Ticking... Not HLAs

[SubiePhx]

Hi All I've had a ticking in my 92 Subaru ever since I got it. It's went away for about half of a drive to work twice but always comes back. I figured it was the HLAs so today I pulled, cleaned and charged them. They all held pressure and the rocker arms did not move with manual pressure after the assy was torqued down. Much to my dismay when I fired it up after putting it back together I still hear a ticking. It's coming from the driver side rear cylinder and it's just as loud as it's always been. I've tried the water trick and seafoaming it before I removed the HLAs too. Any Ideas?

[Matt Monson]

Have you tried putting a long flathead screwdriver against various parts of the engine to try and better isolate the source of the noise? It doesn't even sound like you are 100% it's not in the block versus the head.

Did you happen to look at the condition of the camshaft lobes while you had the rockers off today? If the tip on your cam is damaged from a previous low oil incident, it could cause that kind of noise.

[SubiePhx]

Ya I used a long flat head and it seemed to be loudest below the injector on the driver side rear cylinder. I didn't get to look at the camshaft while I had the rocker assy off I was kind of rushed and had to put it back together to use it. I've got more time tomorrow so I"ll just pull the rockers again and see if I can see any damage. I've only had the car a couple months and I'm not sure of it's maint history. Thanks for the advice! I'll let you know how it goes.

[Matt Monson]

Are you sure it's not the injector itself? Might want to double check that before you go back into the head.

[SubiePhx]

Well I went ahead and pulled the rockers off again and inspected the lobes and didn't see anything wrong so I double checked the HLAs and what do ya know one of em stopped holding pressure. It was one that I had some problems with while cleaning but got it to hold pressure after a few pumps. I replaced it and viola no more ticking! Thanks again for the help and the Tut!