The Regal is parked until Saturday.

The ticking noise got louder on my way home. It was very loud and consistent all day yesterday and the day before. Very, very little power. I tried to accelerate past half throttle once on my way home on the highway today, and heard two exhaust popping noises. That was at a little over half throttle while not downshifting. I drove 60 mph the whole way, and the engine felt like it was about to die. Just ran really rough, and had very little power, and sounded really groany, if that makes any sense. Accelerating up a hill was a nightmare. I can only guess the car was retarding timing a LOT because I could barely go up a hill at 2/3 throttle without downshifting, which I didn't feel like doing given the car's condition.

When I parked it, it sounded like a misfire in the exhaust. Definitely wasn't even.

Lately it had been running really low on power once the engine was armed up. I'm going to blame valvetrain noises on false knock, which was retarding my timing to hell, because the engine ran absolutely great when cold, and would very quickly run like complete ass when warmed up.

All plugs are in good condition, so I very seriously doubt I'm getting preignition for any reason at all. Failed lifter or bent pushrod is my guess. I have a new set of pushrods for when I tear it down on Saturday.

I suspect a broken valve spring.

Good thing I have a lot of extras...

http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...Buick%20Regal/

The lifter roller grenaded.

http://www.w-body.com/showthread.php...280#post919280

Ouch man that sucks. Can't believe a lifter just blew apart like that though

Sorry to see that you'll be taking the cam out for inspection/replacement.

Ouch, that's not good. Better check the cam. The picture looks like a slight scuff on the cam, but better safe then sorry on the cam. Did you find all the pieces? Might have to drop the oil pan, account for all the parts.

I'm not going to take the cam out to inspect it. I'm sure it needs to be replaced, and that's $350; $350 I could spend on a "new" motor and trans. I'm going to drop a spare lifter in there and drive it for as long as I can while I find an L67 to swap in.

As for the missing pieces, I'm going to finish the job tomorrow, change the oil, and cut open the filter to see what I can find. I've been driving the car this way for almost 3000 miles, so I hope that whatever metal pieces are missing will be found inside that filter. If not, I can only hope an oil passage won't be blocked till I swap the motor. If there's anyone in the Chicago area who would be willing to give me a hand, I could certainly use one right now.

This engine is done for.

I put in a spare lifter I had and put the engine back together, hoping to be able to drive it around for a while. I waited for the lifters to fill with oil, and they did, and the car sounded excellent. Then I went out for a drive, and came back, and everything sounded smooth as silk and silent as night.

Then I went out for another drive, and gave it 2-3 WOT runs to see if it gained any power. On the way back home making a left into the driveway, it felt like it misfired a few times and started ticking again.

Took it out for another drive, and had to make a 3-point turn in the middle of a road, and as I was backing up in reverse, I could feel the loss of power. It drives fine now, but the ticking is still there, is pretty loud, and the car is pretty low on power under light throttle. If you accelerate to full throttle, the car will take off and have decent amount of power, which I suppose is an improvement since the PCM is not retarding timing to a stupid degree like it was before I replaced the lifter. Now, I have no idea what the problem is. All new pushrods, and all of the other lifters were disassembled, soaked in kerosene overnight, cleaned, and reassembled.

The car will now be parked till the 19th, when I'll drive it 320 some miles to a town just east of Cleveland, where a member form w-body.com will swap in an L67 for me. He's charging $180 for the engine, $80 for the trans (each with a 30 day warranty), a few more odds and ends totalling between $365 (best case) and $415 (worst case), and $450 for labor. My modifications will be for sale at that point, including a ported LIM, ported heads, roller rockers, and any accessories anyone may want off of it.