OK, this is going to make me insane. For the second time I thought I had the noisy lifter problem beat and it has come back! I cannot for the life of me undertstand how it can go away for days and then come back as just as bad if not worse. Quick Summary:

 

86 GL Wagon 200k km 5 speed dr 4x4

Looked at car prior to buying it two weeks ago. Lifters were noisy but cam cover bolt was missing so I figured that would fix it. Car is generally in good shape and seems well maintained. Replaced bolt and it was great for two days around town. Drive 300km on the highway and the noise is back. Looks like the oil got inadvertantly overfilled, consensus is that oil pump seals need changing.

Change oil pump seals, sure enough the old ones were flat and hard and noise is gone, again for two days around town. Drove car 300km today and it's back. Arrrrgghhh.

 

Oil is fresh W10-30 High Mileage Castrol. Oil pressure looks good to me. 3 kg/cm3 - 5 kg/cm3. Oil pump seals are new. Engine seems to run fine although down on power compared to when lifters are quiet.

 

My next step will be to replace the pressure relief springs and o-rings in the cam holders, but I'm a bit baffled. This would make sense if the previous attempts had not worked, but they did...for a while. Does this sound reasonable, or am I missing something?

 

Roger

Frustrated, but still loves his Sooby Doo

You didn't mention changing the oil filter. Whenever I had this problem, it was always a sign that the oil filter needed changing. Use only the Subaru one, from your dealer.

 

I would also try heavier oil. Quaker State 10W40 (get at Canadian Tire) should be OK. On my high-mileage cars (I had 4 that all went over 400,000 km), I used that oil in the winter, and switched to 20W50 for the other seasons. Never had any starting problems.

 

I believe Calgary weather doesn't get quite as cold as it does here in Ottawa, although it's more unpredictable.

 

If you're going to tear into the engine again, check this information:

http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~camncath/ea82_hydraulic_lifter_fix.htm

The guy's name is Cameron Caunce, and he's in Brisbane, Australia.

 

Good luck.

your car is not strange or different or experiencing anything non-typical. the problem will often come and go.

 

is it tapping on one side in particular or all over the place? can you narrow it down to one or more particular cylinders (using one of those mechanics stethoscopes maybe?). if you can narrow it down to one or two cylinders, that would indicate a HLA (or multiple ones) is sticking. if it's across the board affecting them all then it's more likely oil supply related.

 

i mentioned it before, you may want to try some ATF or MMO (not as good in my oppinion, but probably more *acceptable*). your lifters could very well be dirty, sticky...etc. so no amount of work on your oil flow will fix that. you can reseal the entire motor if you'd like, rebuild it if you wish, if you don't address sticky HLA's none of that will matter.....it will still tick.

 

and it will run poorly when they are tapping, the valve train isn't working properly.

 

it could be your cam tower o-ring as you mentioned. or the springs. in my experience i think it's more often the oil pump seals or sticky/dirty HLA's.

 

did you clean the mating surface between pump and block? did you put a small amount of sealant on the zig-zag line where the two halves of the block come together?

 

i have 200,000 miles...about 350,000 km or something and i use 10w-30 all year long with zero ticking.

i have a 86 spfi a/t fwd sedan 83,000mi , it never had the bad ticking until 2 weeks ago , my wife refused to drive it because it was so loud, i changed the oil/ filter i used chevron 15w40 and within 100 miles it was all gone , before that i was using castrol dura-blend 10w - 40

Step up, spend the money, replace the oil pump...............................or you can just spend the cost of the oil pump changing your oil every 200 miles:rolleyes:

my oil was replaced only 10,000mi ago and all seals , and yes oem

Here's another option for you

 

rebuilt lifters for $5.75 ea!!!!

 

http://www.mizpahprecision.com/pricing.htm

 

I feel your pain, here's one of my rants.

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=21477

I would go with an oil change first. 3 quarts of good 10w40 and 1 quart of MMO. If that doesn't fix it, I'd tear the cam towers off and disassemble the HVLA's. They are likely real gummy or just plain bad.

 

Definitely try thicker oil, as it seems that the ticking is coming back after making longer-duration and hence higher temperature runs, which thins out the oil.