Lifter question (HLA's)

[Holmes]

A friend of mine recently had a rebuilt engine installed in his ride. It

seems like one of the lifters is sticking or something. It ticks for about

4-5 minutes, until the car warms up a bit. The place that rebuilt the

engine said they don't use new lifters because they're too expensive

and used ones are good 90% of the time. So, is this lifter part of the

10% of bad ones? I was under the impression that if a lifter is not

functioning correctly, and it's not gummed up, it's bad. Am I right?

[Subarian]

I would try the old Soob HLA trick: Put a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil in it and take it out and run it at 4000-5000 rpm for a while. They may have thought they got it clean, or it might not be pumping up. This will usually cure lifter problems in the EA82s.

[Syonyk]

I think most people around here use Seafoam, and I'd up that to 5-7k RPM for a while, but that's the easiest thing to try.

 

-=Russ=-

[Handtool]

The place that rebuilt the

engine said they don't use new lifters because they're too expensive...

 

Rebuilt lifters are $4.50 a piece.

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

[idosubaru]

rebuilt with mitzpah is the way to go.

 

now that the engine is together, pulling it apart to replace one lifter is labor intensive and not in anyone's best interest at this point. if it's put together well , running well, not leaking then there's no other reason to tear it down.

 

this isn't that common and i wouldn't fault the rebuilder. i'm sure he would have used the rebuilt HLA's had he known about mitzpah ahead of time.

 

you said, "if it's gummed up, it's bad"....that's true but not to the point it needs replacement. at this point i'd run seafoam, MMO or ATF in the oil for awhile. it can get "ungummed" for the lack of a better way of putting it. change the oil like a mad-man. if it's only doing it occasisionally then frequent oil changes should clear it up...this can take months though. MMO, ATF or seafoam will expediate the process. again....change your oil ALL THE TIME and your HLA's will treat you much better. i've pulled apart motors with 120,000 miles that were dirty and nasty with carbon build up and i've pulled apart motors with 200,000 miles that looked like they just came out of the factory, crystal clean with no build up. i attribute that to oil change intervals and driving conditions.

did i mention you should change your oil alot?

[Holmes]

 

you said, "if it's gummed up, it's bad"....

 

Actually it was more like "I was under the impression that

if a lifter is not functioning correctly, and it's NOT gummed up, it's bad.".

 

It's pretty minor as far as lifter noise goes. And it doesn't last very long,

so I told my friend to not sweat it. I just needed some more opinions.

Thanks for the replies vatos.

 

I have some MMO at home that I'll give him. We'll go with the Seafoam

if that doesn't work. I noticed his mechanic put one of those blue oil filters

on it. Someone told me those were made by Fram. If that's true, that could

have something to do with it. Bad anti-drainback valve maybe.