Valve lifters - again

[Grant Lenahan]

In most of my audis, especially older ones, they ALL go soft when they stand even for a couple days, and clatter until they pump up.  Deposits (varnish) can also cause them to be sticky.  So i'd suggest caution before throwing money and time at it; clean them too.

Grant
On Oct 6, 2012, at 12:06 PM, Radek wrote:

> Two questions about valve lifters:
> 1. is it OK to put used ones in (from another car), provided they are still good?
> 2. How to tell they are good?
> Background:  my son's 1988 90Q has been out of commission for a couple of months now, due to rear differential problems (nearly solved now, separate topic).   I remember checking valve lifters about a year ago, two of them were soft (don't remember which ones).  So I decided to open up the front, change the timing belt and the two lifters while the car is on stands in the garage. 
> First, I did a leakdown test to see if the valves are good - no issues.  Second, I checked all lifters for softness (rolling the camshaft to get the lobes up and pushing down on the lifters with a small piece of wood).  To my surprise, 7 out of 10 were soft.  Tolerance according to Bentley is just 0.01 mm.
> Is it possible that because the engine hasn't been started for over two months, oil leaked out of the lifters and they are soft, but when the engine starts again they will be OK?
> I went a step farther, removed the camshaft and took the lifters out one by one.  Squeezing them with my thumb and forefinger, I could very easily squeeze oil out of 7 of them, while the other 3 would not budge at all.  Same about the 2 brand new lifters I have, can't squeeze them at all.
> So now, more questions in my mind:
> a) are the soft ones bad?
> b) if they are, do I replace them with brand new ones or can I put in used ones from my Eurovan, privided these are hard?
> Thanks for all thoughts.
> 
> Radek.
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