95sportster
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2017
- Messages
- 4
So I recently acquired a 97 svt in pretty decent shape, mechanically speaking. That being said, after my 16 year old drove it for about a month, it started puking oil into the coolant. So my brother-in-law (who is a non-practicing ASE certified mechanic) helped me pull the oil cooler and rebuild it, then put it all back together. Start up appeared fine, but rather than me taking a couple of minutes to look up the coolant filling procedure, I just assumed he knew what he was doing. Now I'm pretty sure we just filled the radiator and the overflow tank.
So after a few minutes of idling and waiting for the thermostat to open, he revved slightly, and that's when the valvetrain noise started. It sounds like a lifter, but it's loud. It is only at idle and goes away when under load. Regardless, went ahead and drove it home (about 12 miles) and it died three times on the way. Temp and oil pressure gauges appeared normal, although the temp did get up to the /a/ in normal. Of course if there was little to no water in the motor, who knows what temp actually got up to.
So is this a permanent screw up or an easy fix? Any ideas are appreciated. It still runs fine, but sounds horrible. It will stay in the driveway until this is figured out.
So after a few minutes of idling and waiting for the thermostat to open, he revved slightly, and that's when the valvetrain noise started. It sounds like a lifter, but it's loud. It is only at idle and goes away when under load. Regardless, went ahead and drove it home (about 12 miles) and it died three times on the way. Temp and oil pressure gauges appeared normal, although the temp did get up to the /a/ in normal. Of course if there was little to no water in the motor, who knows what temp actually got up to.
So is this a permanent screw up or an easy fix? Any ideas are appreciated. It still runs fine, but sounds horrible. It will stay in the driveway until this is figured out.
