Lost the “Lifter Lottery”....

Aren't 4.7's infamous for warping heads?

 

Dodge 4.7? Dunno, not googling it. For over 10 years I was active on a Dakota forum- never remember hearing about 'wharped heads', not once.

 

Yeah, and timing chain problems, bottom
End noises among other issues. They certainly aren’t better than the LS stuff.

There are none of em that don’t have problems, some worse than others. The LS engines have lifters that stick, Oil pressure senders that die, rear main plates that leak and the occasional oil pressure issue. Given the number of cars on the road and how many have over 300k on them without issue I call them a reliable engine.
The Dodge Hemi’s loose valve seats, wear lobes off cams and break timing chains.
Ford 5.4’s have timing chain issues, oil pressure issues (mostly from excessive clearances) that cause VVT issues, plug problems and more. The ECO turds have a pretty short life due to a laundry list of issues.

 

OK so i just thought Id update everyone that helped.

I got everything torn down over a weekend and a few evenings back in Jan/Feb. Then I had to travel for work (back in the day when that was still a thing) for a few weeks. And then i had to search, scrounge wait for parts since there was still some back log from the GM strike. Re assembly took a couple weeks, mostly weekends as I got parts in. And amazingly enough it actually runs...

Ive put ~ 1,000 mi on it and its good. Initially I had a weird rattle that only was around under load. thought maybe a loose rocker/trunnion or similar. Investigated and found a slightly loose exhaust bolt after checking them for the second time. Now it sounds fine and is running strong.

I installed Brian Tooley Racing Stage 2 L86 truck cam, cam phaser lockout, AFM delete plugs, GM LS7 Lifters and LT4 springs. Everything else was stock replacement. I learned a lot about the truck so that was good but man some of those parts, bolts etc were a BI^*(^%& to get to. I wanted to add long tube headers and catted Y pipe but Texas Speed was out of stock due to China virus shutdown, and kooks etc were 2x the money. So Im still stock exhaust.

As I installed a bigger cam, VVT and AFM delete i need e tune. I went with Diablo I3 and a guy from the silverado forums to do a remote tune (Lew or Diablew). The tune seems good and he's made a couple tweaks as Ive driven it and noticed stuff. I normally do a local dyno tune but all the guys here were 1+ month out. And its not #racecarlife so we'll see how this goes.

If you have a 2014+ Chevy gas truck I suggest doing the electronic AFM delete so you maybe dont eat a lifter. If you do have to change them it is possible by a reasonably competent home mechanic but it will take some time. Lots of good videos on YT to help. Also the valves/intake were "CAKED" with oil/carbon from the direct injection after 90,000mi. I cleaned them up and am adding a catch can. I suggest you add a can to any of the DI engines. And maybe use a DI intake treatment every year or so. I was shocked at how much oil residue was there.

In the end I probably spent ~$2k on parts, tools, tune etc. Could have saved ~$800 if i did a stock AFM delete cam. But why do all that work for stock....


If anyone else eats a lifter I hope this helps.

 

How big of a difference have you seen in both power and fuel mileage?
Did you find a lifter collapsed?

 

Not just collapsed. it did naughty things to the push rod too.



Lifter was in 3 pieces. Fell out of the lifter tray when I pulled it out.


And the intake valves looked like this...or worse.

 

It’s inexcusable, manufacturers continue to build stuff that regularly fails like this. It’s all easily preventable.

 

This. Call them and talk to them about what you have in mind and they will sell you what you need and not think you want. They are good folks over there and don’t over sell you shit.

 

So, interesting info I thought I'd share. Recently got a 03 porsche 911 with a check engine light for missfires on two cylinders. Confirmed it was not fuel or ignition or compression. Mechanics were saying something was up with variable timing and we would probably need to pull the heads and put new lifters in. One Porsche specific guy said to try Liquid Moly's hydro lifter additive and then run the piss out of the car for a bit, as the lifters are two stage and get sticky. Couldn't hurt right? Son of a bitch it worked. Saved us at least $1500.

Now I have a MB S550 with a cylinder #1 missfire. Confirmed its sometimes making full compression sometimes only partial. Need to pull valve cover and inspect. So boss says throw that additive in there and see what happens. Son of a bitch stopped misfiring and throwing CEL's. I can't believe its worked not once but twice now. For $8 its a cheap thing to try.