Ropre

Congrats on the car! I just bought a 87 GL and the valve covers were leaking but not as bad as yours. My car has 112k on it and the gaskets were real hard and dry. I wanted to try synthetic oil to help with a lifter clatter I was periodically getting. Anyways I replaced the gaskets, and No you don't have to pull the timing belt covers. The rear lower bolt on the drivers side is a little hard to get to but still doable. After completing the job my leaks are gone! I hope you have similar success.

Probably not oil gallies but rather the lifters them selves. They clog easier due to there small internal orifices.

Dido on the "no rtv" that stuff can kill engines if not used cautiously. Sorry to hear that the tick is back for you. If it is an RTV blob clogging a lifter it might mean removal to get it to go away. Is it just one or multiple bays making the noise? I should know this weekend what the "true" oil pressure is when I have near "zero" reading on the stock gauge while temp and idle.

Thanks all. I drove for 50 or so miles and the seafoam in the oil must have fixed it. I still don't understand why it started so suddenly and loud but at least its gone now. And the sudden onset is primarily why I posted a new thread on this already exhausted issue. I appreciate Gary reassuring my thoughts that if its just on one side its probably not the oil pump. Now I need to install the mechanical oil pressure gauge to see what I really have. Thanks!!!

Thanks grossgary. This is the same thing I speculated. I added some seafoam today and it seemed to all but go away this morning but came back as the oil warmed up. I suspect it just began on one side but will shortly move to the other side. I believe my oil pump might have sucked in its "now pacman like" seal. If I listen to this and it is true, should I get all the pump seals from the dealer? Thanks.

I have a new to my '87 gl wagon carded ea82 with 4wd and 5 speed tranny. It has 112k on the clock and has run silky quite since I got it. I was driving home tonight and slowed and let the rpm's drop to turn left and when I accelerated I heard a pronounced ticking from the engine compartment. I checked it and it is coming from the right head/valve cover area and is consistent with rpm and does not go away under load or at any rpm. I have read many posts on the "death tick" but still have a few questions specific to my case. I have noticed low (factory) gauge oil pressure at hot idle, like almost zero. But when starting cold its over 50 at speed and 30 at idle as the temps increase the oil pressure drops across the board. I had planned on putting a mechanical pressure gauge in this weekend to verify the pressures. I was wondering is it out of the ordinary for the noise to SUDDENLY start out of the blue with no prior warning? Does this point towards a bad oil pump or a stuck lifter? Any help would assist me in going forward with the right repair. I had planned to do timming belts soon as well as all the seals and the water pump. Should I replace the pump or just re-seal. The right valve cover leaks oil so I will replace it also. Is there anything to inspect under the cover to assist in diagnosing the root cause of the sudden lack of quietness? Thanks.

Does any one have the NAPA part number for the cone washer and "belleville" /flat washer for the front and rear of a 4wd non turbo ea82? My local Napa is not finding the parts. Thanks

Thanks for all the advice. I read another thread yesterday I had originally missed that described my problem to the key on the wipers. This owner had a bad wiper control module. But as cougar said I will check the voltage to the park contacts. Are both the "leaf" contacts for the park mode? Do they both get + battery voltage to them? In regards to my heater floor control: All my other modes work fine, I can switch to Defrost and the AC comes on as it should. The AC works and directs air to just the dash vents, and Bi-level and off work. Its just when I switch it to Heat it doesn't redirect the air all the way to the floor. I will say while paying attention to it I have only tried to go from the bi-level to the floor and it did not change the air distribution between dash vents and floor ones. thanks again!

Hi all, I just bought a '87 4wd gl wagon with 112k on it. I quickly found the rear passenger side spindle nut was loose so I tightened it up to approx 160-170 ft-lbs (higher to get cotter pin to line up) and it seems to be holding tight. Although I think I may pull the washer back off and make sure the flat washer is on the right way. But the cone washer does not look as good as the others because its slightly peened/galled probably from old owner driving on it a bit loose. But I will say the splines look great in the hub and shaft so it must not have been loose too long. Can I buy a new cone washer and flat washer and install them on an old hub? I replaced the pass side ball joint and re-greased and replaced boots on the cv shaft. But I have a wiper problem. When cold the wipers don't work at all. once the day warms up the wipers all of the sudden start working, sort of. They work on lo and hi but nothing happens in the intermittent setting. Also if they are on lo or hi and you turn them off they stop were they lye instead of returning to "home" or "parking" as some have called it on this forum. After reading the posts and responses I quickly took off the cover for the motor gear box and inspected cleaned and re-greased the gear and the contacts. Nothing seemed bent or tweaked and the contacts didn't look all that corroded, the grease was pretty stiff though. After cleaning up I re-assembly I tested them and the results were the same. I read on here that the intermittent and "park" are two separate control systems, so before I start stabbing wires with a multimeter or replacing components I though I would try asking you guys. Any ideas? Last is a heater control issue when I try to switch the heater from bi-level to heat it doesn't redirect air to just the floor vents. I have not messed with these "vacuum" solenoids before and wondered is this problem is more likely a vacuum supply problem a faulty solenoid, a stuck door or an electrical problem in the heater control switch? One last general question. Are these EA82 engines really that prone to lots of oil leaks or do they just have a bad rap. Thanks. Sorry for the problem dump.