FE3 HLA cleaning procedure for more lift and power :-)

[fredio54]

to be totally honest, i had both things going on too! lol

but yes, they take a while to settle. double check the belt lines up correctly for sure, and if so, leave it sitting in each position such that all valves spend a full night wide open. that will squeeze it out. i did that over 4 days and had a runner at the end of it.

its a shame you didnt just give em a clean :-)

24 x even a few dollars each is quite a lot in total.

fred.

[ye1-low]

Thanks for the quick reply! I did cost a pretty penny but I have another Millenia to go so I decided to put all the new ones in my favorite ride and pick and choose suitable HLAs for the other. I hope your drain/bleed theory works. I just rolled the car out of the "cool" garage out on to the inclined driveway the other day being totally confident that it would start. Now I am totally dreading having to work on it in the blazing sun if this tip doesn't get it started. Its about 100 degrees today. I really don't want to have to pull the timing covers once again since I torqued everything down to spec and detailed the engine.

I am rotating it about a 1/4 of a rotation everyday since I have no reference marks. Its like hit or miss if I get any of the HLAs squished. I never knew that overfilled HLAs could make such a big ordeal. If it works at least I know what NOT to do on the other KL.

[fredio54]

did you try checking compression? how did the timing marks look?

[Blizza]

This is a excellent writeup! I recently rebuilt a fe3 head and had no idea what to do with the HLAs. The most critical work on the head was done at a professional workshop, and when I asked them about the HLAs they just told me they should be clean, but they had no specifics on how to clean them. So I just put the in diesel until I could figure out what to do with them. That was probably a good thing though, cause they were easy to get apart after that.

Now I have cleaned most of them, and I have assembled those on the intake side, and it looks like they are in good shape, so lets hope they are. I used about 15 minutes on each when I cleaned them and I think it was totally worth it. I'm a student, so every penny I can spare is money I can use somewhere else on the car

Thanks for the great info you have provided here fred!

[fredio54]

no worries mate, thats what its all about. perhaps in the future you will provide some information to benefit the other members too! make sure you noticed the bit about them being too full!! that will cause you to scratch your head if you forget it.

fred.

[Blizza]

Yeah I read that part, and I tried to drain them a bit before putting them in. I have been stupid enough to put the head on before I did this, so I cant see if they are a bit open. But I'll just keep the valves fully open one by one a day each to be sure.

We'll see what I can provide with info when the time comes. This is my first engine rebuild, so I don't have much experience yet

[fredio54]

dont tell anyone, but my build up is my first too ;-) (link in sig)

fred.

[Stroker]

Has any body tried puting a stronger spring inside .

[fredio54]

thats a bloody good point! if they were ever to give pumping down problems (which i doubt) that would likely solve it! good contribution stroker! well done.

[Stroker]

I just got another fe3 motor cheap $500 taken HLA out and apart i think two more holes and a stronger spring would solve the problem

[fe3t b2200]

ive tried stiffer springs it works a treat but if you go too stiff it causes lifter pump at high rpm. i havnt tried extra holes not sure how you would drill a extra hole or two in them as they are very hard. but grind a notch in the top edge of the inner piston where it contacts the inside top of the bucket to promote oil flow into the lifter itself this helps the ticking that can come and go. i tried stiffer springs cause i got my cams reground to a 262 degree profile and the lifters didnt like the reduced base circle and allways ticked so i fitted stiffer longer springs and increased the oil flow into the lifter piston and all problems solved!

[fredio54]

Originally Posted by Stroker

I just got another fe3 motor cheap $500 taken HLA out and apart i think two more holes and a stronger spring would solve the problem

what problem? are you experiencing one?

thanks for punctuating that post fraud. it makes a real difference that everyone will appreciate.

fred.

[mazda_626]

thanks fredio, at a NZ price of $62 each retail or $45 trade, i'm going to try the cleaning before i go and pimp myself so i can buy 16 of these.
my odometer has 275,000 and the engine is sounding like santa's slay, has done for quite a few years.

I have two spare complete FE3's in the garage which I'd rather not rip apart for extra HLA's.
so considering the high Km's and the length of time it's been noisy, i'm really wanting to see if this will work on them all or not

need to do a really good flush first, any ideas how to clean a really dirty engine?
every oil change, i change the oil then do a flush then change the oil again and within a week the oil is dirty again.

I've added this last comment to this thread becuase i feel it will also make an impact to the clean HLA's and how long they will function properly for.
I doubt im the only one with the same problem of a really dirty engine.
would a Kero flush (kerosine flush) be a bad idea? even if dropped from 50% to 25% kero?
i was thinking a kero flush then run around on new oil for about 1,000 Km's, do another flush with STP (no kero) and new dino oil THEN clean the lifters.
no point cleaning the HLA's BEFORE the flush or without the flush.

[fredio54]

if its really dirty, only physical cleaning can help you

having said that, you *could* pay to have it commercially flushed...

costly though. short of dropping the sump and pulling the rocker cover to clean it all with a toothbrush like i did, you can only hope and wait..

dont worry about the colour of it too much, its the additives that wear out, and the polymers that break down with time. my girls black top 4age was in pretty grubby state, and we gave it a few flushes etc, and filled it with synthetic. the oil looks dirty, but i know its working right, so who cares.

as for the cleaning having no point... hmmm

i'd go ahead and clean em anyway. though they will clog up again quicker with [shizzle]ty oil, they wont clog up that fast

in my opinion the crap inside FORMS in there from cheap oil breaking down because of hte heat from the valve. thus, if its dirty synthetic, it should be ok

they really have to be perfectly clean though. perfectly!

as for the price

that sounds "mazda" try kia, its less, but still a lot...

fred.

[PiggyBack]

I just sendt a email to kia-norway, and the price for one HLA was 52dollars