MrShoeBoy
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Cincinnati, OH
Last Monday I felt something not quite right with my engine (4.6 stroker engine I built last November). It felt like water in the gas so I added a can of gas additive and drove around the block, but that didn’t help. When I pulled in to my complex the engine lost power and started wheezing, one cylinder would puff back through the intake. I pulled the plugs and found all were perfect except for #1 which was black with a dry film of soot.
I then pulled the valve cover and found I could push down the #1 exhaust lifter by hand. All others were tight. I suspected a collapsed lifter so I pulled the head and removed the lifters. Sure enough, #1 exhaust was completely cupped and worn away to the inside oil passage. The #1 intake lifter was cupped and almost worn through like the exhaust lifter was. Also the #1 exhaust pushrod was bent slightly.
I purchased a new cam, lifters, valve springs and keepers from Crane for this engine. I am working in Daytona, Fl this summer and Crane’s headquarters is in Daytona so I took them all back to Crane. The Crane engineer told me that something in the oil came and prevented the lifter from spinning in the lifter bore. He said it could be a piece of lint. He said this was very common failure in the initial start up and break in of a cam, but not on an engine with 5,000 miles. I doubt very highly that there was something in the oil because the oil was changed after the cam break in of 20 min, after the first 100 miles, again at 500 miles, and again at 1,000 miles. The oil was good quality non synthetic oil. After that it was changed to Mobil 1 synthetic oil and that’s been changed twice using Mobil 1 oil filters on all oil changes. I left all the lifters, pushrod, and also the head with the Crane R&D department for analysis. Crane agreed to provide a new cam and lifters under warranty. Crane refused to pay for gaskets, head bolts, fluids, and labor to replace their parts that failed. I am happy in that Crane is standing behind their parts and will replace them but I wish they would also cover the other parts that need to be replaced because of their parts failure.
I dropped the pan and pulled the main bearing caps to check on the bearings to check for metal particles as well as clean out any metal shavings in the bottom. There is a very slight scoring of several main bearings. The wear pattern on the bearings looked normal with the exception of the slight scoring. The cylinder bores looked great and the cam bearings looked good as well. Should I be concerned with the main bearings?
Has anybody have any idea of what could have caused this failure?
Should Crane pay for parts and labor or at the very least parts?
Is this standard policy to not cover the cost of other parts needed for the repair?
I will post pics later tonight or tomorrow.
Thanks,
AARON
I then pulled the valve cover and found I could push down the #1 exhaust lifter by hand. All others were tight. I suspected a collapsed lifter so I pulled the head and removed the lifters. Sure enough, #1 exhaust was completely cupped and worn away to the inside oil passage. The #1 intake lifter was cupped and almost worn through like the exhaust lifter was. Also the #1 exhaust pushrod was bent slightly.
I purchased a new cam, lifters, valve springs and keepers from Crane for this engine. I am working in Daytona, Fl this summer and Crane’s headquarters is in Daytona so I took them all back to Crane. The Crane engineer told me that something in the oil came and prevented the lifter from spinning in the lifter bore. He said it could be a piece of lint. He said this was very common failure in the initial start up and break in of a cam, but not on an engine with 5,000 miles. I doubt very highly that there was something in the oil because the oil was changed after the cam break in of 20 min, after the first 100 miles, again at 500 miles, and again at 1,000 miles. The oil was good quality non synthetic oil. After that it was changed to Mobil 1 synthetic oil and that’s been changed twice using Mobil 1 oil filters on all oil changes. I left all the lifters, pushrod, and also the head with the Crane R&D department for analysis. Crane agreed to provide a new cam and lifters under warranty. Crane refused to pay for gaskets, head bolts, fluids, and labor to replace their parts that failed. I am happy in that Crane is standing behind their parts and will replace them but I wish they would also cover the other parts that need to be replaced because of their parts failure.
I dropped the pan and pulled the main bearing caps to check on the bearings to check for metal particles as well as clean out any metal shavings in the bottom. There is a very slight scoring of several main bearings. The wear pattern on the bearings looked normal with the exception of the slight scoring. The cylinder bores looked great and the cam bearings looked good as well. Should I be concerned with the main bearings?
Has anybody have any idea of what could have caused this failure?
Should Crane pay for parts and labor or at the very least parts?
Is this standard policy to not cover the cost of other parts needed for the repair?
I will post pics later tonight or tomorrow.
Thanks,
AARON