Clicking Lifter ... Are these Adjustable?

[PeteGLH]

Hey everyone!

New to the board, and quite recently just got myself a very clean and solid '91 SS.

Motor feels great, Turbo might need to be changed, but all in all a good deal.

Here is my concern, there seems to be a lifter clicking away. I have had this problem with my old 1990 Tercel and I had reajusted it and the noise had somewhat dissappeared. Is it possible to do this on these cars, and how hard would it be given the boxer design of these engines?!

Man I love this car, but this boxer stuff makes me feel like quite the mechanical noobie!!

Thanks for any input!

This forum is great!

[THAWA]

It's only adjustable hydraulically, which means if only one is tapping it either has air in it, or it's broken. The easy way to get the air out of it is to just drive the car for a while, or rev the engine to about 2000-3000 rpms for 10-20 mins. Personally I'd just drive it for a while and if it doesn't fix itself then replace it. It's actually pretty easy to replace lifters.

What you'll discover once you start working on this car is just how easy it is to work on. When it was designed by FHI one of the main goals was ease of working on. Which is why it won the Mechanix award for easiest car to work on in 91.

[evolutionmovement]

Lifters are easy. Remove valve covers (3 easy bolts) and remove rosker arm assembly (I think 8 bolts). The lifters are at the ends of the rockers. But first I'd try some lighter weight oil and see if it clears up. I think it's almost inevitable that you will get some start up clatter at least occasionally, but I rarely hear it with Mobil 1.

Steve

[dzx]

I had a clicking lifter recently, stupid thing wouldn't pump up no matter what. I pulled the rocker arm assembly and found the lifter. It's pretty easy, it'll be the one you can push the nipple in with your finger. Then i pulled it out and replaced it with one of the spares i've got and voila, no more noise and the valve opens all the way now. Let me know if you need a spare or two, we can probably work something out.

[Kelly]

I used to run a few ounces of ATF in my VWs when the lifters stuck, and it usually worked. Like 8 to 10 ounces, in the motor.

Havnt had to try it in the subie yet.

[dzx]

I ran seafoam through mine and it still wouldn't quiet down. If i added oil, it would quiet down for a little bit which was leading me to believe i was low on oil. So i would add oil at the gas station without checking the dipstick like an idiot. Pretty soon i had 9 quarts of oil in there.

[tris91ricer]

NINE!?!?! Whoa. That's almost double the capacity, isn't it?

[legacymax]

if you do take the rocker assy off, only torque the rocker bolts to 15 ft lbs. bleed the lifters and check the oil that comes out for metal. if there is you might as well buy new ones but they aren't cheap. about 8 bucks each. If no metal, check out for smooth operation. If good pump them back up. good luck.
-Maximus