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Old 10-12-2000, 10:07 PM   #1
mms4ba
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Have a Nice Day? Sticky Lifters? (longish but please read)

Took my '98 RS with 50K miles into the dealer b/c I'm hearing a noise on cold startups that goes away after warm up. After searching for engine noise, I convinced myself it was piston slap.

When I started it for the dealer mechanic, he said it sounded like a lifter. He asked me what oil and filter I was using. The car has had Mobil 1 most of it's life, and that's what it has had recently. He frowned and told me to "get rid of the synthetic", and to switch to a purolator filter because that who makes subaru oem filters and they have some sort of drain back valve? So he tells me to go to dinosaur oil and purolator, give it 200 miles, "and if you still hear the noise we'll go from there."

Now I'm going to change the oil like he wants, only because this might be something warranteable and I want to do as he says so he'll help me if I still get noise after the oil change.

If you've read this far, my question/invitation for comments is this:

1. I thought everyone swore by synthetic? (BTW, this isn't the first dealer to tell me this. Another said "viper engines are made for synthetic. There is no reason to put it in a subie.")

2. What damage does a lifter sticking do to the engine? By searching, it seems that people have said it doesn't do much, but the subie mechanic seemed to think it was BAD!

3. Anyone had similar experience with the '98? (Think there was a guy named "chuck" who just turned 90K on his). Is this common with the '98 DOHC? What steps can I take? I want the engine to last a LONG time.

Comments would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Matt

p.s. for southern californian's reference, this was at Bob Baker subaru in El Cajon, the mechanic's name was Moses.

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Old 10-13-2000, 07:47 AM   #2
Silver2000RS
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Post

My other car is an Escort GT with a 1.8 DOHC engine. I developed a lifter noise around 70K miles. The problem only occured when the engine was cold. I never used synth oil in this engine but I ALWAYS changed the oil & filter every 3K miles.

I did not do any repair work on the lifter noise & I now have 120K miles. Recently, I took the valve cover off to take a look at the cams & lifters. By sight, everything looked clean & I did not find any signs of wear on the cam lobes or lifter surface. So I'm not too worried about it.

However, I added a can of some miracle oil additive just before an upcoming oil change. I think it was called 'CD2'? I'm sure you can find something similar at Walmart, or Kmart. I spent about $2 for the can. (Don't waste your money on the expensive 'Duralube', 'Motorup', etc products.) The cheap 'CD2' seemed to work since the valve/lifter noise is gone (for now).

Be sure to buy an additive that 'will free sticky lifters' (i.e. solvent) and not product to 'reduce oil burning' (i.e. oil thickener). By the way, I wouldn't keep this stuff in your engine for too long since it's supposed to dissolve engine gunk into the oil. Thus, making the oil very dirty and maybe reducing the oil viscosity.

But what the heck, for $2 it's worth a shot.

P.S. I don't know if these additives can be used with synth oil.
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Old 10-13-2000, 07:56 AM   #3
dandbest
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Well, synthetic oil is "slicker" i.e. less friction in the engine, which should extend engine life. Personally, I think that if you change your oil every 2500-3000 miles, you should have no problems. What the dinosaur oil might do is quiet the lifter since its a bit thicker. That does not fix your problem. Just cause you can't hear it, it doesn't mean its not broken. As for engine damage from the sticky lifter, as long as you don't go to 6000RPM at every stop light, you should be fine.

Just my .02 cents.

Danny
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Old 10-13-2000, 11:04 AM   #4
mms4ba
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Post

Thanks for the replies.

Just changed my oil, and used castrol 10w30, and a purolator filter. The filter was cheap, but that's who makes subaru ones...

I kinda suspected that the dino oil might just quiet the noise. But if it does quiet the noise, doesn't that fix it? I thought lifter noise was because oil hadn't gotten to the lifters yet...?

Matt
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Old 10-13-2000, 07:15 PM   #5
OneBadMutha
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Synthetic oil is by far, superior to standard oil. It has a much lower pour point, breaks down at a much higher temperature, and pretty much kicks ass all around. Inlcuding being more "slippery".

The only problems I've heard are that you should not break in certain engines on synth since a) the seals will not swell properly and b) there's not enough friction to cause the parts to wear into each other as they are supposed to. Also, switching an old engine to synth might cause worn seals to leak.

Vettes and Porshes on the other hand get synth from the factory, but they're build to tight tolerances ( actually so are Scoobies ).

I've read a bit but keep in mind I'm a programmer and not an mechanic.
-OBM

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