Mszetela

My mechanic says I have a "bad lifter" causing clacking and grinding noise. I brought it in after the noise began 2000 miles after a head surface/gasket replace and timing belt job. It sounded to me like the grinding was coming from under the timing cover- wanted to see if it was an issue covered by the parts and labor warranty. I'm concerned they are being dishonest.

Colin42

find a new mechanic, there are no lifters, the rocker arms on the cam contact the valves. and you might want to check the timing belt and tensioner before you drive the car if there's strange noises coming from it.

Mszetela

Yeah that's what a little cursory research is suggesting. Any advice for trying to get an unscrupulous mechanic to honor a labor/parts warranty? It also may be that I talked to the service writer and he misinterpreted something the actual mechanic said. It's a well reviewed, professional-seeming shop.

ezone

No.

Maybe his choice of words aren't exactly technically correct for your particular car, or maybe he is using terms an average (non-technical) consumer might recognize.

Cam follower or rocker arm might be a more correct term?

Could be the valve lash clearances aren't correct, maybe someone didn't get something tight, there's a lot of possibilities especially after someone just had their hands in the area. Someone needs to remove the valve cover and inspect to see what happened?