rockbound Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Speaking of valve clearances does any body out there have the specs for an older 1800 w/ solid lifters? My book only goes back to 1980. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLAcharlie Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 This has been a fascinating thread for me, as I was just contemplating this service soon. My '97 Outback is at 144,000 and is under severe service as I drive 185 miles/day from a crummy job situation. I've been doing this drive for nearly a year, so quickly scrapped JiffyLube (I USED to have the dealer do it, but when every 3 weeks couldnt really keep that up) in favor of changing the oil myself, which I found to be extremely convenient on the Outback. By the way, a few oil changes ago (they're about every 3 weeks now), I switched to Castrol high-mileage oil and have found it to be quite remarkably better. It must have cleaned out deposits in the engine or something, the car accelerates MUCH better and I can easily take it to 3500RPM in low gears which I could not, or would not, do before. Engine is burning maybe 1/2 quart between changes with this oil, with "ordinary" oil, it was more like 1 1/2 quarts. I check it every day. Half of my route is major highway, so 80mph. At about that speed, maybe 75, I often get something that sounds like it could be valve-related, a tapping noise from the engine. When I slow down a tad it goes away. Is this an indication that I do need this solid lifter maintenance or is it something else? Just found this message board, it is excellent ! I was wondering if I could get some info on the 105,000 mile "Valve Clearance" service recommended for the 2.5l engine. Mine's a '97, and the timing belt was done a while back so no need to do that at 105K, FWIW. Three Subaru dealerships have given three different answers when asked about the 105K valve adjustment........................ Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAWalker Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 All '97-'99 DOHC 2.5L engines have solid lifters. All engines (not just Subaru) with solid lifters need valve adjustments. The valve clearance in a daily driven street car is not going to get looser, it will get tighter due mostly to waer on the face of the valve. The cam lobes and shims do not wear enough to change the clearance. If a cam starts to wear that much you will soon have a flat lobe. Never seen or heard of this in a Subaru engine. And as said before your not going to have valve streach in a car that is not seeing redline on a regulare basis for extended periods of time. In some of these 2.5L engines I think the valves are set on the tight side from the factory. In which case the valves will tighten up before 100,000 miles and cause misfire codes and if left long enough burn valves. I have run across this on engines with as little as just over 60k on them, although this is in extreme cases. It isn't uncomon for the valves to be in need of adjustment befor 105k though. Paying somone to do this adjustment with out the proper tool (a $250+ tool) would be out of the question. Would take way to long. With the tool, it shouldn't be much more that $400. I do this service for around $350 or less depending on how may new shims are needed. This is includeing new valve cover gaskets and washers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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