Club 80-90 Forums

Hi there,

Does anyone know if my van has adjustable or hydraulic tappets? It's a 1986 1.9 w/c Transporter tin top... Pretty sure it's the DG engine...

Have had a look around and it seems probably hydraulic lifters, just had some work done, garage said it's a bit "tappety" (I thought well it is 27 years old...!) and asked if I knew if it had adjustable or hydraulic... if it's hydraulic, and I want them sorted, am I looking at saving up a lot of cash? Or is it a reasonable cost to deal with for what the benefits will be? He said the adjustables would only be a couple of hours work...

Sorry if this all a bit newb, but I am one!

This question keeps cropping up about once a week. Check out the wicki on tappets/oil and all will be revealed.

Linky?

Go to the top of this page and click on wicki option!

tonydata wrote:Linky?

Looky https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.ratwell.com/technical/HydraulicLifters.html

Take some time and read this

A VW flat four should sound like 8 northern women knitting socks

kevtherev wrote:http://www.ratwell.com/technical/HydraulicLifters.html

Take some time and read this

A VW flat four should sound like 8 northern women knitting socks

(or 4 fast ones )

Thanks all, will have a read... apologies on asking for the link, normally if I point someone somewhere I try and give them a deep link so it's easy for them to find (especially if it's clear they have no idea what they are looking for!)

And once you have clicked the wicki use the search option. Easy peasy.

Technically if your engine is original and not messed with it will have hydraulic tappets as standard, if its a replacement then it should have hydraulic tappets however if its an engine shop or volkspares engine they had a habit of changing the tappets to solid lifters on all of their rebuilds, if you cannot discover which is yours then you will need to seek professional advise or if you are handy with the spanners remove a rocker cover, take out the rocker gear and remove the pushrods, then with a strong light look at any one of the tappets at the bottom, if you can see a seperate centre held in by a small clip its hydraulic if it look to be one piece then its solid.

Ralf85 wrote:And once you have clicked the wicki use the search option. Easy peasy.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... that's what that's for... cheers!

steve8090 wrote:Technically if your engine is original and not messed with it will have hydraulic tappets as standard, if its a replacement then it should have hydraulic tappets however if its an engine shop or volkspares engine they had a habit of changing the tappets to solid lifters on all of their rebuilds, if you cannot discover which is yours then you will need to seek professional advise or if you are handy with the spanners remove a rocker cover, take out the rocker gear and remove the pushrods, then with a strong light look at any one of the tappets at the bottom, if you can see a seperate centre held in by a small clip its hydraulic if it look to be one piece then its solid.

Thanks Steve, it's an original engine I believe... So, the magic question... and I know I need to read that link you dropped in Kev but... is the cost of adjusting the HT''s horrific, and... does it really need doing?

Their very nature suggests not.
However, resetting them is routine stuff.
Ratwell has the guide to do that... (see link)

noisy lifters are a result of poor servicing over a few years.. and component failure due to this
They may take a few oil changes to recover if they're in good enough nick
However the little oil hole is important, if has been blocked or the oil is poor quality, the lifter won't pump up and the rocker just hammers the top of the valve stem and hammers the return spring..left to do that it will open a bigger gap and tack longer to recover

a non pumped lifter is a frightening sound
if they are just rattly then a few oil changes and a good run will sort them out

kevtherev wrote:Their very nature suggests not.
However, resetting them is routine stuff.
Ratwell has the guide to do that... (see link)

noisy lifters are a result of poor servicing over a few years.. and component failure due to this
They may take a few oil changes to recover if they're in good enough nick
However the little oil hole is important, if has been blocked or the oil is poor quality, the lifter won't pump up and the rocker just hammers the top of the valve stem and hammers the return spring..left to do that it will open a bigger gap and tack longer to recover

a non pumped lifter is a frightening sound
if they are just rattly then a few oil changes and a good run will sort them out

Cheers Kev

Best description ever. Made me belly laugh.

kevtherev wrote: A VW flat four should sound like 8 northern women knitting socks