are these rocker arms? pic attached

Yes and there is supposed to be some movement also. If they are really loose you have a flat cam

How do I know if I have a flat cam? And are those difficult to replace? I was hoping I could just replace the rockers

Well I guess the first thing we have to talk about is why you are checking them out in the first place? Which motor is it? The rockers are not adjustable, they torque down and that's it....so if they have excessive wobble the only thing it can be is a cam or lifters.

If its a cam, I would suggest a total rebuild since all the metal worn off the camshaft has went through your entire engine. How many miles are on it?

Well he's got 8 rockers so 2.5l I would guess.

Only about 10, 000 miles the reason I'm checking is I have a constant "tapping" noise coming from the top front kf the valve cover snd the front of my oil pan is wheere you can hear it clearly on the scope

Something you might look into but it will require removing the timing cover is to make sure the round washer looking thing (oil slinger is what I think they call it) was installed correctly. I believe that if it is put on backwards that it could interfere with your timing chain.

Who broke in the motor? Did you break in the cam?

You might also take the belt off and see if goes away, water pump bearing might be going out.

Ibuildembig said:

Well I guess the first thing we have to talk about is why you are checking them out in the first place? Which motor is it? The rockers are not adjustable, they torque down and that's it....so if they have excessive wobble the only thing it can be is a cam or lifters.

If its a cam, I would suggest a total rebuild since all the metal worn off the camshaft has went through your entire engine. How many miles are on it?

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x2, time for a rebuild or engine conversion

The 2.5 with fresh overhaul and all new valve train components will rattle a little nothing hard when it is running at idle and the valve cover is on. If it is loud something is wrong.

There's no way the Cam has a flat spot with only 10,000 miles on it. Unless someone broke in engine in completely wrong. If there is a single flat spot on any of the components, it's will make a tapping noise.

So it could be rockers, pivots, the rods, lifters, or the bridges. I had a bridge that was bent just a hair off and it made a ticking. The rockers should have a little "side-to-side" wiggle with them, but if its a constant sound it's something else. Lifter tick goes away at certain RPMs and when the engine warms up usually.

I think its loud but that could also be because of my exhaust, someone mentioned piston slap?

If your engine only has 10k on it, I seriously doubt it's piston slap. Maybe get on YouTube and search for wrangler lifter tick, wrangler knocking, etc and see if you can make any sense if the noise that way. Does the noise go away at certain rpms? It could be something as bad as a bad cam lobe or bottom end bearing, or something as simple as an exhaust leak.

That's what I fjgured with the cam, it doesnt seem to be a serious problem as I'm notooking fluid or power I just know it shouldent be there, in that case the rockers are fine as theres only a small wiggle, the rods seem fine theres no wear on the walls my guess is lifters or springs? Did an oil change jyst now jt got a little quiter after I sprayed down the springs and lifters and valves but its still there

I dont seem to hear it when I'm throttleing

I think you need someone there who know what they are listening to.

It seems to smooth out when I throttle ever since I took off the valve cover and sprayed down the lifters, springs, rods and valves it only makes the ticking now when it idles but it seems a lot quieter

Maybe an exhaust leak? does it seem to get quieter when the engine gets to full operating temp

There is no adjustment on the rocker arms they are put in position and torqued. So that fact that you found some loose and some tight is by their position in the running cycle of the valves when the engine stopped. The mild noise is acceptable by design. So keep up the oil changes using a quality oil by spec for your driving and temps. Should be good for a long time.

cautiocones said:

It seems to smooth out when I throttle ever since I took off the valve cover and sprayed down the lifters, springs, rods and valves it only makes the ticking now when it idles but it seems a lot quieter

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Dont take this the wrong way, but I kinda think you need to stop messing with it and find someone who knows what they're doing. Going into this blindly without knowing what you're doing can make things much worse. Several people have given suggestions and asked questions, none of which have been answered. When you say you sprayed down lifters, springs and rods what do you mean? Take a video and post it up on here, that way we might be able to give some direction.