Smart Method For removing stuck lifters in the engine block

[mdmcinti]

Hey guys,

My Yukon xl had a lifter take a dump and eat the cam at 254k miles. Once my tax money comes in, I am going to tear it down to the short block and replace everything and rebuild the cylinder heads. I have been doing a lot of research on the repair and have been looking at what to do in the worst case scenarios.

One of those scenarios was if my bad lifter doesn’t come out of it’s bore due to the bottom of it being flared and having to take it out through the cam bore. Well searching online I did find this video where someone came up with a great idea to get lifters out through the cam bore without having to fear it falling down into the engine/oil pan and making the repair more time consuming. This was done I think on a SBC, but enjoy the content because I think it will save a bunch of headaches.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Nice!!

Thank you for sharing. Our collective knowledge base has been increased.

 

[drakon543]

its a great thought but if i had an internal part fail regardless of the failure id be dropping the pan anyway. just wasting money doing the top end if your pan has a bunch of shavings in it. i know dropping the pan isnt fun on most of these but rebuilding part of an engine just to have shavings being flung. good way to ruin a partial rebuild and turn it into a full rebuild.

 

[wjburken]

If your lifter is smoked so bad that the end is flared enough that you can't pull it out the top, I would be worried about how much more damage has been done. Like @drakon543 said, no matter what, you are going to want to pull the pan because if a lifter grenaded and took out your cam, there is likely debris that needs to be flushed out so you need to pull the pan.

 

[Rocket Man]

Hey guys,

My Yukon xl had a lifter take a dump and eat the cam at 254k miles. Once my tax money comes in, I am going to tear it down to the short block and replace everything and rebuild the cylinder heads. I have been doing a lot of research on the repair and have been looking at what to do in the worst case scenarios.

One of those scenarios was if my bad lifter doesn’t come out of it’s bore due to the bottom of it being flared and having to take it out through the cam bore. Well searching online I did find this video where someone came up with a great idea to get lifters out through the cam bore without having to fear it falling down into the engine/oil pan and making the repair more time consuming. This was done I think on a SBC, but enjoy the content because I think it will save a bunch of headaches.

Why not make it a half circle so you don’t have to aim it?

 

[mdmcinti]

I was thinking of trying to flush the pan with tranny fluid or motor oil. If the front cover is off, you could technically dump fluid down the pan right where the oil pump is and have your drain plug off so it drains into a catch pan. I think that would get a lot of it out. I am worried about that since I ended up having to drive a few thousand miles after the lifter failed before we bought our second vehicle. Now since I have another car, my Yukon has been sitting until I have funds to repair it.

A motor swap or rebuild is out of the picture since I live in the most inconvenient place in the country. I don’t have a shop or a garage to pull a motor in since I live in an apartment complex. I would have to ask my coworker to use his friends shop to do that which driving the vehicle there won’t be a problem, but then to get a motor or to a machine shop, I would have to have my neighbor or a coworker with a truck take me to Reno, salt lake, Boise, or California since that is where I can get a motor at and I don’t have a truck, I just have this and a Chevy Cruze.

 

[mdmcinti]

If I have to pull the pan, I might as well pull the front differential. It has an axle seal that I need to address too.might be quicker and easier to pull the pan that way.