My adventures with my wifey's 3.8L continues. What started with pulling the motor to replace multiple leaking freeze plugs has blossomed to a mild engine rebuild/reconditioning. Replacing leaking seals & gaskets (of which there were a bunch), cleaning anything I can get to. Pretty much everything but pulling the heads.

Long story short, I pulled, disassembled, cleaned & reassembled all the lifters. Everything went smoothly until I dropped one of the lifters on my concrete garage floor. *face palm* I inspected it and noticed that the roller had what looks like chips in it, like when chrome plating flakes off and the black metal underneath shows through. Clearly it needs to be replaced.

As far as I know these lifters are stock. rockauto.com has new Sealed Power lifters for $10, and autozone has Miller lifters for $14. motorcraft's web site lists the lifters as a set of 4 for $87.

Can I mix/match lifter brands or do they all have to be the same brand? From what I've read, it should be OK to just replace the damaged roller lifter instead of the whole set, which is good since money is tight.

Thanks for any info...

 

As long as the specs for that lifter match the rest you should be fine with mixing and matching brands.

 

I think for $87 and the fact that you have it apart I'd just get the Motorcraft lifters and be done with it.
Extra cost sure but then all the lifters would be new.......

 

How do I find the specs for the stock & aftermarket lifters? What specs should I care about? Do you mean the dimensions?


Its $87 for 4 lifters. So $261 for a complete set. Thats a bit out of my budget. If I could get a single Motorcraft lifter I would get it, even at $22.

 

what does the dealership charge for an original equipment lifter?that is what i would go with.

 

Dealer wants $34 per lifter. They have a pack of 4 that was opened by a tech, so they are selling the remaining individually. While I think its a rip off, I am going to bite the bullet and get one. Hopefully i can talk them down on the price since the price they have is for a pack of 4, not a single lifter.

 

good luck.

 

I wouldn't mess with mixing and matching lifters. If they are off by the slightest amount the sensor on the motor might set off a signal to the computer, leaving you at the very least with a check engine light and at the very worst an engine that might shake a bit. It might also fail a smog test.

 

So long as they are the same ratio, which if your on rockauto and looking at stock parts, they should be without a doubt id buy one and throw it in.

Not like its a high power race engine, should be more than suitable.

 

maybe out of the ball park here. but my buddy had an late 03 and he too dropped a lifter. he said he polished it out with a buffer oil soaked it for about 1hr and threw it back in. ran and sounded just fine. and i dropped 2 of mine,bag broke from my move to a new home, and they still look good to run, id say it shouldnt be too much to worry about there pretty strong, unless the roller is damaged or valve internale looks off. then yeah id replace.