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Taking lifters out

Featured Replies

Hi I am new here. I want to take my hydraulic lifters out of my ea81 to inspect them. Can I take them out without pulling the the head? I goofed when trying to adjust them. I turned them in too far and now I can't get any play with the adjustment.

It is possible to get them out without removing the head. I've seen it done a couple of times.

 

My question is why were you adjusting them? You should not need to do any kind of valve adjustment to an EA81 with hydraulic lifters unless you have taken off the rocker arm assembly. Are you sure that you have hydraulic lifters? Most EA81s have solid lifters that do need to have the valves adjusted every once in a while.

  • Author
It is possible to get them out without removing the head. I've seen it done a couple of times.

 

My question is why were you adjusting them? You should not need to do any kind of valve adjustment to an EA81 with hydraulic lifters unless you have taken off the rocker arm assembly. Are you sure that you have hydraulic lifters? Most EA81s have solid lifters that do need to have the valves adjusted every once in a while.

 

 

 

 

How do you do it? My engine is from a 87 Brat. That engine is supposed to be a hydraulic lifter engine. The reason I was trying to adjust them was on the 2 and 4 side it was making a terrific amount of noise.

I don't think you need to adjust them at all.I would just run some sea foam in the oil before your next oil change.Should take care of it.

  • Author

I Think I Screwed somthing up because now I can't get any play. What could have happened to the lifters?

By chance did you follow the procedure to adjust the valve lash for solid lifter engines by mistake? The procedure for adjusting Hydro lifters is completely different.

  • Author

The procedure for adjusting hydraulic lifters that was posted on here is to turn them in four turns and wait 15 minutes before you turn them back out. I didn't pay attention to what it said and I was thinking it said turn them in all the way until they stop turning which is what I did and now I can't get any lash.

Did you remember to turn the adjuster 1-1/2 turns CCW beyond the point of where the valve closes?

 

 

The method I've seen to pull them out is to take the rocker assembly out along with the pushrods and use a magnet on a telescoping handle to pull the lifter out. Then to put them back in, use a piece of welding rod that's just bearly small enough to fit into the oil hole in top of the lifter. You may need to jack the engine off of the cross member.

On the hydro engines, the lifters are meant to be removed with the oil pan off - the crankcase is cast differently to allow their removal if you loosen up the push rod adjuster and pull the rod out a bit. I think you can also fish them out as craig mentioned, but you risk dropping them into the oil pan anyway, and putting them back is a royal pain (again with the risk of dropping them into the pan). Best to just remove the pan, and replace it's gasket (OEM only) - you'll have an easier time, and getting the pan sealed up with a new gasket is always nice....

 

GD

  • 10 years later...

By chance did you follow the procedure to adjust the valve lash for solid lifter engines by mistake? The procedure for adjusting Hydro lifters is completely different.

hello, could you please tell me (or where can I find the info) on hoot adjust hydro lifters? thanks a lot,

Bets regards

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