a friend of mine just called and said his van is making a lifter ticking noise at idle.when rev'ed he says it sounds like a lower in the motor and louder.the van has 65k miles and well taken car of,and not beat on.i havent had any time w/ these 3.8 engines.any ideas???,any inheirent problems with these??? my friend is a good mech,and knows sounds,but its still over the phone diag. issues. thanks guys. im just trying to help a friend in need.

bump?? ideas??

Well the 3.8's were pushrod engines, so that's always a possibility. That or an exhaust leak at one of the manifolds.

Dad had a 96 3.8 and ended up with a broken rocker base. He ended up pulling and replacing the heads...

That problem was fixed after november of 96


Rick

These motors have somewhat noisy lifters in many of these engines. The tappets in my 200K mile 3.3 in my beater Intrepid clatter and have for as long as I have owned it. Other than that, it is a great running engine and very strong.

In extreme cases, rockers have failed a few times in the 3.3/3.8 engine family. Remember, these are roller lifters, which can be somwhat vocal.

The piston to head clearance is very tight on these engines. I have seen many a "lifter noise" turn out to be carbon buildup on the piston causing the piston to actually touch the cylinder head. The fact that you say "never been beat on" makes me think this is probably the case here.You can do a decarbon but it has to be done in a very particular way to be effective, and might have to be done more than once.

Valve springs have failed in those....