I got the 02 883 back together after a top end rebuild, including new factory pushrods, lifters from Larry's and a valve job. Fired it up today for a warm up sequence and it has one hell of a racket from the rear cylinder rocker box. How long is normal for the lifters to pump up? I soaked them In oil for a couple days before installing. I also dipped pushrod ends in oil and forced oil into the rocker arms during assembly. Before I fired it up, I cranked it with the plugs out til the oil pressure light went out and I saw oil returning to the oil tank. I don't want to tear into it again if i don't have to but I'm afraid to run it anymore with the noise. Any suggestions?

 

It always amazes me how the same issues seem to come up at the same time. A few years ago it was spring plate failures IIRC. Seems a flurry of top end noise reports now.

The general consensus is to let it run a few minutes until the lifters pump up and oil is flowing to the rockers. Did you happen to have the cam cover off? Sometimes people use the wrong cam cover gasket for their year and an oil passage gets blocked. I did not have any issues with my 1250 build, started up quiet from the get go.

John

 

It can take a little while for it to quiet down. I just went through this and once I got through the initial heat cycling and was able to let it idle a bit the ticking quieted down. Mine was much more than a top end rebuild but I imagine the same applies. Mine took several minutes. This is where assembly lube comes into play I guess.

 

cam cover off, new gasket to match the one that came off. New cams as well. Also factory.

 

so far, I've ran it through two cycles each one about a minute to let cylinders get to 150, and 160 degrees. I noticed rear cylinder warming up faster than the front. I'm afraid to run it anymore, don't want to damaged what I just fixed.

 

I have one more train of thought, bear with me. The reason the motor came apart was a bent pushrod on the rear intake. I assumed the previous owner over revved it, since the piston just kissed the valve. Upon reassembly I used standard practice and checked the new gaskets with the old. However, if the previous owner had been in there at all and replaced the cam cover gasket he may have used the wrong one and that lead to lack of oil to the rear lifters, and that may have caused the bent pushrod. I would have then inadvertently checked the new gasket against the old wrong gasket, thinking it was correct. So now I still may be starving the rear lifters with oil?

 

That is a possibility. When you ordered the gasket I am guessing it was for your year and it matched the old one so I feel like something would have stood out. When I did mine a couple months ago I am not sure how long it took but I remember being concerned at first and shutting it down. I don't have an oil light so I was hoping for the best. I pulled both rocker covers and checked if there was oil in there before I did anything else. It looked good to me so I just let it ride. I recall it taking a lot longer than I expected and it was a noticable change when oil made it up there. I used a lot of assembly lube so that helped calm my nerves.

 

The ignition module should have a rev limiter, so that should kill ignition before damage occurs. If the rear cylinder is the one with noise, and that is the one with the bent pushrod, perhaps there is some issue in oil delivery??

John

 

I used plenty of assembly lube on the cams as well as the valve stems, I used only oil on lifters and pushrods. Maybe I'll give it a few more minutes at just above idle and see what happens before I tear it apart.

 

Good luck, we're with you!

John