This Outback is ticking during its first 15 minutes of driving.
Dear Car Talk | Jul 01, 2000
Dear Tom and Ray:
TOM: Ticking, huh? Well, if you've eliminated the ex-wife/pyrotechnic device possibility, then I'd say you have bad lifters, Peter.
RAY: We see this problem on lots of cars -- Subarus, Volkswagens, Chryslers and Mazdas, to name a few. My guess is that your hydraulic lifters aren't holding their oil pressure overnight. During the night, the oil drains down out of them and is replaced by air. Then, when you start the car the next morning, it takes a long time for them to purge themselves of that air and get refilled with oil.
TOM: And it's not good for your engine, especially if it's clacking for fifteen minutes every day. When you have extra lash in the valve train like that, you're also whacking the cam lobes and valve stems, and all of that banging eventually is going to turn your engine to junk.
RAY: So I'd definitely go back to your Subaru dealer and complain. The first thing they should do is check for a weak oil pump, which can also cause or exacerbate this problem. But assuming the pump is OK, maybe they have a newer design for the lifters that doesn't drain down as readily. Or, at the very least, maybe they'll install some lifters that don't have 60,000 miles on them.
TOM: In either case, you want to fix this. If you were hearing the noise for a minute or less, I'd probably say don't worry about it. But 15 minutes is way too long.
TOM: Ticking, huh? Well, if you've eliminated the ex-wife/pyrotechnic device possibility, then I'd say you have bad lifters, Peter.
RAY: We see this problem on lots of cars -- Subarus, Volkswagens, Chryslers and Mazdas, to name a few. My guess is that your hydraulic lifters aren't holding their oil pressure overnight. During the night, the oil drains down out of them and is replaced by air. Then, when you start the car the next morning, it takes a long time for them to purge themselves of that air and get refilled with oil.
TOM: And it's not good for your engine, especially if it's clacking for fifteen minutes every day. When you have extra lash in the valve train like that, you're also whacking the cam lobes and valve stems, and all of that banging eventually is going to turn your engine to junk.
RAY: So I'd definitely go back to your Subaru dealer and complain. The first thing they should do is check for a weak oil pump, which can also cause or exacerbate this problem. But assuming the pump is OK, maybe they have a newer design for the lifters that doesn't drain down as readily. Or, at the very least, maybe they'll install some lifters that don't have 60,000 miles on them.
TOM: In either case, you want to fix this. If you were hearing the noise for a minute or less, I'd probably say don't worry about it. But 15 minutes is way too long.
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