Hydraulic tappet/lifter stuck? 318 5th Ave.

[Bruce85FifthAve]

Situation: Obtained car (1985 Chrysler 5th Ave. 318 motor) last February after it had sat in an estate for 4 years. It has sat in my drive way the last 6 months waiting on clearing the Title from the estate. I have been starting it up about once a week since February. Now that the paper work is squared away, I hear a tapping noise that I think is a collapsed lifter/tappet (it seems to be coming from the drivers side of the motor). One of my old motor manuals mentions a Chrysler magnetic tool that can be used to pull out the tappet witout removing the head.
Have any of you done this? Where can I get such a tool? Are there any gimmicks or additives I should try first?
I have pulled and replaced engines on cars, but I have not done any internal engine work, so any advice from your experience would be very helpful!
Thanks in advance,
Bruce

 

[MiradaMegacab]

Sometimes a simple telescopic magnetic extension tool will remove the lifter.
Sometimes the lifter gets stuck in the bore.
AutoZone has free tool rental, and they have a lifter remomal tool.

 

[bremereric]

First try draining your oil and then running straight 30 weight oil to try to pump it back up. You can also try a quart of tranny fluid in the oil. It acts as a solvent and might loosen up the lifter.

 

[Bruce85FifthAve]

Thanks MiradaMegacab and Bremereric,
Unfortunately my local Auto Zone doesn't seem to be one of the franchise's better stores; they haven't been able to help with tools in the past. I will change the oil and maybe add some transfluid or other additive. I don't know the viscosity of the oil that is in it; the dip stick shows it is very clean but it does feel very light to the touch.
Thanks again; any other ideas, advise or insight?
Bruce

 

[Mroldart2u]

None other than what has been given. If it still continues to be noisy then its time to figure out which lifter is the culprit. Maybe you can get lucky and figure the noisy one out and just replace it, but with that comes the chance of flattening that lobe on the cam. Hopefully you can get it to pump back up and settle down.

 

[bremereric]

Autozone pretty much sucks the big one. Always run a quality oil filter such as a Wix or a K&N.

 

[Bruce85FifthAve]

Update: Last Saturday a.m. I drained about a quart of oil out and then put in a quart of transmission fluid, as Bremereric suggested, started the car and within 5 minutes the noise went away!! I let it idle approximately 20 minutes to get it up to operating temperature and then did an oil change to 20w-50 oil. I have now started it about 5 times since the oil change and no noise.
Thanks for the suggestions - you guys nailed it!!

Bruce

 

[Mroldart2u]

GREAT!!! Now for the smokey burn out video....ccasion14: