Club 80-90 Forums

Open debate question, 

as of right now, I have no opinions on either, hence my question and wishing to learn

I've never owned a hydraulic lifter, 

But I can't help but wonder, why are they hydraulic and self-adjusting if they need adjusting?????


I get that one would set the rocker from new, or after a issue, ie cam replacement, but i cant understand why you would adjust them because or wear and tear, surly there is a need to replace something first as that contradicts the design off a self-adjusting lifter 


its obvious that adjusting a wore rocker will bring some things back into spec (ish) that does not need to be mentioned, but arnt you masking something that's worn??

The valve stem and the rocker screw tips both wear, top end lubrication is marginal on any VW flat 4

As I understand them, when they are new and empty/soft then you need to give them a basic setting to work from, that's the one mentioned in the Haynes where you screw the adjuster down until the adjuster screw just touches then you go a further 2 full turns.
I believe that then gives the hydraulic tappet/lifter/whatever enough scope to automatically adjust either way.
Once they are pumped up then in my experience the 2 turns is out of the window, if for whatever reason you need to "adjust" a lifter then I used to go a turn to a turn and a quarter, that usually worked.
Going 2 turns on a pumped up lifter is a recipe for a lot of cranking, low compression and a flooded engine.