Replacing Lifters/Lash Adjusters

[Fatz]

I have searched many websites about this..

Can someone please put up a detailed(with pics) walk-thru of how to replace lash adjusters on a EA82(T).. i pulled of my rocker covers, but know i dont have the faintest of what to do to get to them. My engine is in the car atm.. Can u replace them whilst the engine is in the car?? I know it would be preffered and alot easier to do it with it out.. but atm i dont really have that option...

This damn ticking is driving me mad..

All i really need is some

sense of direction where to go..and what to undo... Space is obvioulsy pretty tight, but not too big a deal..

So can sum1 please tell me and show me (thru pics) how to do this.

Will be GREATLY appreciated..

Thankyou

Adam

[Fatz]

Sorry for the early reply.

But anyone?

[wesley willis]

you might not need to replace the adjusters. lack of oil pressure could cause the HLA's to stop working properly.

 

do a search on them, there is a wealth of info on the subject.

[kayakertom]

If your oil pressure is good, you might try using "Seafoam" added to your oil.

 

If you do access the lifters, it is fairly easy to pop off the retaining cap and clean out the innards and put them back together. I have just finished rebuilding and installing an engine and I did replace some of the lifters with spares that I have. When my motor started, it was fairly noisy, but within 3 minutes of adding Seafoam, it quieted down.

[Gravityman]

I hope this helps you out.

 

 

It is usually a pain in the arse to pull the HLA's out of their hole but it can be done. I used a strapwrench that i wrapped around the HLA and then clamped a locking plier on to it and yanked them out. There is a small piece of metal from the head that is pressed in to the side of the HLA that keeps them held in tightly. Dont worry about this just yank them out and try not to damage the sides of the HLA, if you do go buy a new one. Oh and make sure you clean the oil off the sides, if you dont you will be there all day trying to pull them out and slipping off.

 

Once you get them out pump them with your fingers they should be hard to pump, if not then grab a quart of oil (I'd use synthetic) dump it in an old bowl. Next your going to submerge the HLA's in the oil and pump them until they wont pump anymore this fills them with oil. They should be very hard and should not compress at all. If all of your HLA fill with oil and do not compress then they are GOOD if not then you will need to buy new ones and will have to repeat this process.

 

Install them into the motor and reassemble every thing.

 

If you find a couple that will not compress and not hold oil then this is the cause of your ticking and hopefully this will (should) fix your problem. I found about 2 or 3 in my ER27 that would not hold full pressure but i will be replacing all of them so everything is brand new. It might like stated before mean the you are running low on oil. Use synthetic!

 

You can buy 4 for about $38 from http://www.rockauto.com/. This sight is awsome for finding parts and shipping is very fast!

 

Sorry about the translation it was in Jap, i think. This might help explain the HLA.

* Operation

The camshaft turning, when the cam pushes the rocker * arm, the load bets on the both of the plunger of the valve and the rush * adjuster, but as for the plunger the room of plunger lower part in the figure on the left above (

Because of that, the rocker * arm pushes down the valve with the top of the plunger as a fulcrum.

The camshaft furthermore turning, when the cam passes apex, the rocker * arm starts rising, but pressure putting to on the plunger because spring tension of the valve & the spring still catches, as for oil pressure of the A room there is a state where it is maintained.

The camshaft furthermore turning, when the cam finishes operating, because spring tension of the valve & the spring does not catch,

When it tries, this time, clearance will occur between the valve and the rocker * arm, the plunger pushing up the rocker * arm with the plunger * spring of the rush * adjuster, in order to lose clearance,

Because this time, capacity of the A room becomes large with simultaneous advance, the engine * oil passing by the oil hole A of the body and the oil hole B, being able to push open the check * ball, (because oil pressure of the A room has gone down, as for the check * ball having become easy to open,

[idosubaru]

have you already resealed the oil pump? that would be the first step. there's a seal (behind the oil pump sprocket), a gasket (between pump and engine) and an o-ring (behind the oil pump body). resealing the oil pump solves it most of the time.

 

if you are sure you need to address the HLA's, this is a much bigger job than replacing the oil pump, but it is fairly straight forward and isn't that hard. it can be done in a couple hours depending how you plan on addressing the HLA's. (disassembling and cleaning them takes a long time).

 

you have to remove the timing belts and the entire cam carrier assembly. with the valve covers off you'll see a number of 12 mm bolts inside the valve cover and a few outside (top and bottom) as well. all of these hold the cam carrier (the entire assembly that holds the cam in place) to the head. it's just a matter of unbolting all those bolts, removign the entire cam housing with the cam still in it. once those 12mm bolts are off, the entire cam housing pulls off the head (with the cam still in it) and there is your valve trains, HLA's, valves and rocker arms.

 

once you pull the cam housing - run a straight edge (a ruler) along the tops of the HLA's, any that are at "different" heights from the rest means that one is seized and liking causing your issues. it'll be obvious..it's nicer with the XT6 because being a 6 cylinder there are more HLA's so it's easier to have a base line of good ones. two bad ones will stick out against 4 good ones. with the 4 cylinder if you have two bad ones...it might be hard to tell which are bad and which are good just by looking. if it's just one it'll be obvious it's at a different height than the other 3, so that's the bad one.

 

you'll need to decide ahead of time whether you want to disassemble them and clean them or have new ones ready to install. i'd suggest having new ones ready to install as the disassembly is time consuming. if you do disassmble them, plan on some down time for soaking and replacing a bad one or one that won't come apart. best to have a couple spares in case. mitzpah engineering sells completely rebuilt HLA's for like 5 bucks each, well worth it in my oppinion. drop them in and you're done. once you have them out i'd have some good parts cleaner to soak them in over night or take them to a shop that might be able to heat and soak them for you.

 

here are the tricks youll need to do this easily:

partially unbolt the cam carrier at first (all those 12mm bolts i mentioned), just loosen the bolts enough that the cam carrier will only come 1/4" from the head. then tap it loose with a mallet. this will allow you to use a mallet to break the seal without knocking the entire cam assembly on the floor (seen that happen). and....it will also prevent the rocker arms from falling out. once the cam carrier is loose, loosen the bolts far enough that the cam carrier has enough clearance for you to reach in there and pull the rocker arms out one at a time. i generally loosen one side more than the other that way i can get the rocker arms from one end, then the other and don't risk them falling out on me while i'm pulling them out. you want to install the rocker arms in the same place they were, if they fall out on you there's no way to keep track. pull them one at a time and mark the location of each so you can install each one where it way.

 

the second trick is during reinstalling the rocker arms. they'll want to fall off the HLA, they won't stay in place to install the cam carrier. use high quality grease (like wheel bearing grease, thick stuff) smeared all over the head of the HLA and the rocker arm. this will hold it in place as you install the cam.

 

on the cam carrier housing get a new o-ring at the base (bottom corner) of the o-ring. this is a subaru only part, although it can also be bought at http://www.thepartsbin.com, that's the only aftermarket parts place i've seen that carries this o-ring. definitely replace this oring. you'll need anaerobic sealant for the cam case seal, it's a squeeze on gasket maker. some people use ultra-grey and other RTV sealants. anaerobic is better in my oppinion as it's what subaru says to use and it is made to not coagulate and clog oil passages. (there's a picture on the Yahoo! XT6 groups of a piece of clotted RTV that clogged a guys oil passage from this).

 

this job is WAY to easy to even think about pulling the engine. you can have the passengers side cam off in an hour easily. i could have both sides off in an hour no problem.

 

all of this being said...the one, and really only, very tricky part to this job is if any of the HLA's are stuck in their bore and you want to remove them. i've had a heck of a time removing them many times. i'd probably suggest running some sort of detergent in your oil for awhile before openign up the motor in the hopes it'll help free any that don't want to come out. i'd use ATF or seafoam would do well too.

[Fatz]

WoW.

That is exactly what i wanted to know guys...

Thankyou very Very much grossgary and gravityman for your time and knowledge... i will replace the oil pump seal first. then tell you if that fixed it.. If not. i can say after you guys input. i am 80% more confident in being able to do this.. Which makes my confidence boost all the way up to....80%.:-\

Thanx again guys.. Means alot..

Adam

[Gravityman]

No prob bud!

[79er]

This might be a little off track, but is the procedure outlined by grossgary essentially the same to replace the passenger side cam seal on the 2.2 engine? Or any shortcuts/modifications to the procedure--my lifters are OK, but short of pulling the cam, I don't see a foolproof means to remove the seal--I assume cam removal is the main purpose Subaru placed the rear cam cover/o-ring assembly on the block as well, or was there some other purpose?

 

Woody

[idosubaru]

2.2 cam seal replacement is much easier, does not require removing the entire cam. check out the new generation forum for 2.2 liter stuff. remove timing belts and cam sprocket to get to the front cam seals. easiest way to remove the cam sprocekt bolt is to remove the valve cover just to allow access to put a wrench on the cam to keep it from turning when loosening the bolt, but is not necessary (it's not the only way).