Hi Big Bopper --
No apologies necessary. I was pulling your leg. I am an American muscle car fan. I hold no allegiance to any particular maker. Ford, Chevy or Mopar is all good. Your buddies are lazy, but that is not indicative of any particular car owner. I was more of a Chevy guy back in the day because they are so much cheaper to get parts (trade and purchase) plus the parts work for so many different year applications. If you got the money, Mustang is a great car to build and make horsepower with.
Absolutely, it is possible that the lifter/pushrod is not oiling the rocker. The lifters are hydraulic and can wear out. The pushrod however would have to be very bent to stop the flow of oil. When you get in there, turn the engine by hand and put each exhaust valve to its most closed position (individually of course). If you have a bad lifter, it will either be locked solid or so soft that you can push it back down by hand (push the pushrod side of the rocker). If it hasn't been run in sometime, then all of them may have bleed down and be soft. You may have to run it for a couple minutes to pump them up with oil and make them hard enough to do that test. If it locked solid, you will know that without running the engine first. This is highly probable since you describe a hanging exhaust valve.
Something else to check since you are already in there would be if there is a rocker that is extremely sloppy. When the tension is off, all of them will wiggle a little bit, but if you can actually turn it side to side and touch the head with the pushrod, you may have a bent pushrod like the others mentioned. If you can actually get the pushrod out of the cup on the rocker, it more likely that the lifter is dead. I don't think that is the problem since you sound like you are hanging a valve open, not closed, but it is something to check. It is not a fun job, so you might as well check everything you can while you are in there.
Turning the engine by hand is definitely an option to see the valves work, however everything happens so slowly that you might not recognize any abnormalities. Plus you probably won't be able to turn it yourself and watch everything at the same time. If you do turn it by hand, do yourself a favor and pull the plugs to release the compression. The way I have done it in the past is purchase one of those cheap remote start switches that you can hook to solenoid and watch from the engine compartment while you let the starter do the work. Just remember to pull the coil wire off so that it doesn't start on you.
Sorry about being so wordy with these replies. I just wanted to be as specific as possible. Let me know how it goes.
Thanks,
hemlock
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