Nick Mann
25-10-2005, 10:38 PM
.....cleaning my hydraulic lifters!
My arms and back ache from being bent over the engine bay for so long!! However, what a result. I am not going to say that my car is the silkiest 6A13 I have heard, but it is transformed from the car that Wouter has described as a Taxi!! :inquisiti The tapping of a toffee hammer on an empty oil drum noise has at last gone!!! /yes
A bit of background:
Went into Xtreme motorsports in Dudley yesterday. Happened to be passing. Asked them about my smoking thing. (I have oil in the turbo pipes, but nothing that I would say is out of the ordinary!) They pretty much said that with a heavily modified car it could be almost anything and I would probably have to put up with the small idiosyncracies that come with a car such as mine.
They then went on to say that if the lifters are not doing there job properly, there could be bounce and/or bad timing coming into play which could be worsening the effect of the smoking. I asked for a quote to replace the lifters. Heh!! £600 parts, £250 labour. Plus VAT! :o I declined their generous offer!
After fitting a new a/c radiator this morning and discovering that the job went quite well I started thinking. (Never a good plan, but sometimes I get impulsive!) There is an article on the MLR about cleaning hydraulic lifters. Article. (http://www.lancerregister.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18708) I whipped the front rocker cover off. :inquisiti Just to have a look. /Hmmm I decided a quick prod with a screwdriver wouldn't hurt. :oops: I watched a rocker ping accross the garage. /help I ignored the smell, scratched my head and reassessed. Underneath the rocker is the valve and the hydraulic lifter. With the rocker out of the way I could simply pull the lifter out of its slot and give it a clean. I did that and then spent 15 minutes working out how to put the rocker back on.
Once the rocker was back on I did the next lifter. And I did the front 12 lifters one by one, getting quicker and more brave with the 2mm drill bit and the solvent and fresh oil. Then came the back 12. The job gets a lot longer then, as removing the rear rocker cover is not a quick job! Once I got there I was more gung ho.
When I started the car after the job was finished, it sounded like a sack of spanners. I thought I had made it worse! /grr (If that was possible!) Started it and stopped it a few times. Then revved it a few times. Then started it and stopped it some more. Every time I start it it sounds better! :thumbsup: I now feel it was worth the cramp in my forearm and the ache in my back. (Plus the idiot rash on my left hand!)
I have made a couple of observations though, for the next fool who decides his lifters need telling:
1. Find a willing friend. Half of todays lost time was finding ways to do the job with two hands instead of three or four.
2. Make sure you have a range of crow bars. I have none, and the other half of tadays lost time was learning that screwdrivers or socket extensions are not really good enough.
3. Plan for 6 hours to do the job. With two of you it should be quicker, but there is still one bolt I have not recovered from the depths of the engine bay.
4. You will not get the cams in a position where you can do all of the lifters at the same time. I removed the ones I could and cleaned and replaced those, then cranked the engine to get at the remainder.
5. If the valve is open even a little bit when you remove the rocker, you will find it very difficult to replace it. Crank the engine so the lift on the cam is not in the way when you replace the rocker. Save yourself some time!!
Good luck! If my engine starts ticking again in the near future, then I'll be sure to let you know.
My arms and back ache from being bent over the engine bay for so long!! However, what a result. I am not going to say that my car is the silkiest 6A13 I have heard, but it is transformed from the car that Wouter has described as a Taxi!! :inquisiti The tapping of a toffee hammer on an empty oil drum noise has at last gone!!! /yes
A bit of background:
Went into Xtreme motorsports in Dudley yesterday. Happened to be passing. Asked them about my smoking thing. (I have oil in the turbo pipes, but nothing that I would say is out of the ordinary!) They pretty much said that with a heavily modified car it could be almost anything and I would probably have to put up with the small idiosyncracies that come with a car such as mine.
They then went on to say that if the lifters are not doing there job properly, there could be bounce and/or bad timing coming into play which could be worsening the effect of the smoking. I asked for a quote to replace the lifters. Heh!! £600 parts, £250 labour. Plus VAT! :o I declined their generous offer!
After fitting a new a/c radiator this morning and discovering that the job went quite well I started thinking. (Never a good plan, but sometimes I get impulsive!) There is an article on the MLR about cleaning hydraulic lifters. Article. (http://www.lancerregister.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18708) I whipped the front rocker cover off. :inquisiti Just to have a look. /Hmmm I decided a quick prod with a screwdriver wouldn't hurt. :oops: I watched a rocker ping accross the garage. /help I ignored the smell, scratched my head and reassessed. Underneath the rocker is the valve and the hydraulic lifter. With the rocker out of the way I could simply pull the lifter out of its slot and give it a clean. I did that and then spent 15 minutes working out how to put the rocker back on.
Once the rocker was back on I did the next lifter. And I did the front 12 lifters one by one, getting quicker and more brave with the 2mm drill bit and the solvent and fresh oil. Then came the back 12. The job gets a lot longer then, as removing the rear rocker cover is not a quick job! Once I got there I was more gung ho.
When I started the car after the job was finished, it sounded like a sack of spanners. I thought I had made it worse! /grr (If that was possible!) Started it and stopped it a few times. Then revved it a few times. Then started it and stopped it some more. Every time I start it it sounds better! :thumbsup: I now feel it was worth the cramp in my forearm and the ache in my back. (Plus the idiot rash on my left hand!)
I have made a couple of observations though, for the next fool who decides his lifters need telling:
1. Find a willing friend. Half of todays lost time was finding ways to do the job with two hands instead of three or four.
2. Make sure you have a range of crow bars. I have none, and the other half of tadays lost time was learning that screwdrivers or socket extensions are not really good enough.
3. Plan for 6 hours to do the job. With two of you it should be quicker, but there is still one bolt I have not recovered from the depths of the engine bay.
4. You will not get the cams in a position where you can do all of the lifters at the same time. I removed the ones I could and cleaned and replaced those, then cranked the engine to get at the remainder.
5. If the valve is open even a little bit when you remove the rocker, you will find it very difficult to replace it. Crank the engine so the lift on the cam is not in the way when you replace the rocker. Save yourself some time!!
Good luck! If my engine starts ticking again in the near future, then I'll be sure to let you know.