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2.2 valve adjustment, no threads?


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i can't find much valve adjustment information, and there's virtually none for 2.2's. never done a valve adjustment before but i want to check my 1997 2.2 OBS.

 

i have the endwrench procedures and it looks straight forward but it says to:

"adjust exhaust valve clearance while lifting up the vehicle". so you check all the intake valves, then lift it off the ground to check the exhaust valves?

how weird!

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Gary you can do it from the top, but your wrist will need to be able to bend at right angles while still maintaining a good grip on the gauges/ tools. IIRC, the exhaust valves at the rear of the engine are the most difficult to get at.

 

From what I've seen, the clearance is really stable on well-mainained Sube motors.

 

**** ******!

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copy that. looks easy to check so i'll give it a try as mine makes a light tap at start up. sounds exactly like the old school EA82, ER27 HLA tapping, though much lighter. valve adjust is easy, if it's piston slap then so be it!

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I never knew you could adjust valve clearance on the 2.2s. What kind of 2.2 do you have? I have an EJ22 N/A that I'm rebuilding and it has hudraulic valve lash adjusters and you never have to adjust them as they're self adjusting.

 

Good luck with the info.

 

That's what I was wondering: are the valves self-adjusting to the point where you really don't need to do an adjustment? Is that why it's only recommended every 100,000 miles?

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That's what I was wondering: are the valves self-adjusting to the point where you really don't need to do an adjustment? Is that why it's only recommended every 100,000 miles?

no - he's talking about hydraulic valve lash adjusters, completely different. they are not adjustable at all, there are no bolts or shims or any way to make up the difference in clearance (well there isn't supposed to be, you could if you really wanted to of course). they are self adjusting to an extent and utilize oil supply to do that...hence the name "hydraulic". just about all late 80's subaru's were like that, the EA82 and ER27 engines.

 

adjustable valves are completely different animal.

 

I never knew you could adjust valve clearance on the 2.2s. What kind of 2.2 do you have? I have an EJ22 N/A that I'm rebuilding and it has hudraulic valve lash adjusters and you never have to adjust them as they're self adjusting. Good luck with the info.
you can and you can't adjust the valve clearance on the 2.2. depends what year you have. 1996 and earlier 2.2's had hydraulic valve lash adjusters like yours (and like the 9 other older subaru's in on my property with EA82 and ER27 engines). 1997 and up 2.2's had adjustable valves and no hydraulic valve lash adjusters. that's why you're confused - yours is a pre-1997 2.2, we're talking about a 1997.
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"adjust exhaust valve clearance while lifting up the vehicle".

 

Now, I think that would have been difficult even in my younger days when I used to lift weights!!!

 

:brow:

 

Plus, assuming that you've got the vehicle in one hand, you only have one free hand to get at the valves...

 

:brow:

 

Matt

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....that's why you're confused - yours is a pre-1997 2.2, we're talking about a 1997.

 

Hi Gary, thanks for the clarification. Yeah, I'm usually always confused :D

 

I've recently ordered one of those CDs that supposedly contains the FSMs from '94 through '00. It should be here any day now. I'll let you know if it has any good info on your '97 2.2ltr.

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check you oil level, when the 2.2s start to leak/ burn oil, you can get some tapping in between oil changes.

 

Hi Gary, thanks for the clarification. Yeah, I'm usually always confused :D

 

I've recently ordered one of those CDs that supposedly contains the FSMs from '94 through '00. It should be here any day now. I'll let you know if it has any good info on your '97 2.2ltr.

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copy that. looks easy to check so i'll give it a try as mine makes a light tap at start up. sounds exactly like the old school EA82, ER27 HLA tapping, though much lighter. valve adjust is easy, if it's piston slap then so be it!
Iran a feeler gauge through my 2.5 at 30k miles and it was .001 over the median figure, but still well within the +/- spec. I adjusted it down by .002 figuring maybe there'd be another long-term creep of .001.

 

Iran a gauge through my 2.2 at 80k and it was .001 over as well, so I just said the hell with it and left it alone.

 

I'm guessing that once the initial wear metals get smoothed off nothing much changes after that, outside of failure.

 

**** ******!

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90-94 2.2 are all hyd lifter

95-97 2.2 are about a 70/30 chance of having to adjust valve clearance and having manual lifters. Some of these have the roller rockers (nice!). The newer the engine the more likely it is to have manual lifters though.

 

The 2.5DOHC features hyd lifters in 96 only and from there on the 2.5 has manual (shims) right thru to the SOHC in 2000/2001 but they left the valve shims behind and went back to the adjusters being part of the rocker again. Subaru does it right the first time and then messes it up from then on out until they make another change.

 

The procedure for adjusing the valves on the manual lifter 2.2 is very much the same as the old engines though. COLD engine, loosen the adjuster nut, set the lash, and tighten the nut back down while holding the adjuster with a flat tip screwdriver. Turn the engine 180 degrees between each cyl and run 1,3,2,4.

If you get frustrated with having to adjust valves you can retrofit the hyd rocker assembly onto the head. Bolt on operation.

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My 95 2.2 gets the ticking tapping noise roughly 3000 - 5000 miles after an oil change. That works o.k. though because when I change the oil the noise goes away.

Works better than the reminder sticker on the windshield when my wife used to go to Jiffy Scrube.

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Small correction:

90-96 EJ22 (2.2L) hyd lifters.

97+ manual adjusters.

 

Subaru went to manual valve adjustment in 97MY. One would assume that it had something to do with Hyd lash adjusters being more expensive to manufacture, less reliable (hypothosis only!), or heavier. They did a few stupid things in the late 90-s that they later corrected (plastic oil seporator comes to mind). My guess is that the bean counters bullied the engineers into a few bad choices. . .

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Hey Gary, the ticking only gets worse, want to have a EJ22 lifter adjusting party? :rolleyes: my ticking is really bad now... even when th eengine fully warms up, there's still a slight tick at higher rpms.... i'm just too scared to pull of the valve covers and play withing things... :rolleyes:

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According to (Mr.?) Endwrench, Subaru went back to solid valve adjusters in '97 to reduce friction loss--hydraulic lash adjusters are always in contact with the valves. Also more friction on cold start with the HLAs apparently.

 

Woody

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i can't find much valve adjustment information, and there's virtually none for 2.2's. never done a valve adjustment before but i want to check my 1997 2.2 OBS.

 

i have the endwrench procedures and it looks straight forward but it says to:

"adjust exhaust valve clearance while lifting up the vehicle". so you check all the intake valves, then lift it off the ground to check the exhaust valves?

how weird!

 

out of interest; what will this get you?

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  • 5 years later...

Thought I would bring this thread back from a FIVE year hiatus!

 

grossgary, how did this come out? do you even remember? I have a 99 2.2 and I need to adjust the valves and my manual only goes to 98. Was yours shims or was it threaded adjusters as Shawn mentioned? Anything to be aware of or anything tricky or is it pretty straight forward?

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Ok - lets clear some stuff up here:

 

1. The valve lash check/adjustment is ABSOLUTELY neccesary at 105k. Period.

 

2. In the majority of engines no adjustment will be needed. And in the majority of engines no adjustment will be needed at 210k either. Some may be a few thou off.

 

3. In the few cases where an adjustment IS needed the engine WILL NOT make it to 210k. The two that I have repaired burned exhaust valves on had 199k (97 EJ22), and 169k (98 EJ25D) respectively. Thus the check is critical if you wish to avoid this potential problem.

 

4. Anecdotal evidence.... "mine was fine at 105k and so was my neighbors!" means nothing because 95% of them are. If you are one of the 5% that needs it you will be kicking yourself for not doing the check.

 

5. It has nothing to do with maintenance. The wear occurs in a location that has no oil anyway - on the face of the valve and the valve seat. The '97 EJ22 I repaired had spectacular maintenance using only synthetic oil since new.

 

6. It is easier to check the exhaust valve lash from under the car because the exhaust valves stems and rockers are easier to access from the underside. Simple.

 

7. All Subaru engines went to solid lifters in '97. They were all hydraulic in '96. Got it?

 

GD

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Ok - lets clear some stuff up here:

 

1. The valve lash check/adjustment is ABSOLUTELY neccesary at 105k. Period.

 

2. In the majority of engines no adjustment will be needed. And in the majority of engines no adjustment will be needed at 210k either. Some may be a few thou off.

 

3. In the few cases where an adjustment IS needed the engine WILL NOT make it to 210k. The two that I have repaired burned exhaust valves on had 199k (97 EJ22), and 169k (98 EJ25D) respectively. Thus the check is critical if you wish to avoid this potential problem.

 

4. Anecdotal evidence.... "mine was fine at 105k and so was my neighbors!" means nothing because 95% of them are. If you are one of the 5% that needs it you will be kicking yourself for not doing the check.

 

5. It has nothing to do with maintenance. The wear occurs in a location that has no oil anyway - on the face of the valve and the valve seat. The '97 EJ22 I repaired had spectacular maintenance using only synthetic oil since new.

 

6. It is easier to check the exhaust valve lash from under the car because the exhaust valves stems and rockers are easier to access from the underside. Simple.

 

7. All Subaru engines went to solid lifters in '97. They were all hydraulic in '96. Got it?

 

GD

 

so what you're saying is...

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Ok - lets clear some stuff up here:

.... Got it?

 

GD

Well I don't think anybody was doubting the need to do a valve adjustment and the solid lifter question was answered over five years ago. I kind of brought the thread back from hibernation! :-)

 

But the question I still have is the valve adjustment on a 99 2.2 going to be shims or screw type adjusters? It sounds like you know your way around a Subaru engine so any help you could give me I would appreciate.

 

Thanks,

Greg

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grossgary, how did this come out?
it's really easy on the screw type adjustable valves, not much to it, just remove the valve cover and turn two nuts per valve to get it where the gauge tells you. so far - all of them that i've done had some that were too tight to fit even my thinnest gauge between (which is bad - see GD's burnt exhaust valve comments and threads here on USMB about it).

 

i haven't had the opportunity yet to dive into the DOHC shim style adjustments yet.

 

Yes - and I would like an answer to this question as well.
"what will this get you".....i'm not sure what that means?
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