Wiped cam/lifter?

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TimDart

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Here we go again. Last Saturday I had a ticking lifter, so i decided to do my annual check and adjust the lifter preload. Car ran nicely for an hour or so before one of the lifters decided to go noisy.
I drove back (another 45 mins) and decided to have another go.
Yesterday it started chttering again so i turned the car 'round and drove back
Lifter chatter stopped for 10 mins then came back and worse.
Today. did it all (the adjustment) again.
Clattering from lifter/s also, the car was very lumpy and wouldnt tick over, felt like it was running on 7 cylinders.
If I take off the inlet manifold, is there a way of checking if a lifter is knackered. I'm assuming a wiped cam would be obcvious to see.
 
Reading your post gave me chills down my spine... I experienced the SAME THING....only after 20 miles on a freshly built engine! If you pull the valve cover you *should* be able to see inside through the pushrod openings with a STRONG LED-style flashlight. Look at the lifter/cam lobe area.

If you see carnage, get ready to yank the engine. Why? Because all the metal that's missing from your cam & lifters is IN your engine. Circulating through your oil passages...bearing surfaces...oil pump drive...

Sorry for the bad news. But like the saying goes: been there-done that. :angry7:
 
Ouch, sorry to hear that John, but..i'm an idiot, I forgot to reconnect the carb to rocker cover hose.
Having reconnected the hose from the breather to the carb, my smooth running/tickover was restored.
BUT quick 15 min drive and the tappety sound comes back and stays.....until i get the car in the garage and stops, presumably, ready to come back later
Oil is 15/40, havent changed it for a while (3,000miles)because its still clean.
 
Don't jump the gun, too soon. 15 years ago, I wiped a lobe AND two lifters on a fresh 451. That same engine is still running strong, and I simply dumped the oil and change cam and lifters. Luck? Who knows.
 
Well, i dived in to it today. When i checked the lofters, two of them seemed colapsed in that they provided no resistance when being pushed in . All the other lifters seem fine.
Thought i should swap ina new set of lifters.
 
TimDart said:
Well, i dived in to it today. When i checked the lofters, two of them seemed colapsed in that they provided no resistance when being pushed in . All the other lifters seem fine.
Thought i should swap ina new set of lifters.
Click to expand...

Mine did the same thing because the bottoms of the lifters were ground off and the oil passage was exposed. I'd still consider at the LEAST dropping the oil pan and see how much metal is IN the engine, never mind whats embedded in your bearings and oil pump drive.


If the cam and/or lifters are wiped the metal had to go somewhere.... :scratch:
 
Fastback, are you saying that you literally ground off the botom of the lifters? The bottom of my lifters appears fine (i'll check them all to be sure) it seems leke an internal failure to the lifter.
 
TimDart said:
Well, i dived in to it today. When i checked the lofters, two of them seemed colapsed in that they provided no resistance when being pushed in . All the other lifters seem fine.
Thought i should swap ina new set of lifters.
Click to expand...

I had 2 lifters go bad on me at e-town last month,i changed them readjusted and car has been running fine since..
 
John, I can see metal particles getting into the oil pump (the pick up screen is pretty course) but the oil filter should stop everything else. Anything small enough to get through the filter will pass through the bearings.

It was pretty standard back in my younger days working in a garage to swap the cam lifters and flush the pan real well then do a couple of oil changes a few hundred miles apart. Never had a premature bearing failure.
 
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