Excessive tappet noise

BillycanMitch · Post by **BillycanMitch** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:38 pm

gday guys,
I am experiencing some excessive tappet noise from my 1989 L series. It is intermittent. it will occur when the engine is at any temp, under heavy load or idling. but there seams to be no hard and fast rule as to when it will make heaps of noise... sometimes it will purr along and others it will tap heaps.
my understanding of the situation is (please bare in mind that engines are not my strong point) the lifters are leaving the cam shaft at some point during the rotation and than make a tapping sound when they make contact again. but don't these cars have self adjusting lifters??? please let me know if i have it wrong.

My questions are; does it have the potential to cause serious problems? and, is there anything i can do about it?

Cheers!
Michael

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:17 pm

Yeah your EA82 has hydraulic lash adjusters to keep constant contact between the camshaft and the rockers. The problem is that over time, the oil galleries clog up and reduce oil pressure or the oil pump seals leak and air bubbles get into the oil. These things cause the HLA's to not pump up properly and click intermittently

There is no real damage they can cause (some people have driven for thousands of Kms with them clicking).

Some people have success running thicker oil, others running thinner oil.

Somebody else can chime in and take it from here.

Post by **TOONGA** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:43 pm

if you have the money upgrade to an ej motor there are a billion threads here to do with the conversion

search.php?searchid=390153

if you want to keep your car in a similar state downgrade? to an ea81 motor

showthread.php?t=14608&highlight=ea81+series

as Brenton did that way if your lifters get noisy you can adjust them yourself

otherwise just let your motor tick

TOONGA

d_generate · Post by **d_generate** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 1:11 pm

Some will poo poo this but it works!!. Dump the oil out of your motor, replace it with 4L of diesel and let it run for about 10-15 min from cold, do not rev hard just a couple of light runs up to 1,500 rpm then dump the diesel and replace it with a good oil. The soap etc in the diesel gets into everything and cleans it out, worked a treat for my WRX offroader which was ticking like a bomb when I first got it and the amount of black crap that came out was amazing.

lunatech · Post by **lunatech** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 2:49 pm

No poo! This really works. I've done it to nearly every vehicle I've owned, subie or otherwise.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 3:33 pm

That really works?! Crazy.

The lifter tick is really a hit and miss problem as you've noted. With the last EA that was in my subi I had very little lifter tick until it knew I was picking up an EJ to replace it. I kid you not! It hammered away for two weeks then went quiet again without any problem...

If you do go the EJ route its well worth the effort, it'll transform your L into a very practical machine that's a real pleasure to drive

Try the diesel and see how it goes, that might be the trick you're after

Cheers

Bennie

ScubyRoo · Post by **ScubyRoo** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 8:06 pm

The only damage it causes is to your ego!

After two months and trying everything but the diesel oil idea, I ended up visiting the pick a part wrecker and grabed another set of rockers (these include the lash adjusters) and bled the adjusters as according to my workshop manual. Installed the new, bled rockers, oil and filter, and haypresto, purring like boxer puddy cat for less than $50.

BillycanMitch · Post by **BillycanMitch** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 10:26 pm

thanks for the responses guys.
il try the trick with the diesel and get back to you.

Cheers!
Michael

Mr Top Hat · Post by **Mr Top Hat** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 12:45 am

d_generate wrote:Some will poo poo this but it works!!. Dump the oil out of your motor, replace it with 4L of diesel and let it run for about 10-15 min from cold, do not rev hard just a couple of light runs up to 1,500 rpm then dump the diesel and replace it with a good oil. The soap etc in the diesel gets into everything and cleans it out, worked a treat for my WRX offroader which was ticking like a bomb when I first got it and the amount of black crap that came out was amazing.

sorry is that diesel fuel or diesel oil?

lunatech · Post by **lunatech** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 1:19 am

I've always used diesel fuel. As previously stated though, just 10-15 min and keep the rpms down.

Post by **TOONGA** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:37 am

while in theory it is a sound way of cleaning your engine out

filling you engine with diesel fuel could result in catastophic failure epsecially in cases where the engine is old and burns oil

why?

1. it is combustable if your oil scraper isn't up to the task the diesel will get past the rings and could ignite inside your engine (highly unlikely but I have seen a red motor full of kero on fire funny but expensive in the end)

2. the viscocity of the diesel is very thin/fine and while it does lubricate the engine it is not designed/meant to lubricate under high pressure and could cause big end failure

3. the diesel could stay in engine parts where it is not meant to be eg lifters, oil pump, rocker galleries any where it can pool leading to contaminated oil and damage to engine parts

TOONGA

Lucky67 · Post by **Lucky67** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 12:09 pm

I have hard of using diesel engine oil as a way of cleaning out the oil galleries and thus solving the rattly tappet issue.
The extra detergents in diesel engine oil are meant to act as a cleaner.
However, I have also heard that these same detergents also clean off all that lovely carbon deposits that, over many years has built up and closed up all those tolerances that have worn down a bit between sliding surfaces and bearing faces etc
So the end result would be a non-rattly tappet, but engine rattles all over the place.
I have an EJ22 Liberty with 170K km with a rattly tappet and have tried the diesel engine oil trick with no luck, and drained it back out when I learnt of the risks of causing all those other engines rattles.
So will shortly dive into some mechanical repairations

trezize · Post by **trezize** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 6:05 pm

My 93 EA82 has also just started making excessive lifter/tappet noise. It was only very intermittent until I did a very recent oil change.. I'm hoping that the frequency of the noise will diminish as the new oil ages?? What are the chances?? Anyone report recent success of the diesel trick??

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 1:38 pm

Suparoo wrote:Yeah your EA82 has hydraulic lash adjusters to keep constant contact between the camshaft and the rockers. The problem is that over time, the oil galleries clog up and reduce oil pressure or the oil pump seals leak and air bubbles get into the oil. These things cause the HLA's to not pump up properly and click intermittently

This is one of the main causes and whilst using the diesel (fuel) trick in the engine will do great wonders to the cleaning, it may not stop the ticking on EA82s. I find that doing the engine flush trick first then dump all the diesel fuel and replace with a good quality oil (not too thick, so 15w40 is good). Then take out the oil pump and replace any worn parts and all the seals. Subaru sell the overhaul kit for the pump. Also remember to use a quality oil filter as well. Make sure you use a large spot of very sticky lube in the pump to ensure the oil is picked up from the sump when you first start the engine again. Also make sure you watch the oil light go out within the first 30 seconds, if not recheck what you've done.

amk · Post by **amk** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 2:38 am

I got another cylinder head and worked well for me and mostly subs tick on the left side dnt really know why...