Adjusting valves?

[hackish]

I've got a really bad valve noise on the driver's side bank. I don't have a shop manual but I thought the 1991 EJ22T had HLAs.

Possibly I have a bad HLA but I'm not even sure it has any since I've never done heads on one of these. I know the STi V2 had HLAs and my V4 had shim under bucket but both were twin cam...

-Michael

[scottzg]

it has hla's. It will tap if you're low on oil (tsk tsk) so thats always the first thing to check. Myself, i've been able to 'unstick' them by simply running the piss out of the car, i guess it gets the oil pressure up or something.

[hackish]

Hrm. Oil level was the first thing I checked. That and oil pressure were fine. Mazdas are really bad for HLAs so I've found that soaking them in a solvent, drying them then cooking in hot oil usually unplugs them. I just didn't want to have to play with my engine and tie up my hoist all day

-Michael

[Matt Monson]

You can get the whole rocker assembly containing the HLA's out with the engine in the car. Just pull the valve cover, and then 8 bolts to remove the assembly. Don't even have to remove the cams or the timing belt. Just make sure to crank it over so there is no load on the head that you are working on.

Then you just pull the HLA with a set of needle nose pliers.

The proper way to work on the Subaru HLAs is to depress the check valve with a jewelr's screwdriver. You do it in a bath of fresh motor oil. You will see some foul old oil come out, and the HLA should put out a bubble or two. I would discourage soaking them in solvent. That could compromise the seal. Subaru HLA's don't get "stuck" they get depressurized, and just need to be refilled with oil. On occasion, they actually go bad and blow the seal.

Once they are bled, you can test them by depressing them with your fingers. If they don't hold the oil and just collapse, they are bad. new ones are $15-20 each. If you have a few bad ones and need some good used ones, I will sell them to you for $7 each...