Valvegear woes - hydraulic tappets - help!!!

[Mike T]

So, after trying to change the exhaust, and having to remove the engine, then a head to have the broken stud machined out I started reassembly this evening. All going well, then once the rocker gear was bolted back and torqued up, I checked if the pushrods moved.......

All fine except one, which I could push in about 10mm, leading me to believe it's the hydraulic tappet that has got air in it. AAAARGH!!!! But one isn't too bad, methinks, I can get an expanding tube and do it without stripping the engine again.

I then checked the other side of the engine (the one I haven't touched) and found that three of the rockers would push the pushrods back in by about the same amount, leading me to believe that there's a whole load of hydraulic tappets that have got air in them.

So, two questions:

1. Does my diagnosis sound right?

2. Is the only way to fix it to strip both heads off and pull the hydraulic tappets, refill them etc. and reassemble?

If 2 is the way forward, can I get away with leaving the barrels/liners in place and just doing a top-end strip/rebuild?

Thanks in advance,

Mike.

[toomanytoys]

Unfortunately you really should have either stored them in oil as soon as you dropped them out of the engine, or refilled and bled them before refitting.. its unlikely that they will refill if you try and start the engine.. and I would advise against that personally.. expandable tubes are ££££...... so it might be cheaper to buy 4 new metal sealing rings for the tops of the barrels and reuse the rubber seals.. pop the heads off and do the tappets.. the pushrod tubes will be fine as they havent be heat cycled..

[Mike T]

Yeah, thought another strip/refill/rebuild would be the (unfortunate) answer!

Annoyingly, the tappets weren't ever stripped out, the engine being sat on the garage floor with just one head off. Oh well, there you go! I'll just think of all the extra power I'll have with all the valves opening properly.........