Outer Limits 4x4 Board

My scooby has the typical hydraulic lifter noise that they all get. I know the typical fixes, but my question relates to whether it could possibly be mechanical damage rather than a lack of oil pressure.

I say this because the noise started after a beach run, where I accidentally got a couple of feet of air and came down hard on the front end. Was cruising along the beach enjoying it all, and didn't realise there was a bit of a wind hill coming up!

It hit quite hard in the front end, and that's when the noise seemed to start. I have two theories -- one is that the engine, when it was on an angle with the nose facing down, suddenly lost oil pressure up top and the lifter started slapping. The second is mechanical damage on the downward hit.

What seems more likely?

Tried asking the Experts? - http://www.4wdmonthly.com.au/forum/foru ... y.php?f=52

Seriously though as i know you guys are not serious with that section

I think i asked this once before but is this over head cam or does it have push rods? If it is overhead cam does it actually have lifters or just lash caps and tappets?

Go back to Pirate

OHC, hydraulic lifters. If you google 'subaru noisy lifters' you get about a million results. All say the cure is deteriorating oil pump o-rings, which allows air into the oil, resulting in low oil pressure to the lifter (which a member on here mentioned last time I was asking about this topic). But I'm just wondering if it's possible that I have physically damaged a lifter or cam lobe with a hard external hit... or whether it was just co-incidence...

PS I knew you lurk on the 4WDA forums... that just proves it

I`d be surprised if you have damaged a lifter or camshaft. It didnt land on the sump or bash guard??. There isn`t mutch clearence between sump and pickup and it is easily reduced causing restricted supply to oil pump. I`ve also seen an impact to sump disturb the pickup oring causing the same problem. Pull the sump and it is usualy obvious. Hope this helps, Woz.

Yeah that's exactly where it hit lol. Next weekend when I get some time I will pull the sump off and have a look. Thanks heaps for the tip.

I doubt you would have damaged a lifter from jumping it. How do you even know its lifter noise?

2 x mates who are heavily into subarus have confirmed it's a sticky/dry lifter. of course they could be wrong and it could be something else in the valve train making the noise but like I said this engine has a major reputation for lacking oil pressure due to a number of reasons (i've even read that non-genuine filters can cause it?) so that's what I'm going on.

Subis are famous for lifter noise, chances are when it went up it got a pocket of air in them and finished off what was going to happen next time you change the oil filter.
The lifters get a glaze inside them and the seals go hard making them not seal, sometimes you can put 1 ltr of diesle in the engine, run at high idle for 20 mins then change the oil and fix em, car yard trick. most the time doesn't work but been lucky a couple of times.
Had a subaru workshop tell me once thet the front oil pump seal allows cavitation sometimes, but im not to sure how reliable that info was as i dont trust dealers.

I'd actually heard that diesel trick, apparently the detergent effect can clean out blocked oil galleries. Do I drop a bit of oil, then drop in a bit of diesel? I'm not too worried about the longevity of the POS, and any cheap fix is worth a try.

drop 1 ltr and add 1 ltr of diesle
ive used this on heaps of engines much less damaging than engine flush when there is a sludge or lifter problem

Beauty, i will do that, cheers.

4130warrior wrote:Beauty, i will do that, cheers.

But do not drive the vehicle while the deisel is still in the engine. You risk hurting Big end bearings. Just run it at around 12-1500RPM for 10-15min. Watch your engine temp while doing this.


I generally use a product from Nulon that works well for getting carbon out of lifters. http://www.nulon.com.au/products.php?pr ... nd_Tune-Up It actually works.

I also use this one on engines that are a little smokey and it works as well- http://www.nulon.com.au/products.php?pr ... _Treatment

I dont recomend any of there stop oil leak treatments though. I have never had any success with any product claiming to stop leaks. They usually work for a few weeks but then the leak will come back twice as bad and you will end up with a heap more. Basicaly these products just swell the seals so in the end they detiriorate faster and you end up with more issues.

Cheers for that Tony. I tried throwing a bottle of that lifter free stuff in when it first started to no avail.

I'll try the diesel treatment, like I said I have nothing to lose. Will post up how it goes.