Tabe,

What oil are you running? The one time I ran regular dino oil (Castrol 20w50) I got
terrible lifter noise until the engine was fully hot, sometimes taking 20 minutes or
more. I went back to Mobil 1 15w50 or Amsoil 15w40 and the lifter noise was gone. I
ran it this way 8 years, and even if the van sat for 3-4 months, lifter noise never
lasted more than a few seconds at startup with synthetic. I used to just change the oil
and filter once per year, since I only drove it about 10k per year.
Sounds like you should check your oil pressure for sure though...

On 7 Jun 2005 at 6:16, Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET> wrote:

> Lifter click at idle is due to a bad lifter (stuck ball check) or
> insufficient oil pressure.
>
> Dennis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
> Of tabe johnson
> Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 1:10 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Hydraulic Lifter Week
>
> Thanks Dennis.  With ~1/4" of range,
> it sounds like the adjustment needn't be
> as precise as people make it seem.
>
> At this point, only when the engine is warm,
> my lifters are quiet at speed but
> begin to clack a bit after the engine's been
> idling for ~30 seconds or thereabouts.  I'm
> going to drive it a bit more, but I wonder if
> I have them too tight now.  (I'm thinking
> the lower oil pressure at idle is not enough to
> keep them pumped up)  Does that seem right to you
> or am I barking up the wrong tree?  They
> could just be worn out.  Hope not tho!
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> --tabe
>
>
>
> --- Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@optonline.net> wrote:
>
> > If you feel the push rod tightening against the spring, you are
> already
> > taking up the slack. This guess or feel is probably why 2 turns is the
> > recommendation. The actual working range of the lifter is close to
> 1/4".
> > If you can't wiggle the push rod it is tight enough. Another turn is
> > adequate.
> >
> > Dennis
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf
> > Of tabe johnson
> > Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 9:44 PM
> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > Subject: Hydraulic Lifter Week
> >
> > I think lifters are a timely subject because they haven't
> > been covered super well, at least in the past five years
> > of archive searching I've done.  Dennis Haynes (as usual)
> > posted a good procedure in April of 2005 but it assumes
> > you can find zero clearance.  (see below)
> >
> > With solid lifters, it's pretty clear where you are because
> > nothing moves.  If you are looking for zero clearance,
> > you just wiggle the rocker back and forth while slowly
> > tightening the adjusting screw.  When the rocker stops
> > moving, that's zero clearance. Duh, right?
> >
> > The problem with the lifters that I've been trying to
> > adjust (and maybe they're worn) is that the springs in
> > the lifters are so weak that when you wiggle the rocker
> > back and forth it is very easy to compress the lifter spring
> > slightly.  I am unable to reliably say where zero clearance
> > is because of this.  The lifters don't feel hard, but springy.
> >
> > Any ideas, anyone?
> >
> > I was planning on driving it around for a while.  Being
> > paranoid, I'm afraid they may be adjusted too tight and
> > I'll burn a valve!
> >
> >
> > tabe johnson/87 westy/vancouver bc/xtabe@yahoo.com
> >
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>
>
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Shawn Wright
http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/~swright
'85 Jetta D
'88 Westy 2.1L, soon to be 1.6TD 5 speed
 (see progress at http://members.shaw.ca/vwdiesels)
'82 Diesel Westy