wwb

Pushrod motor or overhead cam motor ?

I had a '97 with the pushrod V-6... never a problem in 160,000 miles... gave it to my daughter, and she's still driving it. It's past 170,000 now, still no problems.

It had hydraulic lifters, but if I recall (from the manual.... never needed to open it up) correctly, there was a bleed hole that limited how far the tappets could extend. If the bleed hole was plugged, that would cause them to pump up too far.... but happening to all 12 of them at the same time?????

Any crazy stuff like "cleaning it out" by running diesel fuel in the crankcase done recently?

Strange......