was likely not the issue.
How's it going? Are there signs of oiling? Based on your experience I'll assume you pre lubed pretty well, but a little trick to help the top end to oil a bit sooner is to fill the pushrods with oil just before you install them. You'll obviously lose some as you install them and it makes a bit of a mess, but what is left in there does help.

[topcat3815]

You are not going to see much on the top end. I have never seen oil squirting out of the rocker arms on a  Harley. I have had the rocker covers of and ran the motor  as much as 10 to 15 minutes and like I said you just dont get much oil up there.

[Deye76]

Teeman, what lifters are you using? Feuling?

[ederdelyi]

Not him, but from his other thread he started with RevPerf. then switched to the SE lifters from his previous build. Film at 11, but at this point I think that no oil is not an issue ... he's got a noisy top end and working on finding the cause(s).

[Teeman]

Not him, but from his other thread he started with RevPerf. then switched to the SE lifters from his previous build. Film at 11, but at this point I think that no oil is not an issue ... he's got a noisy top end and working on finding the cause(s).

Ed, I installed the new set of revperf lighters and used the oil can to squirt oil in the lifter until it came out of the cups. I checked out the Tman link and clearanced the rocker box on the pushrod side as well and adjusted lifters to three turns and lubed the top end valves/rollers. I also inspected the top end made sure everything was correct, so now I'm 100% sure nothing has any incorrect contact. The engine still has the valve train noise, maybe the ramps of the cam or maybe pinging. I'm running the Thundermax w/auto tune and I couldn't narrow down a map to fit my 131 with 10.8 corrected cr. I have an appointment on the 18 of Dec. So I guess I'm on the fence until then. I'm hoping once the shop get it fine tune maybe it will quieten down a tad.
Thanks for all your input, Sometimes it better to have more than one tech on the case.

[ederdelyi]

Valve train noise on these motors can be a real PITA. Certain combos of springs and cam ramp rates can sound like thrashing machines in spite of your best efforts to subdue them. As long as you are oiling and there is no actual physical contact it may not be doing any actual damage ... hard as that is for most to accept. If it were me, and the noise persisted, I'd be looking at spring changes or something along those lines to solve the problem.

The adjustment to the top of plunger travel that I posted in your other thread is something you may want to try. It has helped in some cases. Sometimes going the other way works as well. The down side to running the plunger close to the top is that should you ever float the valves and the lifter pumps up you are relying on the retainer to keep things together and most are not designed to withstand the load. The downside with a deep setting is again floating and lifter pump up, but this time it's possible valve to piston contact that rears it's ugly head. Either of these approaches do not fix the root problem, IMO. They are something you can try to see if cam ramp/spring rate is the source of the noise.

Hope you get it all sorted out. I'm sure folks here will be glad to help and would like to know how it all turns out. I'm going out of town and will be out of touch most likely so if I don't respond to you or others on the forum I'm not ignoring anyone, just busy.

[nc-renegade]

Chasing top-end noise has cost me many thousands of $$$ and time.  Some cams and valve trains are just noisier than others.  I just ride and enjoy now.