Product experience - W.M. Penn "Valve Ease"

[Tor]

My South African V8 has developed what feels and sounds like a sticky valve, or something to that effect, having stood unused for fairly long periods of time. For this reason I am quite sure long-term engine wear is not the case, but the engine's history is undocumented and there's a Crane fast-road cam in it.

Initially, the tappety noise would disappear within a minute or so, now it won't. As a stop-gap measure, my caretaker has a bottle of Valve Ease to put in with some fresh oil to get whatever it is unstuck. While desireable, a dismantling and overhaul is near-impossible at this stage, and I might end up selling it as-is i.e. with the issue unresolved and an advisory to prospective buyers. Has anyone here experience using this product, and can say with what/to what degree it helped?

I have my doubts, as I can hear the problem mechanically (clear tappety noise), and also through the exhaust + light vibration.

 

[cobraboy]

It sounds like you may have a sticky hydraulic lifter. The valve ease, as it goes in the fuel will not get to the right area.
Beware though of using any products in the oil itself unless your engine is clean inside. If your engine has high miles and dirt inside any added engine flush will dislodge crap and let it circulate and cause more, even worse issues.

Try giving the car a hard fast run to get the oil hot, the lifter tick might go away.

 

[jp928]

Mazda MX5s sometimes get a noisy lifter, and I have heard a fix is :- drain the oil and fill with 50-50 ATF and diesel fuel.....Run AT IDLE only for a while, the theory being the fluid flushes debris out of the lifters. Obviously drain and refill with correct oil after.
I would pull the rocker covers and run at idle, looking for any odd rocker action - a sticking valve should be obvious. A bit of pressure on the pushrod end of the rockers might enable detection of which valve is making the noise. Would also be a good time to check the rocker shafts for wear - if its bad you need to change both the shafts and the rockers. Here is mine ...believed to have 214k kms on it. Got shafts and rockers from Island 4x4, UK. Reduced valve noise quite a bit. Also check the oil delivery hole under the front rocker pedestal is not blocked - probe it with a piece of wire.

 

[sdibbers]

drain the oil and fill with 50-50 ATF and diesel fuel.....

To @cobraboy point. ATF has a large amount of detergents in it. This can cause the same problems he mentioned.

 

[Tor]

Thanks for this. Alan writes back that he has checked and cleaned the lifters twice, checked rocker shafts and rockers for cleanliness and pushrods for condition of ends and lengths. The noise still seems to subside somewhat during use but it doesn’t go away. He will put Valve Ease in the fuel and take it for a run.