Date:         Mon, 5 Dec 2005 10:17:42 -0600
Reply-To:     Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Subject:      Re: Will loud lifters ruin my engine?
In-Reply-To:  <04c101c5f9b2$5e9efda0$7501a8c0@gispc1>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

They loud lifters probably won't hurt your engine. I can't imagine how
they would be good for it, but it doesn't seem to hurt.

The noise should go away after about 20 minutes of driving. You can add
a quart of Marvel Mystery oil to your next change and see if that
doesn't control it. It goes without saying that you should have changed
the oil already unless you are 100 percent sure when it was last done.
Use Castrol 20W50. If you're using anything else, you should try this
first. Using a correct filter for a Vanagon is an absolute must. If
you're using a Fram or other parts store filter you'll never shut your
lifters up because those filters don't have the check valve that holds
oil in the upper engine.

You can swap out for new lifters by pulling the heads, or you can just
pull the rockers, slip out the pushrods, take a big a**ed pair of
pliers to the tubes and pull them out. Get the lifters out and replace
the tubes with the collapsible tubes sold by the list vendors and
reassemble rods and rockers and readjust.

This way is more expensive, as the collapsible tubes aren't cheap.

If you're going to address the head leaking problem by replacing the
rubber gasket under them, that's a great time to swap out lifters.

But don't do anything until you're using Castrol 20W50 and the correct
filter.

Jim
On Dec 5, 2005, at 9:41 AM, Blake Sartin wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I just got a new-to-me Vanagon a couple weeks ago, and it's great fun.
>  It
> needs some tune-up type things, and a few various and sundry parts
> that are
> inexplicably missing (rear seat belts?), but it does have one
> problem...
>
> The lifters are LOUD.  They were not loud at first, but it's been
> sitting a
> few months, and after a day or two of driving around, they have become
> SERIOUSLY loud.  They get a little quieter at speed, or maybe the
> engine
> just gets loud enough to cover up the noise, but they really clack at
> idle.
> I am going to undertake some of the various methods to make them
> quieter
> this week, but I have one question:
>
> Will it ruin the engine for me to drive around like this?
>
> I really do not want to ruin the engine.  But I do want to drive the
> car, as
> my '69 has now shot a bearing in the generator (again!) and I will
> have to
> extract it this week.  It is also exceptionally loud.
>
> My new phrase is "If it's not one bus, it's the other..."
>
> Thanks,
>
> Blake Sartin
> Moderator, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bus-life
> All Fridays, All The Time. No Tech Talk!
> '69 Westfalia
> '84 Vanagon
> Athens, GA
>