I'm replacing my valve cover gasket and while cleaning the surface I noticed something weird. Some of my rocker arms are VERY loose ??? The engine hasn't been ran in a little over a month because I have been taken care of a bunch of small things. Replacing the radiator, opti-spark, spark plugs, spark plug wires, and water pump drive seals. It has been very cold here so some of the cylinders where left with no spark plugs for a few days. If these rocker arms have always been this loose I'm sure I would had noticed the loud ticking sound before. Could the rocker arms loosen up because it has been sitting for a while ??? Could they tighten up once the engine starts and the lifters pressurize ???

 

do they all look like there adjusted about the same, they may have drained down but you still should not have play. they will move side to side but not up and down,

 

In addition to the fact that the lift needs oil pressure to tighten up the rocker it is normally for some rockers to be "tighter" then otheres because some are in the process of opening valves and some are not. If the rocked where loose it was cause a tapping while the engine was running. Do NOT tighten valve unless you follow the correct adjustment procedure.

 

Even if the lifters bled down, your valve lash would not be loose. The springs inside the lifters keep them snug, just like when you initially install new ones (not pumped up) and set the lash. I'm curious if maybe you're just seeing normal side to side motion, where some rockers are preloaded more than others. If you can lift the push rods up and down with some slop, then they are loose. Otherwise no.

 

Thanks for all of the great advice. Since it wasn't doing any loud valve-train tapping prior to me working on I'm going to leave it as is. Once it starts and warms up I'll pay close attention for signs of noisy valve-train.