Ok, so here's the deal. I was hearing a ticking noise and seeing white exhaust smoke in my 1998 GS. I know the white smoke is likely a blown head gasket but, until I could afford that, I decided to investigate further into the ticking noise.

I took off the valve cover to see 14 of my lifters coated in oil.The twofront ones on cylinder #1, however, were dry. I removed these two lifters, and they wouldn't budge.Now I know that's normal for lifters that are full of oil, but I took them apart anyway to see if maybe I could unclog them. I put them back together and put them back in the car.

Ticking noise still.

SoI ordered two new lifters(which looked SLIGHTLY different in that they had a metal 'retainer' holding the actual male part into the female part), and put them in.

Louder ticking noise.

I dipped the two new lifters in a cup of oil to maybe manually pump them up, then put them back in the car.

Still the %#*& ticking noise!

What am I doing wrong!? Is there some sort of method to manually pump these up before you re-install them? This ticking is driving me insane.

P.S. In my efforts to lift the camshaft off the lifters, I assumed I would need to remove the timing belt and cover out of the way, so I've spent two days taking that side of the engine apart. In these shenanigans, I've developed an even louder whirring noise coming from the power steering belt. When I spray lubricant on the belt, it disappears, but only temporarily, returning within about 20 seconds. How can I remedy this?

Please help! I need my car for work tomorrow night!

Thanks guys.

 

have u drivin it?
i did my buddys head, he had the ticking noise. i drove it for about 10 mins and it was gone.

 

I did drive it just now to AutoZone because the ticking noise was still occurring, exhaust still smoking, and a new development: the service engine soon light. I used my code reader on it, but it never turned on. I assume I lost contact with my computer somehow. But how do I fix it?

Also, the lifters seem to be quieting down, but not disappearing. What's up?

 

Check to see if you have 12v at the DLC. Thats what powers up the scanner.

 

Get 3mm lifters our lifters ports are too small.

 

I read that somewhere, but when I looked at my lifters, they don't even have top ports. Just one hole on the side. The new ones too.