Hi, i have a 1985 subaru xt turbo, and I'm putting the motor back together.I can't get the lifters to pump up, I've put them in oil overnight. Is it really necessary, or will they pump up once i get the car running? Any help would be appreciated.

exactly - just install them and run the car they'll make disturbingly loud clatter for a few minutes then quiet down.

i've never gotten them to pump up well either off the vehicle.

I've never done anything but put them back in.  Clatter for a few until oil gets back in, etc.

Id actually recommend the opposite, take them apart and polish the contact surfaces with wd40 and 3000grit sandpaper. They are absurdly simple to rebuild, the hardest part being removing the retainer clip to get it to pop apart. Once apart, the most important part is to fully clean any oil varnish and sludge out, and clean the spot where the check ball seats. Then reassemble with any clean engine oil (i used hy-per lube, a thick additive) and the lifters should prime right up.

 

the check ball likes to stick in place from oil varnish, causing lots of lifter complications and noise. With Cleaning and polishing, i was able to have next to zero lifter noise on my last 2 fresh engine reseals.

 

There are videos of mazda lifter rebuilds on youtube for reference; they have very similar engineering.

I had wondered if there was a way to clean, inspect, etc. Why the stick, or don't lift. Hmmm..

Great, I almost just bought new ones, so this helps me out a lot. I'll let y'all know how it works out and thanks for the imput.

If they don't have oil in them, then they leaked out the oil that they came with.  So they are worn out and will continue to cause problems.  New lifter replacements for the ones that don't hold oil, is a good investment.  Only buy them from a dealer so you can take them out of the box and check them that they are hard and holding oil, before you leave the store.  Never buy lifters off of the internet, because you will likely get crappy imports from China.

if they were working fine before there's no reason to suspect they'll be problematic in the future with proper oil changes.  so no point to rebuild.  OP didn't mention any issues so I'm assumign they're normal operating good HLA's.

 

i've rebuilt them before too and they are easy but the plastic-ish cap things tend to crack - they're very brittle proably due to age/miles.

And since Mizpah sells them rebuilt so cheap - like $8 or something, it's not even worth my time anyway to rebuild one or two bad ones.  But i get that some folks would rather just in house all that and save the couple bucks/time.

Edited December 1, 201510 yr by grossgary