legacycentral bbs

I'm new to this forum and I don't see anyway to search, so I'll just ask.
I have two 1990 Legacy wagon's and both need HLA's in them, should I first check the oil pressure before doing the change and how often do NEW HLA's new to be used verses the old one's really being bad? I just called the dealer and they want $25 each!!! and that ain't going to happen. At $400 per engine I could nearly buy a low mileage JDM engine for $700. Which I did for the one car last week. BTW it's making the same noises.

Please empart your wisdom.

search link is up top.... usualy it's just one or two that's bad. Checking oil pressure isn't a bad idea, but the HLAs do tend to go bad. Just get used ones. I have a few sets of rockers sitting around you can pull them from. You can have em cheap, PM me if you're interested.

#1 Would you mind revising your post so it isn't so huge and painful to the eyes?

#2, it's very easy to bleed the HLA's. They rarely ever go bad, and when they do, it's generally just one or 2. You can pull the complete rocker assembly without removing the timing belt. Once you get the valve covers off, it's just 8 12mm bolts and you can take the whole assembly over to the bench.

Then take some pliers and carefully remove the HLA's from the rockers. You don't want to overgrip them and scratch them up or damage them. Have a small tub (I use an 8oz sour cream container or tuna fish can) or fresh clean motor oil. Use a 1mm allen or jeweler's screwdriver to depress the check ball with the HLA fully submerged. It will spit out a bunch of filthy crappy oil. Let it fill up and depress it once or twice to really purge it. Then let it fill up one more time, release the ball and press it back into the socket on the rocker. Do this with all of them.

If you get zero filling, then the HLA is bad, but like I said this is pretty rare. Usually the issue is that dirt and crap have clogged the check ball so it won't seal up properly when the engine is running.

Reassemble and you are good to go. After that, be sure to regularly change your oil filter and oil. I very commonly hear about HLA problems when someone picks up a used car and changes to synthetic oil at higher mileage. The synths tend to have more detergents in them and kick loose all kinds of gunk that has built up over the years. It's a good way to clean up the internals of an engine, but it also can cause the above problem, in addition to opening up leaks in a number of the seals that have gone bad over the years, but are sealing because of the gunk in place...

Revised it for you, my eyes are getting bad and everyone has their machines set up differently...

I've got another engine here that I pulled off the rockers and did as was said already, put I noticed that some compress roughly and don't return which I would consider bad. But I'd like to hear from the experienced more traits the HLA's will have during inspection. Also what do you guys do about the bad o-rings?
Also you're right about synthetic oil cleaning out an engine. I've been used it for 25+ years and have had the best luck with it, but it will clean a dirty engine and sometimes ruin it. If one starts using it early in the engine life the seals will love you.
David

Matt Monson wrote:#1 Would you mind revising your post so it isn't so huge and painful to the eyes?

#2, it's very easy to bleed the HLA's. They rarely ever go bad, and when they do, it's generally just one or 2. You can pull the complete rocker assembly without removing the timing belt. Once you get the valve covers off, it's just 8 12mm bolts and you can take the whole assembly over to the bench.

Then take some pliers and carefully remove the HLA's from the rockers. You don't want to overgrip them and scratch them up or damage them. Have a small tub (I use an 8oz sour cream container or tuna fish can) or fresh clean motor oil. Use a 1mm allen or jeweler's screwdriver to depress the check ball with the HLA fully submerged. It will spit out a bunch of filthy crappy oil. Let it fill up and depress it once or twice to really purge it. Then let it fill up one more time, release the ball and press it back into the socket on the rocker. Do this with all of them.

If you get zero filling, then the HLA is bad, but like I said this is pretty rare. Usually the issue is that dirt and crap have clogged the check ball so it won't seal up properly when the engine is running.

Reassemble and you are good to go. After that, be sure to regularly change your oil filter and oil. I very commonly hear about HLA problems when someone picks up a used car and changes to synthetic oil at higher mileage. The synths tend to have more detergents in them and kick loose all kinds of gunk that has built up over the years. It's a good way to clean up the internals of an engine, but it also can cause the above problem, in addition to opening up leaks in a number of the seals that have gone bad over the years, but are sealing because of the gunk in place...