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Guys, quite a lot of posts on oils etc to alleviate the problem of noisy lifters but has anyone actually got rid of this altogether apart from dfullerton (replaced all the lifters!)? Any recommendations?? I have one car with 175k miles with no noise (suspect might had some head work when it belonged to Prodrive) but my other with 130k miles makes a hell of a noise. About to put some 5w30 after a flush - reckon it will do much??

Nope. As you may have read before the Australian versions had big problems with with noisy tapets and I am one of them. What I found was this. I changed the oil with 20w50 Valvoline Synpower (synthetic) and the tappets started to make a noise after 3000 – 4000 kms. Changed the oil once again with Valvoline formula 5000 15W40 (natural) did’nt stop rattle at all. It rattled every second of the day. Changed the oil the next day it was that bad. Put in some 10W60 Castrol Formula R Synthetic and the thing has run quieter then when I first bought the car. Not one noise. The Castrol was that taky it would stick to the wall like honey, not thick but sticky, very impressed. What was happening with the Synpower was the tappet would start to make its tune during the heat up process and then stop. What we disscovered with the help of other Australians was that the lower, the higher number the worst it became. So I would advise using something with a big heat range with the highest number above 50.
The reason that Australian RS’s made such a racket is because the oil gallery to the tappet was too small and became blocked. There was a couple of solutions to the problem. Subarus answer was to replace the Heads and Pistons with WRX items, cost $4500 AUD. Some cars were fixed under warranty. Rod had a solution for half the cost which involves ordering parts from New Zealand to be fitted for the car. The spacers that he required were develeped by Subaru Japan and never made it to Australia but some made it to New Zealand, Subaru Australia probably did’nt want anything to do with it, just do the head change. Rod can fill you in as he knows more about it. The other solution that I have heard about is to pull the heads off and machine the gallary out. I think that this would be my option when I rebuild the engine if it dies. I have heard a couple of times that the RS heads flow better than WRX items. A lot of people I think would dissagree with this but I think that so many people are lost that no-one really knows what head is really better. They hear the tappet and throw the head for a later model item and think it is better. I have WRX heads, there so much better blar, blar, blar. Bull shit, some of the Countries quickest WRX’s have a standard head with maybe some cams. So why the hell go for WRX items if the RS flow the same if not better.

Thanks for the comprehensive write up of your experiences. What I do find odd is that a friend ran Mobil One 0w30 which made the noise go away compared to a recommended 15W40 Mobil One Motorsport. I think to satisfy my own curoisity I'll try both to see what happens. In theory a good engine flush should open up, to some degree, any blocked or semi blocked oil galleries surely. Will post my findings.

Well, I think Doug has pretty well covered the oil visc's. Spot on he is too.
Add to that a little more info....The oil galleries on our Aust RS Liberty turbo DOHC engines were of bad design more than too small. Apparently the way the oil gets to the top lifters ( by this I mean the inlet valve train - as they are at the top of the head - boxer DOHC engine design ) it tends to bleed away and cause the lifter to become noisy.
How the US engines go on different visc oils may be different to ours, OZ, as the US turbo engines are a SOHC design the same as our 2.2 litre N/A engine. The problem here in Oz seems to be on our turbo 2.0 DOHC and not so much on our N/A 2.2 SOHC design. My previous Liberty had 220,000km and never once had this prob. My friends with their N/A 2.2 Libertys with nearly as many km's now have never a lifter problem either. Try different oils, flushes etc and do what works best for you.
I have heard of some mods done to the oil galleries but the money for this work may not be worth it.
When / if I ever need a engine rebuild, I will go the way of a low km jap engine - perhaps a wrx 1994-96 type... long way away yet.
cheers, Rod... in Oz.

Rod, Thaks for summary. I'm actually in the UK with the same EJ20T DOHC as you guys except without the extreme heat in summer! I'm ignoring the fact that my ex-prodrive car doesn't have a noisy tappet problem because it might well have been corrected as mentioned previously. Not that many people who have the turbo wagons here seem to be experiencing much tappet noise. The engine was obviously ok when it was new but now that it's on 130k miles it rattles like a demon. I'd like to try Doug's recommendation of Castrol Formula R Synth first and hopefully that will sort it. Otherwise, might do something drastic to cure the prob. Thanks again. Kam

Well the vodo tap is back. I was stuck in traffic for some time during warmup though this morning (car accident). This could have been the cause. The oil does work very well though, very quiet in other departments of the engine. It will come on and off I know but oil changes are my solution at the moment. My mate has a 2.2 NA that has had a bad life 300,000kms, and the subie rattle has just come in. Yes the engine is dead with 2 broken gearboxs in the last year you can imagine the life it has had.

Cor - my 175k miler must have been well loked after then... still goes like stink.

Mine has 170,000 kms on it. Was a highway car when I bought it.

With this ongoing experimentation with oils has anyone considered if the thicker oils are good enough for the turbo?

For those who were wondering the magic oil additive that fixed my
lifter noise in minutes was called PROMAR, it is a silvery grey
coloured oil and comes in a small black bottle.
I am not sure where you can get it but ask around.(I think its from
the U.S.)

And its now 10:55 am here in NZ - haha

Doug,
AAAHH NO ! sorry to hear that.
Well, maybe you are up to where I was ages ago... no oil is going to solve the problem....
then again, perhaps its just a 'bad' moment the car is having and it will go away......
cheers, Rod...

Was’nt there this morning. I will keep going and see what happens in summer. Looks like a hot one.

we're not really using thicker oils. The winter wait is still in the 10W /15W range. It is just these oils have a wider visc range ( that's why they cost so much) so start up etc is still flowing well, even in cold weather but they hold oil pressure better at higher temps... don't thin out as much..
cheers, Rod