Seized lifter bearing. Now what?

[Burla]

Was that cam lob with the pitting from the lifter where there was a needle bearing fail?

 

[Scottyshortbus]

Was that cam lob with the pitting from the lifter where there was a needle bearing fail?

The lobe with the pitting was cyl 7. No symptoms on that cylinder. Frozen lifter/ground cam lobe was cyl 3 which is where the noise and misfire code was.

 

[Scottyshortbus]

Thanks for taking the time and effort to share your misery with the forum, much appreciated. That pitting is really telling, as when you see a smooth lifter you never know for sure if there is any metal rolling around, it is very possible it is worn slowly and w/o fragments. However, that pitting tells a different story for sure, no way did you not have some metal running around that engine. Do have lifter pics somewhere? Those pits look like the side of the lifter caused that, but the smooth lifter looked like it could have been a different issue. That is the scary deal about these hemi's, can be needled bearing or something like lifter is not lifting because of perpendicular forces. It looks like you have two separate engine killing issues on the same freak'n cam.

I appreciate all the help from Burla, Wild One, and the ramforum community as a whole. I bought a pretty beat up truck a couple years ago. Had to rebuild the front end, fix broken exhaust manifold bolts and now the cam and lifters. Could not have got through it all without the info on here. The cam swap guide really saved me on this one. I have 700 miles and 2 oil changes on the new cam and no more issues. Thank you all!

 

[seabrook]

i guess to me is the bigger question- when you tore down the engine was the cam/valtrain full of oil or was everything dry?

 

[Scottyshortbus]

i guess to me is the bigger question- when you tore down the engine was the cam/valtrain full of oil or was everything dry?

I remember the lifters were pretty slippery with oil when I pulled them up out of the holes. The lifter that failed was still pumped up, the roller bearing just wore out.

 

[seabrook]

I remember the lifters were pretty slippery with oil when I pulled them up out of the holes. The lifter that failed was still pumped up, the roller bearing just wore out.

thanks man for the reply!

 

[QwikKota]

I'm always surprised the engine runs at all when I see this pictures but I guess with all of that mass turning it's not going to be stopped by one or two cam lobes being used as grinding wheels. Sorry to hear, man.

 

[Scottyshortbus]

I'm always surprised the engine runs at all when I see this pictures but I guess with all of that mass turning it's not going to be stopped by one or two cam lobes being used as grinding wheels. Sorry to hear, man.

Ya, to be honest it was ticking for a while but I ignored it, thinking it was the exhaust manifold issue coming back. Then I noticed my oil pressure starting to drop off. I only drove a total of about 10 miles after the check engine light came on, as the oil pressure was continuing to drop.

There was some concern that the metal particles had damaged bearings but my oil pressure back to 50psi when I got it back together. Honestly now that I’ve done the repair I wouldn’t be afraid to do it again but with the cost of parts I would probably consider a rebuilt engine if it happens again. I see motors on eBay for around $3000

 

[QwikKota]

Ya, to be honest it was ticking for a while but I ignored it, thinking it was the exhaust manifold issue coming back. Then I noticed my oil pressure starting to drop off. I only drove a total of about 10 miles after the check engine light came on, as the oil pressure was continuing to drop.

There was some concern that the metal particles had damaged bearings but my oil pressure back to 50psi when I got it back together. Honestly now that I’ve done the repair I wouldn’t be afraid to do it again but with the cost of parts I would probably consider a rebuilt engine if it happens again. I see motors on eBay for around $3000

Do you know what code popped? Was it just for the low oil pressure? I need to keep a closer eye on mine. It has a good warranty but who knows what they will honor. I should do an oil analysis I suppose.

 

[Scottyshortbus]

Do you know what code popped? Was it just for the low oil pressure? I need to keep a closer eye on mine. It has a good warranty but who knows what they will honor. I should do an oil analysis I suppose.

Code was misfire cylinder 3 (p0303 I believe). It was caused by camshaft wear and exhaust valve not fully opening. As far as the drop in oil pressure I believe that is due to the fact that there is oil pressure that goes through the push rods and keeps the lifters pumped up. As the parts wore out, the oil pressure would leak out between pushrod and lifter.

 

[QwikKota]

Code was misfire cylinder 3 (p0303 I believe). It was caused by camshaft wear and exhaust valve not fully opening. As far as the drop in oil pressure I believe that is due to the fact that there is oil pressure that goes through the push rods and keeps the lifters pumped up. As the parts wore out, the oil pressure would leak out between pushrod and lifter.

The misfire makes sense, thanks for letting me know. Yeah, I believe the pushrods are hollow and are an oil flow path. Without adequate pre-load they could have a gap between the pushrod and lifter.