LS3: Rattling sound when stone cold

I contacted yet another mechanic - this one also does a lot of limos, and is very well respected within our community. (and he's an ex Holden mechanic).
He said that lifters are actually failing more often with the more recent generations, HOWEVER, he thinks it's due to a combination of the amount of idling we do (we do a CRAP LOAD of idling), and the 6-speed transmission - the 6-speed reduces the rpm, and he thinks that's actually worse for the lifters - said that low rpm sort of causes the lifters to rattle around a bit. He said that freeway driving is actually bad for the lifters, because it's almost the same as idling. (I always thought that freeway driving was good for the engine - very interesting indeed!)

He would never replace the lifters without also replacing the cam.

He doesn't really think its worthwile me fitting a high volume oil pump at my current K's (115,000), but he would consider it with more K's, if he were doing lifters & cams.

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Originally Posted by Micks

No such thing as a lifter failure at 200K at that mileage there fukked & due to be changed anyhow!

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Well in that case perhaps the HC community has an unrealistic expectation of engine longevity, and it's not as rubbish as we think. If you're right, then that seems to lend credence to the advice to proactively change lifters (and cam?) every 100,000.

Oh - one more thing - he said some amount of rattle when cold is normal - "you'll never get rid of it completely"

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Originally Posted by skip100

Oh - one more thing - he said some amount of rattle when cold is normal - "you'll never get rid of it completely"

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None of mine "rattle" & is hardly normal :lol:
Had two 6L's so far one cammed, one L76 stock & zero issues. Owned my LS3 for almost 3yrs new also zero issues. I do change the oil & filters every 5K with oem filters & Penrite 10/60 full synth.
If your happy with the advice your mechanics have given go with it buddy ;)

Thanks Micks. Can you notice any rattle in either of my recordings?

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Originally Posted by skip100

Thanks Micks. Can you notice any rattle in either of my recordings?

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Haven't really listened to them tbh, best get it properly diagnosed as most of the fellas you've been to have half a clue.
Wouldn't have faith in ex stealership employees too!

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Originally Posted by Micks

None of mine "rattle" & is hardly normal :lol:
Had two 6L's so far one cammed, one L76 stock & zero issues. Owned my LS3 for almost 3yrs new also zero issues. I do change the oil & filters every 5K with oem filters & Penrite 10/60 full synth.
If your happy with the advice your mechanics have given go with it buddy ;)

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We had one of the first AFM 6l l76 in Ve ss and was a bit ticky, hated anything over 5w30. Never heard a ticky l98 unless was the dreaded lifter noise. Have heard a few ls3,s of late that tick so maybe a bad batch

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Originally Posted by BLACKVE

We had one of the first AFM 6l l76 in Ve ss and was a bit ticky, hated anything over 5w30. Never heard a ticky l98 unless was the dreaded lifter noise. Have heard a few ls3,s of late that tick so maybe a bad batch

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My old VE Cal Vee My10 if it wasn't used for a few days would be a lil noisy for 30 seconds tops! I should have kept that vehicle cause at times I reckon it went a bit harder than my new LS3 both stock. Though the LS3 just :love: to rev!! :yup:

LS3 and LS7 lifters are the same are they not?

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Originally Posted by white lie

LS3 and LS7 lifters are the same are they not?

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They should be, but as I said earlier, my LS3 had the old lifter type. Additionally, one performance shop I have been talking to off line said that EVERY LS3 they had encountered was fitted with the old lifters (or at least, not the LS7 lifter), and they thought that was normal. This implies that a very large batch of LS3s have been fitted with the wrong lifter, IMHO.

My previous post has been deleted by the moderator, because it linked to another car forum. (apologies)
The post I linked to contained a comment stating that the LS7 lifter has been used in all (non-AFM) LS engines since about 2006.
This seems to tally with this table, which states that the LS7 was introduced in 2006, and the LS3 two years later, in 2008:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LS_bas...e#Engine_table

Is the "old" lifter the LS1 lifter? If so, I'm REALLY confused now. I found a post (which I will dutifully not link to) which states that the cup height is different between the LS1 & LS7 lifters, which in turn means the pushrod length will be different! I'm sure my pushrods weren't altered in length when they fitted LS7 lifters, right?

I'm beginning to wonder whether the LS7 lifter itself has been revised, and my LS3 did have an older type of LS7 lifter?????

Found a debate about whether the roller to cup length is the same or not, with no clear conclusion, but it would make a lot sense if they are the same.

LS7 lifters are 50thou lower on the cup than the previous LS style lifters. But this has little or nothing to do with your problem :doh:

The Series 1 VF HSV's with LS3's didn't have any dramas with lifters did they?

They said my engine did not have LS1 lifters - as far as I can tell, it just had an older version of LS7 lifter. (although I'm confused as to why they referred to the new lifters as "LS7 lifters" - this implies that my old ones were NOT "LS7 lifters". It's all rather murky.