Anyone ever done this? I've got my valve cover off, and the lifters out, and I can't figure out how to get them loose so I can put new ones in.

I have tried to push them out from the inside out, but admittedly I didn't try for very long because I couldn't get good leverage with my pushing tool - a small hex key. I am thinking that I'm just going to get some pliers and pull them out but i wanted to make sure that they were just seated and not actually pinned in or locked in there somehow.

Any thoughts?

Are you using a repair manual. If not, go to www.alldatadiy.com and get a subscription. It might give you a tip?

I wasn't, but I did order it after the suggestion. Unfortunately there is nothing in there about lifter removal.

That sucks! Maybe it's something in which most engine valve lifters are attached generally the same way? Hopefully you figured it out before I posted this or that you don't require an expensive "special tool".

I got one out via pliers. However I've run into a new problem. The new lifters are taller than the old lifters. I ordered the lifters from autohausaz and the site said that it was OEM; but I don't know. I noticed once I installed the new lifter and it didn't seat down as far as the old ones were.... so I grabbed another new one and compared it to the one that I had just pulled and it was indeed taller.

Not sure what to do now...

Unless it's possible that the lifters collapse over time?? Isn't there a spring inside that could have gotten perma-compressed??

the engraved horizontal lines look the same distance (old vs New) in the picture -- and the top halves look the same --- Looks like the bottom half got worn a tad on the old one-- I think it looks good to go from the pictures

What i mean is -- if you put a few pieces of paper under the worn (old) one -- everything looks like it will line up even with the new one-- So, just looks like the old one got worn out on the bottom.

Got them all out. A little love from the pliers was all it took.

out of curiousity, why are you replacing them?

Because I'm throwing money at a problem:

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...ngine-bay.html

I've had a couple people hear the sound in person and a couple of them - one being a mechanic - suggested that it may be a collapsed lifter causing a slapping sound in the rocker.

Did replacing the lifters fix the problem?