MX-3.com

Hey, I just replaced my HLA's with brand new ones. I dropped them in oil before installation, one was kind of hard to fit in. exhaust #1 HLA.

Anyways, I was wondering if I can expect them to tick for an extended period of time.

I've driven it for four hours and the ticking hasn't subsided.

When I dropped in my new ones it ticked for 5 minutes and has
not since.

What viscosity and type of oil are you using?

castrol 10w30 high milage. It's what I had on hand.

You need to run her up near the redline to get the oil pressue high enough to fill them

No lie.

If you're not going to lie, don't wink at me!

OR some WOT under load on the freeway.

Yes do what he said. Get it up to 7000 rpm and report back.

Thanks guys, you made my car smoke.

HLA still tickeytickeytick.

Here's what we did. We replaced the valve stem seals... or rather had them replaced by a shop. We took off the cams before we brought it in. The HLA's just fell out.
When we received the head back after being cleaned and new seals placed in, we went to reseat the HLA's. They all fell in perfectly except for exhaust #1 HLA, and, intake #8 (far top right)

Intake #8 didn't slip in, but it fit just fine after some tinkering with positioning.

Exhaust #1 however, took some crying. We made sure the edge wasn't cut or such, causing the HLA not to seat, took the side of a screwdriver and rubbed around the edge to make sure there wasn't anything blocking... when we did get it seated, it was firm. So pops pushed down on it, and forced the valve open... it didn't pop back up. So we pushed up on the valve spring with a screwdriver to pop it back up. Oiled it a bit more, pushed down and it wasn't smooth like butter, but it'd finally flow up and down on it's own.


When we started up the car afterwards, they ALL went quiet after like 5-10 minutes and the car was as smooth as... something really smooth. However, I had to take a 250 mile trip back home, and 20 miles in, I noticed HLA 1 was doing the tick.

I thought maybe they just needed some time, but I drove it another 30 miles today in town and I tried revving it high, and it just poofed smoke no HLA fixin'

Do I need to open her up and get the HLA slot honed or something?

The hole on the left is the trouble one.



Left one again.

It all looks normal... meh, i don't want to dig back into it but if I have to...

Well, as I'm sure you know each HLA is selected for each valve combo... its a height thing. Each bore should be identical. I know some of mine needed to be exactly lined up to fit, but they should all slide smooth in the bore.

If they don't... I'd try swapping some around. Make sure the outside of HLA/inside of bore aren't scratched at all. Screwdriver was a bad idea.

smoke is bad... hope the seals were installed correctly.

BTW that head is cleeeaaaan. shops are good at that eh?

So my oil light came on.
And smoke billowed out of my tailpipe...


All the cylinders are wet, I pulled the plugs and looked in them, they're all wet. And I'm out of oil.
I just went through five quarts of oil in 300 miles. I love my life right now.

I'm trying to figure out what went wrong. I had the valves vacuum tested , stem seals replaced as well...
I looked at the seals and they're all seated correctly between the springs

Can I blame the ebay head gasket on failure?

What else would make all four cylinders soaked?

No one carries a head gasket for the B6D in the MX-3, however, I can source locally a Fel Pro head gasket for a
1.6l DOHC Kia Sephia 97. This is the same B6, correct?

I believe the kia b6 is the same. I remember when I bought my head gasket, it had the "vehicles this fits" thing. It mentioned something about a sephia, but I have no clue on the years though. http://www.deansautorepair.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; had it in stock, but it was hella expensive, $98 or something.

Even still, couldn't you buy the kia gasket, set it in place, and if things don't line up, return it?

I live by the "if it aint broke... don't fix it" modo... My engine has the normal tick tick tick tick... But then I just turn the music up and it somehow goes away!

you need a head gasket SuperK?

I think that AutoZone over here sells 'em.. not 100% but I know they've had my valve cover gasket.