lifter problems

[Texas Mouth]

I have a 01 ss with the 5.7. I have about a hundred k on the car. Everytime I start the car the lifters tap, then as soon as they pressure up they quit do I need new lifters or do I need one of the ac delco oil filters with a check val. in it.

[Chad97z]

well, how long do they tap after the engine starts? If the tapping goes away immediately, like within 30 seconds, then you probably have an oil pump issue. I think a lot of LS1's are sort of like that.

But if the tapping goes away once it gets a little warmer(3-5min.), then you might try an oil flush the next time you change your oil. That helped my camaro at one time. Sometimes sludge gets in there and is not as viscous as it should be and lubrication suffers because of it. So an oil flush can help.

If that still doesn't fix it, then you probably have some wear on your internal parts (cam) and a bit of "play" has been introduced. The way to fix that is either replace all worn parts or just have a valve adjustment. Obviously a valve adjust would be best since your motor probably only has another 30k left on it anyway and valve adjustments are cheaper and easier.