M62tu Tappet Installation

[LincsM62]

Hi Guys, hoping to build up a few posts so I can start a bit of a thread with pics on an M62tu build I’ve been cracking on with over the last couple of months. Been reading these forums for years now and the info from those who have been brave enough to take serious crack at pushing the M6x platform I tip my hat to you, you know who you are!

Back to the matter at hand...

There seems to be a big variance on the right way to install hydraulic tappets, some say you’ve got to empty them by compressing, some say they need to be pre lubed, bathed in oil, oil one chamber and not the other etc etc etc.

I found this info online

https://blog.bavauto.com/17547/how-t...stall-tappets/

Seems like a pretty down to earth guide but wanted to get opinions of what people do or have done successfully with there M62s is the process engine or tappet specific or is it a case of we all have our own routine?

Thanks in advance, Jake


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[wagons ho]

I would like to get my post in quickly that say, a lifter should not be oil free inside, but it should not be oil filled.
If you fill the lifter in this manner, you must pump the plunger till it collapses with finger pressure.
Or you will hold your valves open and have no compression.

[ChrisMelnyk]

This isn't exactly what your looking for, but I changed all lifters on my m54 7 years ago, and I'm pretty sure the procedure I followed was to use lots of assembly lube on the top of the lifter, but to install with no oil inside. Then you were to keep the revs up at 3000 rpm for a while, while oil pressure built and circulated and the noise (massive lifter tapping noise) would go away.

Again, this was 7 years and about 100,000 km ago, so I guess it didn't break anything. Its actually still a very quiet engine.

Incidentally the m54 and s62 share the same lifters, but the m62's are unique.

[LincsM62]

Yea that’s kind of what was confusing me about it Wagons!

I have also used that method of filling them Chris. Replaced an M62tu engine in a L322 Range Rover, worked to a certain extent but never was fully happy with the end result (lifters could have already been worn in replacement engine) but definitely quietened them!

So to put you in picture, the engine came from an E38 and had done 115k. Engine was in good nick all round, bores, heads and crank are in good condition and no excessive sludge or debris anywhere other than the expected. Compared to the other M62s I have opened up the oil staining is much darker, more of a brown maroon colour that the brighter gold which would lead me to believe its had the wrong oil in it or hasn’t been changed at the correct intervals.

I stripped the heads down in December and placed lifters the right way up in a pot and have not moved since. I’m now ready to re install lifters. What would you recommend I do? Milk and re install? Try and pre lube? Is there a way of checking they are still within spec? I know Wagons ho has touched on lifter installation on a couple of other threads, but just looking for some clarification on the right way to go about it.

[ChrisMelnyk]

I was looking at the Bentley manual yesterday, which has sections on lifter removal / re-installation.

For some reason, they specify info for the m52, m54, m62, but say that the m62tu is not covered in that section of the manual... I don't know why that would be the case.


That said you've probably looked at it already, and for re-installation (on the other engines), it just talked about putting the lifters back where they came from and had a bleed down chart, for the amount of time to wait depending on temperatures if the lifters had expanded during storage. For new lifters, it just said to install, and that it that.

It did mention in the beginning of the section that in a normal setting, you can wait as long 20 min for lifter ticking to go away, and that is OK. Outside of that is an issue.


As for accelerated wear, when I bought my car, it had a lifter tick that the owner had been driving around with for a few thousand miles if not more. I drove about 1000 miles on it like that too. And when I got to it, the lifter was 100% collapsed, not spongy, but fully collapsed. So in my mind, that would be the equivalent to an "empty" new lifter.

When comparing the top surface of the collapsed lifter and it's respective cam lobe to the others in the engine, it did not appear to have any more wear than the others.
And that was with thousands of miles. So to run the engine for ten or twenty min while waiting for the lifters to fill with oil doesn't seem like a big deal. Whereas, I am under the impression that if the lifters were to be over-filled, that could cause compression and interference issues.

[jclausen]

You would think they would recommend letting the lifers sit in oil for awhile before putting in

[ChrisMelnyk]

On page 116-25 they talk about putting oil and assembly lube on everything, but not prefilling lifters

Also, this is from BMW TIS for the M62tu engine on bleeding your valve lifters if they are full of air:

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...engine/2h1hN0j


Edit: Not to say you should install them with air, just that bleeding procedures exist for when they are not properly filled with oil.

Further, that if not filled with oil, it is not the end of the world, nor does it indicate that it will cause substantial harm.

[LincsM62]

Thanks for the info guys, took all info into consideration and read back through a few other lifter related threads and decided to milk them in vice with small socket till easily compressed by hand, pre lubed the outers and tappet bucket and installed them. Once running will perform the revving procedure if still noisy.

One of the lifters did not return to height with its own spring pressure so I replaced with new INA lifter.
Pics of fully collapsed lifter and new fully extended lifter. Even the new lifter came pressurised with oil so I milked this one also.


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