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Anyone have the solution to the ticking sound my Legacy is making. It runs OK for the miles it has but it sounds like a typewriter on steroids!

It's the hydraulic lifters. They probably have junk in them. They either need to be replaced, or you can try running some cleaner in the oil to help dislodge the junk in the lifters. I recommend seafoam.

If the car hasn't had routine oil changes, and/or the lifters are gunked up too bad....no cleaner will help.....and the lifters will need to be replaced.

Hello Josh,

I'll try the cleaner but I think its age. Unfortunately, I don't see anything on lifters mentioned in my Chiltons. It doesn't sound like a Saturday afternoon job either. Whta do you think the simplest (read cheapest) way to approch this? I think I can get another set of heads pretty cheap its the install that would kill me.

no need to take the heads out at all. I did it while the heads were off, but it is possible with the heads on the car.

the first few pages of this article talk about the HLAs
http://www.endwrench.com/current/winter ... Repair.pdf

I used it to disassemble my heads when i did my headgasket job.
i'm willing to bet that clogged or old HLAs are the poblem. I would order a new set of 16 HLAs, 16 HLA o-rings, some oil, and get to it. i'm not sure of the clearance you will have with the heads still on the engine, but u should be able to get a wrench in there. It could be done in a saturday (might take more than an afternoon, especially for me since i like to take my time)

It's as simple as:
removing air box, battery, and windshield washer tank
removing valve covers (replace those gaskets as well)
following sequence to remove rocker assembly on both sides
then carefully take out all the HLAs, put o-rings on new ones bleed in oil and replace following the instructions in the article.
reassemble following torque sequence.

No need to even take the timing belt off...
Good Luck!

Andrew

I've done this on my kitchen engine and took about 5 mins/side. Of course it would take longer with the engine in the car, but it shouldn't be too hard as there should be enough room to get some wrenches in there easily.

Steve

my favorite way to fix a sticky lifter is to drive the crap out of the car

fixed 2 different cars that way!

tick no more, adjust the idle throttle and there is one more on the bottom that i dont no the name of. try adujting them there is 2 sensors beside the throttle play around with them and u will get it. the lifters are not at falt.

nico, I have no idea what you're talking about.....what else would be causing the repetitive ticking......there may be some other ticking you have experienced, but from the orig posters comments.....it sure as hell sounds like lifters.

I think Nico's talking about masking the ticking by increasing engine speed a little. That smooths stuff out generally and increases oil pressure a little.

But you shouldn't really do that... the ECU is supposed to maintain idle speed with the IAC valve.

evolutionmovement wrote:I've done this on my kitchen engine and took about 5 mins/side. Of course it would take longer with the engine in the car, but it shouldn't be too hard as there should be enough room to get some wrenches in there easily.

Steve

I could help but read your subtitle on not working. I lost my job today and find myself in the same boat. I don't live that far from Beverly. How about giving me a hand with it and maybe I can pick up something you want in exchange?

I'm usually free on weekdays (after this week) - PM me.

Steve

Goto junkyard
Remove lifters from a few cars (30 or so total)
Clean and test all of them
Remove lifters from your car
Clean and test those
Grab the best of the bunch and reinstall

You'll fix the clicking and spend less than 20$ including the oil!

while that wouldn't be such a bad idea, (provided he could find enough legacies) it would be wise to order new o-rings from the dealer.

I live in Florida and can't find any legacies in the local junkyards. but other places might not have such a problem.

One of the junkyards in my area regularly has 5+ legacy. They even had a 91 turbo with LSD before.

You are right though, o-rings are cheap!

While you are at it you might as well replace the valve cover gaskets as they are a common failure point and cheap.

He says he's near me and any Legacys in the junk yard around here are usually on their last leg and you'd have to pocket the lifters to get a deal as the bastards in the yards usually charge nearly what a dealer would get for such things (junkyard interior trim and such are still the way to go, though).

Steve

petridish38 wrote:while that wouldn't be such a bad idea, (provided he could find enough legacies) it would be wise to order new o-rings from the dealer.

I live in Florida and can't find any legacies in the local junkyards. but other places might not have such a problem.

Come down to Tampa, there's usually a minimum of 3-4 Legacy's in the Copher's yards every week...There are 4 Copher U-Pulls withing 30 minutes of me (Tampa, Clearwater, Kenneth City & Bradenton), of course you'll be fighting me for parts


Or you could pick up some MMO and run that with your oil at every oil change, Subaru's love the stuff, keeps lifters quiet!


MMO = Marvel Mystery Oil...it really works!

Anyone else thinkin a mass Florida junkyard raid?

seriously......i should do it, i've been all over orlando looking for some and had no luck! I really need some parts for my car!

subyluvr2212 wrote:Anyone else thinkin a mass Florida junkyard raid?

Let me know if your headed to Tampa! I love going to the junkyard!

they open saturdays?

petridish38 wrote:they open saturdays?

Yep, and Sunday's too! They charge $1 to get in.

As of last Sunday tha Tampa yard had 3 Legacy's, a Blue Canadian spec '90 Sedan / blue interior / Auto / 2wd, a Gold '90 Sedan / beige interior / Auto / 2wd, and a silver '91 wagon / gray interior / Auto / 2wd. They were in the process of swapping out some of the rows of cars so there might be a few new ones out there now.

As of last Friday the Bradenton yard had 2 Legacy's, a red '90 sedan / gray interior / auto / 4wd and a gray '92 sedan / black interior / auto / 2wd.

As of last Friday the Clearwater had no Legacy's at all (bunch of Loyale's though! At least 15!)

I haven't been to the Kenneth City Yard in quite awhile...maybe I should get over there sometime....

There is also another yard off Hwy 92 east of Tampa that one of the Subaru tech's at Mastro told me about, he said there were 2 Legacy's out there last week.

vrg3 thanks for the perfect wording, thats what i am talking about masking the ticking by increasing engine speed a little. That smooths stuff out generally and increases oil pressure a little.

vrg3 u are the man i didnt no how to put it but very well done

Heh, thanks, NICO... But I should say that in general it's better to fix a problem than to simply mask it...

Yeah, and misadjusting the idle also means readjustment of the IAC and possibly the TPS (if you changed the screws). Not really a good suggestion.