Check out my shaft...pics and proline rad corrosion ?

[Welcome to Hell A]

97 disco, 144k miles, doing the timing cover and intake gasket. How's this camshaft look?




Also, I put in a new proline radiator about 6 months ago or so. Seems to be too much corrosion in such a short time...




Fixing the pics...doh

 

[Chris-St Louis]

Cam looks worn... Looks like you use penzoil.

What do yo mix with coolant? Distilled? Soft water?

 

[Welcome to Hell A]

Yes, I use pennzoil. So, one vote for new cam?


I put in distilled water when I changed/filled it.. The disco was taken to a mechanic to have the radiator put in at a time I didn't have the facilities to do it myself (~6 mo. ago). I assumed he put in the right stuff, hate assuming. I saw a big debate here about coolant type to use in these engines, and before I read the coolant type thread I thought maybe he put in the wrong stuff. In that thread it did not appear that there was a consensus as to the phoshate-inhibitor coolant or the regular.

 

[Welcome to Hell A]

Oh, um. Was the comment about the pennzoil becuase of the appearance of the cam, or the general appearance of the metal surfaces? The inside of the engine looked way worse than it does now when I first bought it. Sludge city. Regular oil changes and BG44 treatments made it so you could actually see the metal in the cylinder heads.

 

[sven]

The shop probably didnt drain the block only the radiator if I were to guess. So you probably still have contamination in there. Ive used 2 proline rads so far, and they never looked like that.

 

[Welcome to Hell A]

Would a flush of the entire cooling system be in order then after it is put back together? Sounds like it. Any other potential sources of the corrosion?

Are there any replacement camshafts other than stock that will pass smog testing in california?

The shop probably didnt drain the block only the radiator if I were to guess. So you probably still have contamination in there. Ive used 2 proline rads so far, and they never looked like that.

Thanks for the reassurance on the proline rad, was a little worried when buying it.

 

[ajh]

You really need to flush then drain the entire system, hint the right block plug is INSIDE the engine mount, took a while to find that one.

 

[pjkbrit]

Hard to have a really accurate opinion from a picture, but that cam DOES look worn to me...engine's a bit gunky too and that's the kiss of death to these. At 144K it's getting tired unless it's been fed synthetic every 5K. Any symptoms...ticky ticky noises or lumpy crappy idle? I bet your timing chain is all stretched to hell too.

 

[DownUnder]

You have no idea how happy I am that you were talking
about your motor:smilelol:

 

[Ron L]

That cam is done, so are your lifters. I would replace the pushrods, there is a good chance the inside of them looks worse than the outside, my guess the rocker arms are on their way out too.

 

[Welcome to Hell A]

Hard to have a really accurate opinion from a picture, but that cam DOES look worn to me...engine's a bit gunky too and that's the kiss of death to these. At 144K it's getting tired unless it's been fed synthetic every 5K. Any symptoms...ticky ticky noises or lumpy crappy idle? I bet your timing chain is all stretched to hell too.

The rockers have been noisy since the day I bought it, never got better or worse. Actually, they have improved slightly over time after cleaning up the inside of the engine, but still noisy a bit. It could be described as a slightly, barely lumpy idle, but not crappy. I like to think of it as a race idle, so when I hammer it to redline it makes me feel better.

The timing chain was going to be put on order, as soon as I got info about the condition of the cam and knew what chain to get. I'll call D&D.

You have no idea how happy I am that you were talking
about your motor

I had to get you people in here somehow.


Edit: Does anybody know of the possibility of different cam usage in california and maintaining passing smog tests? Danke sehr.