sendero
Member
I have an engine problem that is difficult to isolate. I hope someone may have had a similar experience and solution.
Background. Not many miles ago my stock 440 engine had to go to a shop. During a camshaft change the harmonic balancer got cocked during removal attempt. (cheap tool). The condition was so bad that the engine was pulled and taken to a local Mopar shop.
The shop realized that the situation was far worse than they imagined, and they ended up pulling the crank and sending it to a shop out of state. They were able to remove the dampener and save the crank. Thus, that Mopar shop basically rebuilt the engine. I installed the engine and broke it in properly. It has been running fine for close to 500 miles. Yes, I use Lucas zinc treatment for the oil.
Last week I was cruising along for about an hour (speed up to 70 mph in places) and on the way home, going up a steep lengthy incline, I noticed a bit of a loss of power. 1 mile further up the incline I heard what I thought sounded like an exhaust leak tick. Not loud. Just there. The next mile I saw blue smoke exit the passenger side exhaust during a slight acceleration attempt. The smoke was not obvious if not accelerating but the car began to run rough. I finally entered my driveway and the car sputtered and stalled. It did not want to start again.
The next day I started the car. It had a loud metallic ticking sound. It emanated from the passenger side. A stethoscope on the water pump etc. checked those items out as good. The stethoscope gave the impression that the passenger back of engine was louder than the front engine rockers.
My fear was a wiped cam lobe. I pulled all the plugs; they were not in great shape but passable. (They were not good considering the low milage on the rebuild.) Looked to be a rich air fuel mixture. I pulled the valve covers and check the rocker assemblies. All were good. I pulled the intake manifold and looked as the camshaft and rockers as I turned the engine. It looked good. I then drained the oil into cheese cloth to see if metal from the low end was evident. Nope. All good and clean. I then used a borescope to check inside the engine pan. It appeared good and clean form what I could see. At this point I was starting to doubt my assumption. I put in new plugs, new oil, filter etc. and started the engine up to record the sound if it was there. The sound was there. I took the sound recording to my regular car mechanic who is also a classic car guy. Upon hearing the sound, he said..”sounds like an upper valve train issue and not rod”. (sound was not “hollow” enough)
Tonight, I pulled the intake off and pulled the rocker assembly, pushrods. Upon inspection they are not showing metal damage. I hand turned the engine by hand and looked to see if the lifters had binding issues in the bore. No problem. I visually checked each lobe of the camshaft through its rotation and that appears good. I pulled each lifter our and visually inspected. All look good for metal integrity.
The only oddity I saw was that the rear lifter had a different contact pattern with the cam then the others. The others had a wide circle and the rear had a smaller contact contact area. Not sure if such a relatively minor visual would cause such a big engine problem.
Now I am at a loss.
Background. Not many miles ago my stock 440 engine had to go to a shop. During a camshaft change the harmonic balancer got cocked during removal attempt. (cheap tool). The condition was so bad that the engine was pulled and taken to a local Mopar shop.
The shop realized that the situation was far worse than they imagined, and they ended up pulling the crank and sending it to a shop out of state. They were able to remove the dampener and save the crank. Thus, that Mopar shop basically rebuilt the engine. I installed the engine and broke it in properly. It has been running fine for close to 500 miles. Yes, I use Lucas zinc treatment for the oil.
Last week I was cruising along for about an hour (speed up to 70 mph in places) and on the way home, going up a steep lengthy incline, I noticed a bit of a loss of power. 1 mile further up the incline I heard what I thought sounded like an exhaust leak tick. Not loud. Just there. The next mile I saw blue smoke exit the passenger side exhaust during a slight acceleration attempt. The smoke was not obvious if not accelerating but the car began to run rough. I finally entered my driveway and the car sputtered and stalled. It did not want to start again.
The next day I started the car. It had a loud metallic ticking sound. It emanated from the passenger side. A stethoscope on the water pump etc. checked those items out as good. The stethoscope gave the impression that the passenger back of engine was louder than the front engine rockers.
My fear was a wiped cam lobe. I pulled all the plugs; they were not in great shape but passable. (They were not good considering the low milage on the rebuild.) Looked to be a rich air fuel mixture. I pulled the valve covers and check the rocker assemblies. All were good. I pulled the intake manifold and looked as the camshaft and rockers as I turned the engine. It looked good. I then drained the oil into cheese cloth to see if metal from the low end was evident. Nope. All good and clean. I then used a borescope to check inside the engine pan. It appeared good and clean form what I could see. At this point I was starting to doubt my assumption. I put in new plugs, new oil, filter etc. and started the engine up to record the sound if it was there. The sound was there. I took the sound recording to my regular car mechanic who is also a classic car guy. Upon hearing the sound, he said..”sounds like an upper valve train issue and not rod”. (sound was not “hollow” enough)
Tonight, I pulled the intake off and pulled the rocker assembly, pushrods. Upon inspection they are not showing metal damage. I hand turned the engine by hand and looked to see if the lifters had binding issues in the bore. No problem. I visually checked each lobe of the camshaft through its rotation and that appears good. I pulled each lifter our and visually inspected. All look good for metal integrity.
The only oddity I saw was that the rear lifter had a different contact pattern with the cam then the others. The others had a wide circle and the rear had a smaller contact contact area. Not sure if such a relatively minor visual would cause such a big engine problem.
Now I am at a loss.
