Noisy head again but new question.

Hi there, me yet again,
A new suggestion has been made about my very noisy head, noise like badly out of ajustment conventional tappets. That the hydraulic tappets (called lash adjustors by land rover) are either worn, have been incorrectly fitted following a head gasket replacement or are not getting an adequate oil supply.

So my question is this: is it possible to access the lash adjustors with out disturbing the cylinder head bolts. ie just lifting the rocker shaft and camshaft. Rave and Mr Hains both don't make this clear!

Any suggestion welcome.

You can get to the lash adjusters by removing the rocker cover no need to touch the cylinder head bolts

Jay222 said:

You can get to the lash adjusters by removing the rocker cover no need to touch the cylinder head bolts

Click to expand...

Erm really?
You can certainly see the lash adjusters by removing the cam cover, but to remove them you will need to lift the cam, which means removing the head.
At least one of my lash adjusters occasionally taps/knocks. Mine may be due to a me (for once!) not following RAVE and not keeping my adjusters vertical when I removed them for my head swap.
Ive read elsewhere that its not uncommon after a head/gasket change and "could" be due to a poorly made head gasket with a badly aligned hole, not allowing enough oil flow to the head.
Mark

Thanks for your thoughts, Mark.
RAVE fails on the subject of the "lash adjusters" as indeed does Mr Haynes! RAVE has given me a clue: there are 13 bolts for the camshaft carrier and 12 for the head which would lead me to hope that I can lift the camshaft without disturbing the head bolts and so get access to the lash adjusters. However I rather feel that if there is any suspicion that they have been starved of oil it may well be wise to lift the head and redo the gasket.

Todays question: what should the "lash adjusters" be like ie what wear is likly to have taken place and what are the tolerances? Are new ones still avaliable?

Hi
Sorry but you def have to remove the head bolts to split the cam carrier/top part.
Yes new lash adjusters are avail, I get most of my bits from Turner Eng.
You will need the correct Loctite to reseal the two parts of the head.
Have a look at my thread on Fitting new AMC. Head.
If it's running ok I wouldn't bother.
But your call.
Bits will cost about £120 + £15 ea for the lash adjusters

Hi Mark,
Thanks for your comments. Following them I now feel that I have no option but to lift the head if only to check that the oil supply is clear. I'm convinced that the trouble all stems back to that job having been entrusted in the first place to a "troop of monkeys" ! Last time that I had the rocker cover off I noticed that the timing chain was not on it's marks my assumption being that so long as the camshaft and crankshaft sprockets are in the right position when the chain is replaced all should be well and that the engine wouldn't run otherwise.
As I now belive that the lash adjuster may have been starved of oil, can you tell me how to check their condition and that of the "pots" that they sit in?
On rebuilding the head is there a routine for "priming" the lash adjuster (when did they stop calling them hydraulic tappets)? I'm assuming that this priming is lost by not keeping them upright on removal.

Mark, your posting on the head replacement, is very informative and well written the photos well taken. Thanks for that.
Gordon.

I had 'help' removing the head on mine, and that involved piling all the lash adjusters into a plastic cup (tho covered in oil) - so no idea which was bedded to which cam etc. Def noisier on rebuild, but then that AMC head is so much more beefy in places I suspect it is noisier full stop? Cheers, A

Thanks Gordon!
Not sure if there is a procedure for priming the adjusters, Im annoyed that I didnt keep mine upright, I was rushing a bit, my fault!
New ones must come "primed" as they obviously cant be kept upright during shipping!
Maybe its worth giving Frida at Turner Engineering a call, she is very knowledgeable on all things Landy.
Im pretty sure my gasket is ok, as the tapping is intermittent, shes done over 4K miles with the new head so far.
Ill probably lift the head and check everything over when summer is over!
Ive always called them hydraulic tappets, but lash adjusters seems to have slipped in now!
Mark
PS If you Google "priming hydraulic tappets" you will come up with a mountain of "info", which now has me thinking it could be oil supply! Either way the heads coming off again!

I've not done mine (yet) but I'm sure I've read that people check the operation of the adjusters by carefully squeezing them in a vice to be sure they are not seized and can close and open, then when they are re fitted the oil gets into them at the start up.
James Martin will know and perhaps he will advise.

Edit
By the way when you set the injector tappets how much did you back off the screws ?

Just wanted to be sure I was on the right lines with how these things work and I found the page which has some useful stuff:

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/55080-replacing-lifterslash-adjusters/

Look here too

Thanks all for your input, the u-tube links were very helpful. I've bought one lash adjuster from Rimmers (£12.74) to have as a comparison to the ones that I remove. I'll trying and add a photo of it. There is oil in it and a cap to prevent it draining out from the hole in the top and a plastic band to prevent loss from the side hole.
Sorry but ill have to sort out how to attach a photo.
More anon!

markomate2 said:

Erm really?
You can certainly see the lash adjusters by removing the cam cover, but to remove them you will need to lift the cam, which means removing the head.
At least one of my lash adjusters occasionally taps/knocks. Mine may be due to a me (for once!) not following RAVE and not keeping my adjusters vertical when I removed them for my head swap.
Ive read elsewhere that its not uncommon after a head/gasket change and "could" be due to a poorly made head gasket with a badly aligned hole, not allowing enough oil flow to the head.
Mark

Click to expand...

I meant to check adjustment rather than removal

Those are great pics, its good to see close ups of new ones.
Mark

Hi I bought new ones from padocks no plastic thingy just wrapped in grease paper

Thanks for all your help, I've now desided to swop engines between my two Disco 2s and defer the head job until a later date when I may have better workshop facilities. Going to now start a new thread on getting the engine out. I've hunted high and low for some advice but the search engines seem to fail . Thanks again for all your help.