Lifter Cleaning/Replacement VFAQ

Tools needed:

10mm socket
Crowbar
17mm wrench
Large flat-bladed screwdriver
Optional, but highly recommended: new valve cover gaskets
(all 6 - valve cover, 4 spark plug hole, and cam bore half-moon plug)


	Remove the valve cover Remove the spark plug cover (yellow circles) and wires, move the spark plug wires out of the way Remove the spark plugs (it makes rotating the engine easier) Remove the upper timing belt cover (purple markings) Remove the valve cover bolts (blue circles) and disconnect the PCV hose (red circle). Remove the throttle / cruise cable brackets and move if they are in they way (some models only) Remove the valve cover carefully and put it in a safe place. (They are expensive to replace!) Hint: get small pieces of cloth or papertowel, and stuff them in the large oil drainage passages that lead down into the block. This will keep you from digging for a rocker if it flies out and wedges itself in one of the passages. Make sure to remove them before putting the valvecover back on when done changing the lifters.

	Remove the rocker arm Using the crowbar as a lever, as shown, pry the rocker arm over the end of the lifter Be warned, the rocker arms may pop out with some force, so watch out for where they land NOTE: Make sure that the cam lobe over the rocker in question is not compressing the valve. If it is, rotate the engine with a 17mm openend wrench on the cam sprocket bolt until the cam lobe is completely clear of the rocker arm

	Remove the lifter Pull the lifter out of the head by hand (pliers shown for clarity) Remove all oil from the new lifter - this also applies if you are cleaning and reusing the old lifters. Get a large paperclip and straighten it out. Insert it into the top hole of the lifter until it bottoms, then press on it lightly - you can now easily collapse the lifter with the paperclip still in place. If cleaning and reusing the old lifters: Submerge the lifter in cleaning solution (brakeparts cleaner, carb cleaner, acetone). Soak it for as long as you can, preferably up to a day or more. Insert the paperclip, depress the internal valve, and pump the lifter up and down until it moves freely and the fluid coming out is clean. If you have the time, repeat the above at least one more time. Remove the lifter, turn it upside down, depress the paperclip, and pump the lifter until no more cleaning fluid comes out. Set the lifter aside to dry for a while. Submerge the lifter in oil, depress the paperclip, and pump the lifter to fill it with oil. Remove the lifter, turn it upside down, depress the paperclip, and pump the lifter until no more oil comes out. This will leave a thin film of oil for startup. The lifters will clatter for a few minutes at startup when empty like this, but that is better than having them too full of oil and bending some valves. Drop the lifter back in the bore - it doesn't really matter how you line up the oiling holes in the lifter, they rotate under normal use.

	Reinstall the rocker arm Use the flat-bladed screwdriver underneath the rocker as a lever to lift rocker arm end onto the lifter tip

	Seat the lifter If the rocker is not seated properly, use the screwdriver or crowbar to push the rocker tip over the valve towards the lifter until it seats

	Repeat for all lifters BEWARE: Screwdriver clearance is very tight on the two valves closest to the cam pulleys, so make sure that you can get leverage to put the rocker arms back on before you remove them, or else you may end up taking off the timing belt and cam pulleys to get them in there. That's a lot more work. Reinstall the valve cover and any new gaskets, and *barely* snug them by hand. Torque spec is 2-3 ft/lbs, so don't crank them down, otherwise you risk gasket leakage or stripping the bolt threads from the head. Reinstall the spark plug wires and cover (again, 2-3 ft/lbs), top timing belt cover and the throttle/cruise control cables if you moved them. NOTE: If you have replaced all of the lifters, you may want to prime the oil pump before starting so that the lifters are full of oil. Do this by removing the MPI fuse from the positive battery terminal, and cranking the engine over until the oil light in the gauge cluster goes out. This isn't totally necessary, they may still clatter at startup even with priming.

Another cleaning technique...

This is the technique Jeff Brinkerhoff posted to the Talon Digest:
Remove lifters as per the VFAQ.

NOTE - I had no trouble with the lifters near the cam sprockets as Tom warns about, so I would not worry too much about it. I used a Craftsman 12" flat-blade screwdriver as a pry bar. It has a square cross section shaft, much easier since it did not slip when prying as a round one would.
Wipe each lifter off, and clean off with CARB/Brake Parts cleaner.
Rotate the inner cylinder until you see the inner hole through the outer hole. (They do not line up perfectly, but close.) Yes, they rotate easily by hand. Put the red straw into the side hole and spray a good amount of cleaner in. Really hose it out. ***warning - carb cleaner will shoot out of the tip of the lifter 5-10 feet!***
Repeat for each, and soak lifters completely submerged in cleaner for at least 30 minutes.
Remove from cleaner and turn upside down. Shake hard to remove most of the cleaner. Re-spray to get any gunk out that soaking loosened (this is when I saw actual crud chunks).
Shake again and dry off.
Rotate inner cylinder so that the inner hole is opposite the outer hole (180 degrees).
Reinstall as per the VFAQ. NOTE - I had to 'pop' each rocker back onto it's lifter as Tom shows at the end of the VFAQ. I used another, bigger screwdriver to give each one a push.
Replace the MPI fuse and start the car... Ahh sweet silence...

NOTE:

The first version of lifters used on early 1Gs (possibly up to early 2Gs) had extremely small top holes. The second version had a top hole about 3-4 times larger, and a larger groove on the side. First version is on the left, second on the right. Note that the second version was also slightly shorter in total height than the first. The third and latest version (as of 2004) is the same total height as the first version, has a top hole the size of the second version, and a side oil feed hole larger than the first or second version for even more oil flow to the followers.

If you want to pick up lifters a lot cheaper than factory costs, the lifters I recently bought are not Mitsu packaged, they're made by TopLine. Apparently Mitsu buys the TopLine lifters and repackages them. I compared them to photos of Mitsu OEM "new" style lifters, and they appear identical. The shop selling them is down in Texas, and they sell a lot of items at wholesale prices. Here's the info:

Credits

Pics by:
- Kyle Zingg
- Rick Santangelo
- Tom Stangl
Text by:
- Tom Stangl
- TurboMike
- Kyle Zingg
- Jeff Brinkerhoff

Questions, suggestions, comments, constructive criticism and/or corrections? Fill out this form.

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