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I replaced head gaskets on my brumby and since then i have had an awful ticking, its even youder then the exhaust!

The valve clearences are spot on, hot and cold.
I have done the test for piston slap and its not that, i replaced pushrods but still didnt fix it.
Its odd how it happened since the gaskets were done and the noise is deffinaly in the head end of motor.

Anyone had this problem or know a solution?

elfreddo will be a expert on the ea ticking noise
as far as i know its the hydrolic lifters

I have spare set, ill switch them over and give it a try then

Does your EA81 have black or green rocker covers? If they are black it means you have hydraulic lifters and if you set the clearances to solid lifter model, then you're going to have a very noisy engine

never seen an EA81 with hydraulic lifters.

Yeah they are black, what are the clearences for them? I have been doing it at .35 and .25 as per the manual, never had problem till now.

If i accidently put them on the wrong side would that matter?

I thought only Jap market 81's had hydraulic lifters? Even then not all of them did; my EA81S had solid lifters.

ajbuwalda, if you plan on swapping the lifters over good luck, that's a split engine block job

According to gregorys manual, ohv (ea81) never have hydraulic, only ohc.
Ill swap my rocker arms over and see what that does otherwise tighten valve clearences.

Oil couldnt have anything to do with it? Im running 20w 50

That is just Paul spreading rumours ...my Subie parts guy with nearly 30 years experience says the AUDM did not get hydraulic liftered EA81, and if they did, hydraulic lifters would be listed and available....the black rocker covered jobbies did have some nasty sharp tin bits on top of the adjusters to stop you mucking around with settings (coz they are hydraulic? who nose?) My 92 sometimes sounds like a hydraulic is mucking up - black rocker covers Aus delivered, original engine on 495,000 ....

Paul is gonna tear an AUSDM EA81 down just to prove he is correct, my parts guy will just have to swallow video evidence

EA81 is defianantly solid, and to change is defianantly a split block job.
After a full rebuild like mine, if te noise was there what would you do?

I can confirm I have owned and dismantled a hydraulic liftered EA81 - the blocks have sleeves in them to hold things like oil pressure ? Paul has the proof they exist. I knew mine to be an "API import" in 97 or 98. The oil delivery of the rockers or pushrods is different between hydr and solids

I am betting it is around valve area, rockers, something like that as it wasnt making a noise before i did head gaskets.

Also i noticed some machined checker handgrip looking things like the handle of a rachet on one side of the pushrods, are they ment to face a certain way or doesnt really matter?

ajbuwalda wrote: Also i noticed some machined checker handgrip looking things like the handle of a rachet on one side of the pushrods, are they ment to face a certain way or doesnt really matter?

That's a knurled pattern. I wish I could remember if they are important or not but I think mine were all facing outwards.

First thing in the morning ill change rocker arms over and put pushrods around that way and let ya all know the verdict. Thankyou

ive been told its oil pump seals mine tick and im yet to do the oil pump seals and ive been told that by 3 different mechanics and one being a subar u specialist

How long did you run it for,
I have a EA81 with black rocker covers and hydraulic lifters.
I had a big ticking noise after doing the head gaskets, all it was was air in the lifters, Noise disapeared after 15-20 mins.
You have to be very careful not to get any junk down the pushrod bores.
Try setting the tappets so there is no clearance.

Hydraulic lifters... fun fun. My sisters L series took 3000km for them ALL to settle in! Admittedly looking back on it the oil pump seals were probably sucking air - the car had to complete a drive from central vic to Port Douglas which is roughly where it all went quiet as it should have been. This was an EA82 though.

Re-check the clearances and set for the hydraulic lifters (if there's a different setting) then give it a week.

Have you changed your oil type since doing the head gaskets?

Cheers

Bennie

think the knurling is finger grip for fine tuning - used to have a hydraulic method of wind adjustment in until ('til) the pushrod gripped by friction and backed off half a turn.

My memory is sh*t to put it nicely but I know that some EA81 motors DO come with hydraulic lifters, I have some (thanks Jono) kept nicely away for the next engine build. Now getting back to my memory, I recall the little sticker (gold in colour I think) on top of the black rocker cover stating that the valve adjustment was not required as they preset to the correct tension.

Another thing to check is, is the oil getting up to the rockers? as the headgaskets can be on back to front. Did you check the oil feed ring on the gasket was in the correct place on the block?

I had a look at the push rods, i had 3 backwards, turned them around and its the most quiet subaru i have ever heard! Just got one pushod to turn around on the other side.

I face the knurled end outwards