Hey all, new member. Thought I’d post some advice here. Hopefully people looking to solve the terrible lifter/ engine clicking noise find this post. Before I begin, I’d like to say if you disagree with anything I have to say below no worries, this advice is intended to help those who have a specific issue, if you don’t have this issue or don’t agree with my hypothesis you are certainly entitled to your own opinions.
The problem is characterized by a bad ticking (sounds like lifters) from the top of the motor on one of both sides only when the engine is warm. It will always go away when rpms are above 2K or when the engine is cold.
firstly, with some searching you’ll find this noise is not lifters. It’s the actual cylinder sleeves bouncing up and down in the block. There are all kinds of info on this so I won’t go into detail.
I spent a lot of time hypothesizing how to fix this issue, many have solved it by a motor rebuild top-hat style cylinder sleeves, many have also fixed it by “pinning” the sleeves in place by drilling out the block and drilling/tapping for bolts that pin the sleeves in place. But I found much better, more reliable solution.
Rover made a fatal mistake when designing the D2 cooling system, the thermostat design and placement. it causes the motor to run 30+ degrees too hot. This in tern causes block expansion and sleeve slippage.
the solution is the well know “external thermostat mod” which uses a Chevy thermostat and relocates the thermostat to pre radiator (where the GM engineers intended) rather than post radiator (Rovers fubar location).
for warm climates run the cheap 160*F thermostat and drill 2qty 1/8” holes in it for flow when closed. for cold climates use the 180*F (if it still clicks, switch to 160F) . Once I completed the above, I have never once had the ticking come back.
The problem is characterized by a bad ticking (sounds like lifters) from the top of the motor on one of both sides only when the engine is warm. It will always go away when rpms are above 2K or when the engine is cold.
firstly, with some searching you’ll find this noise is not lifters. It’s the actual cylinder sleeves bouncing up and down in the block. There are all kinds of info on this so I won’t go into detail.
I spent a lot of time hypothesizing how to fix this issue, many have solved it by a motor rebuild top-hat style cylinder sleeves, many have also fixed it by “pinning” the sleeves in place by drilling out the block and drilling/tapping for bolts that pin the sleeves in place. But I found much better, more reliable solution.
Rover made a fatal mistake when designing the D2 cooling system, the thermostat design and placement. it causes the motor to run 30+ degrees too hot. This in tern causes block expansion and sleeve slippage.
the solution is the well know “external thermostat mod” which uses a Chevy thermostat and relocates the thermostat to pre radiator (where the GM engineers intended) rather than post radiator (Rovers fubar location).
for warm climates run the cheap 160*F thermostat and drill 2qty 1/8” holes in it for flow when closed. for cold climates use the 180*F (if it still clicks, switch to 160F) . Once I completed the above, I have never once had the ticking come back.
