Hi all:  I had a cylinder head gasket leak, which pressurized the water
tank.  The engine had 20,000 miles on it since it had new heads.  I've torn
the engine down and didn't find any serious looking problems.  Now, while
putting it back together, I noticed a keeper is missing out of one of the
hydraulic lifters, and a chip is missing out of the top of the lifter body.

        My question is:  Since the keeper was gone, would it be possible
that this is what caused the head gasket failure?  My thinking is that
because the keeper was missing it allowed the lifter to pump up way too far
and pushed on the valve far enough to cause the spring to bind; thereby
pushing out on the head, causing the gasket to leak.  There was no piston
damage from the valve hitting. 

        What do you think?

Todd Francis             tbf@pacifier.com
'86 Westy Syncro         Vancouver, Wa