Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1999 13:00:35 -0500
Reply-To: Bulley <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Bulley <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Subject: Re: Bad valve? Lifter? Help!!! TICK TICK TICK!!
Mike-
Collapsed lifters are a very common Vanagon problem. Don't go ripping your
motor apart just yet. They are caused by two circumstances, both can be
cured in seconds. You won't do any damage to your motor while it is
ticking, (in fact it will temporarily refill after about 10 miles).
First you prolly have a piece of trash in on of the lifters. Run a can of
Marvel Mystery Oil in the Crankcase until your next oil change. The MMO
will dissolve the little piece of poo, and the lifter will work as
designed. Second, use MANN or VW oil filters. They have an anti-backflow
valve and some German magic in them that lesser filters lack. If these
things fail, check the archives for heaps of other info on how to clear a
sticky lifter (ATF is most helpful as well).
Cheers, and welcome to the sticky lifter club.
G. Matthew Bulley
Director
Bulley-Hewlett & Associates
www.bulley-hewlett.com
Cary, NC USA
888.468.4880 tollfree
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Ray [SMTP:Mike.Ray@AMMOBILE.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 1999 11:03 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Bad valve? Lifter? Help!!! TICK TICK TICK!!
Thanks all for the info on the drain plug... I now have a real problem!
TICK TICK TICK. Valve probs! They are loud and came on instantly. I parked
the van after coming home from work (1/2 hour trip) Had no problem. Started
it the next day to park in the garage. Ticking. hmmmmm. Started it up this
morning. Ticking. I crawled under with a screwdriver to my ear, Pass side
valve cover is really loud. You can hear it in the house over the engine
running. The other side is quiet and it's never made any noise prior to
this. I unfortunately, don't know much about the maint history of the
motor.
Doesn't leak and is real clean w/ 120K miles on the van. May have had a
motor swap in the past.
So where to start? I've never worked on VW horizontal motors.
1.. I assume a lifter or pushrod. I haven't opened or verified which valve
it is. Assuming that while hand cranking the motor, I don't see anything
weird, how can I tell which one it is? Should I change all the lifters and
pushrods to be safe?
2.. Could a rocker arm have gone out of adjustment overnight?
3.. Can the lifters be removed w/o head removal? I assume not, but the
Bentley is unclear.
Can you just remove the pushrod tube w/o the head?
I've done head work on American mid-cam cars and several overhead cam cars
but never a horizontal motor. Any help on where to start would be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks, Mike
`87 Westy
