Bleeding air out of rocker arms?

[bugbor]

Mechanic just installed a rebuilt head on my '90. Says there's lifter noise that won't go away. He thinks there should be small holes that allow air to bleed out of valve train but can't find any. Car's been driven 20 miles or so but noise won't go away. The whole engine was rebuilt just over a year ago so I'm guessin' that HLA's ought to still be good.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.

[nitrofarm]

Mechanic just installed a rebuilt head on my '90. Says there's lifter noise that won't go away. He thinks there should be small holes that allow air to bleed out of valve train but can't find any. Car's been driven 20 miles or so but noise won't go away. The whole engine was rebuilt just over a year ago so I'm guessin' that HLA's ought to still be good.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.

If the Head was sitting for a year the HLA's get damaged sometimes from the cam holding open (and compressing a few valves & HLA'S). By being stored in this "Compressed State" they get damaged. So sometimes the noise goes away and sometimes it stays. I personally change them sooner than most people because I've found they don't last as long as I'd like. And you aren't doing your valve stem tip any favors if they are ticking.It only takes @ 1 hr to replace all 8. New ones are cheap insurance especially on a good head.And I think what your Mechanic is trying to explain is that the HLA's should pump up and bleed out all the air. Because there is no such thing as "Air Bleed Holes" in the Mazda valve train. You can find the ones that have slop by pulling the valve cover and wiggling the rocker arm at each cylinder with the piston at TDC.But you might as well replace them all if you find a couple bad ones.Nitro-

[bugbor]

Thanks, Nitro, but the head hasn't been sittin' for a year, it supposedly just came from the re-builders. Story is that just over a year ago, the original motor gave up the ghost. Overheated pretty severely, and since it was about 500 miles short of a quarter-million, I decided to go with a rebuild. Went to the local Kragen/O'rat$h!t and, mostly on the strength of their 3 year warranty, got an engine from their supplier, whom I believe was PowerTorque. It overheated, and the cooling system checked out as being just fine. When my guy pulled it apart he documented everything with photos. The head gasket didn't show signs of havin' been fully crushed, so that leads us to believe that a- not torqued down correctly b- blocked needed to be machined or c- head was warped. Block looked good when checked with a straightedge, the head that came off was warped about .014 (probably from overheating that we feel was a result of not having been adequately torqued) and we sent the head and old gasket back to the re-manufacturer. Their "experts" claimed that the damage came for abuse, but I'm sure that it was caused by them not torquing down the head correctly.
The local store ate the cost of having them rebuild another head, customer satisfaction department provided gaskets, etc. and my shop put it back together. I'm eating the labor cost, 'cause it ain't my shop's fault that the motor I took to them was bunk right from the get-go. They've got a bunch of extra time in messin' with the valve train 'cause of the noise, but we can't figure out where it's coming from. I guess it could be bad lifters, but with so many parts being new/rebuilt I was hoping somebody here might come up with something so obvious we'd overlooked it. Maybe it just needs a set of teflon-coated muffler bearings, or new dylithium crystals, or Viagra in the oil to help it pump up. Come on, guys, tell me the magic secret.

[nitrofarm]

Is this a EFI car or Carb? The Carbys utilize a "Adjustable" valve train system. If it was my EFI car I would have replaced the lifters,ESPECIALLY because I wouldn't trust the source. RE-Man shops cut corners every where they can. Lifters would be a simple way for them to save $40.00. Now if its a CARB car you need to get busy and adjust the Rockers properly.(But I'm assuming you don't have a Carb.)
My guess is the RE- MAN didn't replace the lifters.....Nitro

[bugbor]

Yeah, bein' a '90 it's EFI. Then again, with me havin' been on their case at the re-builders, I guess they could've taken out their frustrations for all the times I called them. They spent quite a bit of time on the phone with my shop, and didn't seem to like or agree with what my guy was tellin' them about the way the head gasket looked. He told me he'd gotten the feeling right from the get-go that they were gonna try to get out of honoring their word.
I guess we can try some MMO or something, or maybe just puttin in a new set of lifters. I'm inclined to go with the best answer for the long run. I know the shop is trying to cut me the most slack when it comes to what they're havin' to charge me for labor, but I sure won't ask 'em to do work for free when we're all at the mercy of the parts suppliers. They (my mechanics) have been too good to me in the past for me to want to try and beat them out of a few bucks for going above and beyond.
If anybody needs work doe in Butte County, I'll swear by the boys at Feather River 4 Wheel Drive. Ken and John know their way around vehicles and are as honorable anybody I've ever dealt with.

[nitrofarm]

Bugbor another thing to consider.If your REMAN Engine sat in a warehouse for an extended period of time ( could be years maybe). This will cause the lifters to fail because some of them will be in the compressed state and eventually the oil gets pushed out and the seals can dry and crack. Then when started up they have a hard time reaching 100% hydraulic solid @ idle (which is where most here the noise). So it may not even be something the said Builder did wrong, "Food for Thought".....Nitro