Compression leak caused by overfilled hydraulic lifter?

["Curt Voss" <curtv@eudoramail.com>]

I bolted on my new (used) head last Saturday, put on the timing belt, and hit the key to turn it over a few times so I could check the timing belt tension. Uh, why is my windshield washer spraying? Oh, heh heh, that's not water, it's gas from the cold start valve that's laying up in the rain tray. And gee, look, my wife has her propane torch going making glass beads 15 feet away. Okay, turn on the fan to blow the fumes away from her, wait a few minutes, pull the fuel pump relay, try it again... and hear the unmistakeable whir-whir-whir-puff-whir-whir whir-puff of a compression leak. Check the compression, 170 psi for 1-2-3 and only 140 for #4. Say bad words. Pull the head back off, can't see anything wrong, take it to the machine shop this morning, he can't see anything wrong, says he pressure-checked it when I had it there last week and it was fine. He filled the lifters with oil when he serviced it and thinks one of them is pumped up too far and it just needs to run a little while until it bleeds off the air and/or excess oil. I'm pretty new to hydraulic lifters, is that really the case with them? Should I put the head back on & run it to see if it clears up? I'm pretty confident it's the new head, as the bottom end looks fine and it was okay with the old head.

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Curt

'86 Scirocco 8V, soon to be sold
'82 Scirocco 1.8 8v - the daily driver
'81 Caddy
'78 Rabbit 1.7L rustbucket in semi-retirement
'86 Celica GTS
'02 PT Cruiser - the wife's boat


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