The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop hydraulic lifters

Hi Guys, 2 questions if you would.. seems like one of my lifters will not compress. I pulled out the lifter but I don't know if it's good or bad.. Other question is re/ this I have hydraulic lifters so am I to adjust w/ no clearence? In other words according to what I am reading I do not have to use a feeler gauge but I do need to adjust in the proper order. Am I correct??

Yes adjust to the proper order .

I won't venture in on the setting procedure, many others more experienced on the 'bolt that can tackle that.

A lifter full of oil may seem "solid"' depending on what you try to compress it with. It will certainly feel solid if you try to compress it by hand. If it's ingested air it will feel soft or spongy.

If you want to check it for function, you can immerse it in a cup of light oil (industry used to use kerosene), put it in an arbor press, and force the socket all the way down. This may take a couple hundred pounds, depending on the lifter, the weight of the oil in it, and particularly temperature. If the socket stays down when you release the load, the lifter is bad. A "spongy" lifter will usually emit a stream of bubbles as the air is compressed out. If the spongy lifter does not go "solid" after many full strokes, it's bad.

They are neat devices, simple in function, but intricate in design and manufacture. The inner plunger and body are class fit to a clearance of about 3 microns (125 millionths of an inch), so they are very sensitive to dirt. Be careful with them out of the engine. If you do take one apart, you cannot mix parts between assemblies.

Good luck and have fun.

Thanx for your reply.. I put the lifter back in. If it works it works.. Otherwise gues I'll have a bent push tube. I did compress it and it came back up but I only compressed it maybe a 1/4 inch. Will try and start tomorrow..
Jack

Put the lifter in a cup of clean oil and pump it up (get the air out) before reinstalling it.

Mike B

Thanx Mike will do. Probably easier to remove the side plate again rather than risk it... and have to do it again anyway.
JACK

Adjusting hydraulic lifters is a little tricky. If you know someone who has done it, get a 6 pack and invite them over.

You have to adjust lash until there is no slack then an addition 1/2 to full turn.

Thanks! Haven't had a chance to do anything yet . Probably Tuesday.. By the way last six pack I had was when I was 17 or 18 yrs old..