The cam and lifters in this engine are definitely ruined. The thing that worries me the most is all the metal that had to be floating around in the engine. I haven't gotten to the bearings yet, but expect them to be ruined, along with the crank's bearing surface. Getting that metal flushed from the engine, turning the crank, adding all new bearings (including cam bearings), and possibly replacing the front cover (if indeed the oil pump had a failure) would make the repair very expensive. I have found a low mile short block 4.6 engine from a source that I trust for $400. This would be cheaper than the bearings and cam/lifters set alone, not to mention machine shop labor for anything that suffered during the ordeal. As sad as it makes me, I may have to swap out and rebuild the 4.0 as a spare as time and funds allow.
Ticking Tophat Times
- Thread starter PhD_Polymath
- Start date
I will throw in a new cam and lifters and see, I guess. I will order the used short block just in case that doesn't work out. For $400, I could always use a good 4.6 rotating assembly and block as a spare should it not work. Does anyone sell a magnetized oil drain plug for this engine?
I pulled my main and big end bearings - no damage at all.
Think about how the oil flows through the engine, to the cam and lifters, then drains down to the oil pan. Most metal shavings would have flushed to the oil pan and those that were picked up by the oil pump would be trapped in the oil filter.
I think all you need is a cam and lifters. I would check the travel on the new lifters and flush out any oil trapped in them to prevent the same problem.
It is my opinion that in my case the lifters were over primed and in effect were acting as "solid" lifters and that is what lead to the cam and lifter failure.
Think about how the oil flows through the engine, to the cam and lifters, then drains down to the oil pan. Most metal shavings would have flushed to the oil pan and those that were picked up by the oil pump would be trapped in the oil filter.
I think all you need is a cam and lifters. I would check the travel on the new lifters and flush out any oil trapped in them to prevent the same problem.
It is my opinion that in my case the lifters were over primed and in effect were acting as "solid" lifters and that is what lead to the cam and lifter failure.
A simple fix for a magnetized drain plug is to go buy some of those super strong little round magnets at Lowes or HD, stick it to the end of the drain plug and you're good to go.
I agree just toss in another cam and lifter and use a good break in oil. Run that sucker at 3000 rpm for 20-30 minutes at first start up. Shut it down for even a second you are toast.
I don't prime the lifters first because that causes a shock on the lifters just let them be they will smooth up after a minute or so if running.
I don't prime the lifters first because that causes a shock on the lifters just let them be they will smooth up after a minute or so if running.
I made some progress over the weekend with getting the driver's head off, as it was leaking coolant from the exhaust side of cylinder 7 and oil was getting out from the exhaust side between cylinder 3 and 5. Once I got the head off, I made a few observations.
1. All the valves appear white with the exception of the intake valve on cylinder 3.
2. The corresponding piston top has a thick coat of baked on oil? Perhaps blowby from a poor honing job?
3. The oil passage at the back of the head (which terminates at the block, where there is no hole) was plugged with a thick black paste.
4. I found a couple of large metal shavings in the oil gallery and coolant passage at the front of the block, where they run into the head. The large shaving was from the coolant passage, the small one from the oil passage.
Though I guess the metal shavings are the only thing certainly out of place, I am worried about spending hundreds of dollars on cam, lifters, gaskets, and fluids if the block had the liners incorrectly installed and there is more nasty stuff in the passages the machine shop did not get out during the machining process.
Stay tuned for oil pump and bearing inspection. It should be a real nail biter.
1. All the valves appear white with the exception of the intake valve on cylinder 3.
2. The corresponding piston top has a thick coat of baked on oil? Perhaps blowby from a poor honing job?
3. The oil passage at the back of the head (which terminates at the block, where there is no hole) was plugged with a thick black paste.
4. I found a couple of large metal shavings in the oil gallery and coolant passage at the front of the block, where they run into the head. The large shaving was from the coolant passage, the small one from the oil passage.
Though I guess the metal shavings are the only thing certainly out of place, I am worried about spending hundreds of dollars on cam, lifters, gaskets, and fluids if the block had the liners incorrectly installed and there is more nasty stuff in the passages the machine shop did not get out during the machining process.
Stay tuned for oil pump and bearing inspection. It should be a real nail biter.
I will have to take a magnet to the pieces and see if they are ferrous or not. I would have done a compression and leak down test if I suspected blowby before pulling the head. That didn't really come to mind when I saw the coolant leak near the rear of the block.
My guess would be the build up of debris at the end of the oil passage is due to the cam failure.
That is my assumption. This would also mean that metal traveled through the new oil pump gears and bearings. I will see of the oil pump, crankshaft, main bearings, and connecting rod bearings were damaged during disassembly this weekend. If all is well, I can have a local machine shop mill the heads and put it all back together with new camshaft and lifters.
If you take off the connecting rod caps you will have to replace the bolts. You are overthinking this in my opinion. I would not hesitate to throw a new cam and lifters in it.
I would do just the cam and lifters, but many of the lifters will not come out of the bores. I assume they are mushroomed at the bottom. This leads me to think they are going have to drop down to the pan for removal after the cam is out of the way. I thought of using vice grips or pliers to force them up, but that would probably just wreck the lifter bores.