my dads 1991 subaru legacy has a lifter tick, we were wondering if there is an easy way of fixing this problem of if we will have to get more in depth, i believe the engine is an ej22 not to sure though

You might try adding some MMO (Marvel Mystery Oil) in your crankcase for a few hundred miles--or until the tick goes away. Then drain and fill with fresh motor oil. It did the trick in my son's '92 Legacy.

 

Good luck.

A can of Seafoam may help this problem. Suggest you change the oil within a few days of using the product, as it can be hard on engine seals if left in the engine for a lengthy period of time.

if it's due to the lifters then oil change is first. then i'd go with running sea foam, MMO, or ATF in with the oil. i'd try that for awhile and see what happens.

 

when you're due for your next timing belt i'd be resealing the oil pump and tigthening the backing plate screws. or you can do that now if the ticking is that bad.

 

HLA's ticking is usually benign so nothing to worry about except your nerves.

Use a mechanic's stethiscope to pinpont the problem. They almost always help in finding the real source of a noise. It may not be what you think it is.

I believe the cam followers on the legacy are of the hydraulic type for that year. I had a loyale with very noisy valves and it was due to pressure that is not sufficient to pump it up. The loyale had a oil pressure gauge so I could see that the pressure was low. I was told that it would not hurt the engine but the noise was so loud I would get a headache. Long story short I replaced the oil pump and the timing belt because I was already in there and the noise went away.

The HLA's in the early legacy get clogged with nasty, cruddy oil. However, they are easy to service.

 

Remove the valve covers. Then, remove the 6 bolts that hold the rocker arms to the head.

 

*note* do not remove the bolts that are set in at a slant, they are the retainers for the rockers on the pivot. You just want the 6 cap bolts that hold the whole assembly on.

 

With the assmebly removed, one at a time, use pliers to pull the HLA's from teh tip of each rocker. ONE AT A TIME.

 

Take the HLA, and submerge it in a small pan of new, clean motor oil. Place it *tip down* int he pan, and press the ball in the bottom of it with a small pin, while compressing the whole thing down. You'll get a squirt of dirty oil and the HLA will compress, and refill with clean oil.

 

Repeat, until you can compress the HLA fully and it springs back when released. It can take a bit for each one, but once it's compressing right and fully priming (no compression without the pin) then reinstall it and pull the next one.

 

Time consuming, but really pretty easy.

 

And when you are done, you will have very quite valves, and a better running engine.