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Here is what an oil company says:

Since automatic transmission fluids contain detergents and help fight sludge, some enthusiasts add a small amount to their motor oil prior to changing oil as a way to clean accumulated deposits and dissolve sludge. ATF, however, is not formulated for use in automotive engines and shouldn't be used to replace a traditional engine-flush or cleaning product for several reasons.

First, the detergency, or cleaning power, of ATF is much less than motor oil. ATF isn't exposed to the same levels of combustion byproducts or contaminants as motor oil, so they are designed with much less detergency. In most cases, adding ATF to motor oil reduces cleaning power. Instead, ATFs have elevated levels of friction modifiers and other additives that help protect gears and clutches.

Second, ATF can disrupt the engine oil formulation and reduce its effectiveness. A good motor oil is a fine balance of base oils and additives designed to work together to fight wear, reduce friction, prevent deposits and slowly dissolve accumulated sludge in older engines. The cleaning power of motor oil is designed to work gradually over subsequent oil changes and not necessarily all at once. Adding a foreign substance to the oil disrupts oil chemistry and possibly negatively affects wear protection, oil life or more.

Finally, ATF can alter the viscosity of the oil, reducing wear protection.

If you want more immediate sludge removal and cleaning power, use AMSOIL Engine & Transmission Flush. Although not a requirement prior to switching to AMSOIL synthetic motor oil, Engine & Transmission Flush is recommended to prepare engines with accumulated deposits or an unknown maintenance history for AMSOIL synthetic motor oil.

I fully agree Tim, I'd never put ATF in a crankcase. If I were inclined to use a snake oil for a noisy lifter, I'd use one of the ones specifically designed for that purpose.

Well, a couple people suggested it so I thought I'd try it - if it doesn't work then I'll just replace the lifters. NBD.

So as I prepare & gather parts to replace the lifters I would very much welcome suggestions, tips...heck instructions from people who have done this before. I'm eager to learn to do more and more on my car on my own. So far anything I've found online really doesn't pertain to such an old engine.

Trevor,
I have done this a couple times recently. The short answer is that it is not hard, but cleanliness is next to godliness.

0. Read the service manual. It has a lot of good pictures for awareness of some of these steps and what things are going to look like
1. Pull carb (have a new carb to manifold gasket handy)
2. Remove intake manifold (ditto on new gaskets)
3. Remove valve covers and rocker arm mounting bolts (no need to remove the heads)
4. Remove lifter valley cover (my existing gasket ripped when I removed; so have new one ready)
5. Look at rocker arm tip to push rod interface. I had one where the rocker arm tip was very recessed possibly causing some interference as it rocked. It was due to the factory original arm not being properly ground so the recess was deeper than the rest. crazy.
6. With rocker arms removed, or pulled out enough to release pressure on the pushrods, you can push the pushrod up and out through the hole in the head.
7. While the pushrod is out, might as well roll on a flat surface to see if they are bent and need replacing.
8. Lifters come out by hand by pushing up from the cam interface, may need to use a wire with a hook on the end if you cant get them out easily.

(Note: good chance to look around, see if any pushrods are bent, etc) - Easiest to keep pushrods in the same position if you remove them as they are worn in to lifter. But if you are replacing lifters, it doesnt matter.

9. Carefully clean the lifter bore; It needs to be clean so the lifter will rotate. But this is also an opportunity to drop stuff down onto the cam lobes and below. So protect the cam. I covered the cam in a lint-free towel, then used a rag with brake cleaner on it to clean the bore with my finger, then wrapped a rag around a plastic bore brush and repeated. (this is a lot easier to do if the cam is out and you are replacing all the lifters, but maybe you don't want to go that far.
10. Lintless rags are important. Do NOT use paper towels or anything that can leave lint, etc in your engine.
11. Apply a little cam lube to base of new lifter as well as the top bore where the pushrod seats
12. Apply a little oil to the sides of the lifter bore and the sides of the lifter itself
-No need to pre-soak lifter in oil or anything like that you may see online.
13. Reassemble.There is no valve lash adjustment on these engines. The hydraulic lifters take care of all of that.
14. Use a Cam break in procedure which is essentially running at higher RPM right away to get enough oil moving around for a nice break in. I went between 2500 and 3000 for about 20 minutes.

Don't worry too much about it. I didnt know how to do this either and the great folks on this site helped me through it. Posting specific questions to the main 55-56 forum usually gets faster responses than in the project blogs. I think because not everyone reads the project blogs.

Good luck

-Bob

Bob, thank you so much! And I didn't think about posting to the 55-56 forum first, good point.

Can't believe I haven't worked on or started my Packard since August, but a brief update.

I have all the parts now, but now a little something extra...a son. My husband and I are fostering-to-adopt a 15 year old young man. One of the reasons for my delay on work is that he's extremely eager to be a part of the repairs, which is like music to my ears. But! School first.

So hopefully not much longer of a delay, maybe just one more week, then we'll have my Patrician up and running again...just in time for winter lol

Quote:

Time and life (or lack thereof) does seem to get in the way of having fun sometimes but at least your project has only sat 4 months. I expect mine will be closer to 4 years the way it is going and the blame is entirely lack of mood. At least you have fresh blood in the form of a young and eager assistant to provide some incentive. Congratulations on both and if it turns into 5 or 6 months then at least by then you should have better driving weather to test it out. Who knows, you might even become a driving instructor at the same time.

Congratulations on both! It never occurred to me to get an assistant that way. Just kidding but still great that you all found each other.

Well...The Kid and I got to work this weekend...the last picture is my face after we finished one cylinder bank and were about to start the other when we realize that the vendor accidentally shorted us 3 push-rods. No matter, there it sits for the next few days until the other 3 rods arrive.

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