zygott Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 when the engine is cold its fine, once it warms up 3 followers lose all oil pressure and start banging. on removing the cam cover i can see the top part of the followers has dropped. if i remove and refit the rocker arms they go back to being fine and working. i changed all 8 followers and the cam but its doing the same on the same 3 locations in the head, inlet on 2, exhaust on 2 and 3. i have dropped the oil and tried 3 different oils, all the same, the thicker the oil the longer it takes for them to loose pressure. could this be the bores are worn and when the oil warms up it becomes too thin and cant build the pressure up? could it be anything else? i have a spare head but its from unknown origin, i'm told its a good one but there are no guarantees........ the sump is also rusty, so will need replacing. is it worth getting the spare head skimmed, swapping heads, getting a new sump and fitting that, or i can see a couple of efi cvh engines on eBay for £100-120, would that be a better option? the car has done 128,000 miles, last owner has had it since 1995, he did 1,500-2,000 miles per year according to mot web site. servicing does not seem to be a strong point of his, it was running fresh water with no antifreeze as there was a slight leak to the pipe from the top of the thermostat housing. i did the head gasket when i got the car back in february and noticed the block has almost no wear in the bores, there was no noticable lip at the top of the bores. before i rip the head off again is it worth it or am i better off dumping the engine and dropping a second hand engine in it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygott Posted June 25, 2016 Author Share Posted June 25, 2016 this is one of the good followers and one that has lost pressure once the engine warmed up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jinks Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 did you torqe them down or just tighten them up mate have you flushed it out may hae some oil ports block and starving the lifters of oi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygott Posted June 25, 2016 Author Share Posted June 25, 2016 i just tightened them down, with each piston at tdc so no pressure on lifters from cam. didnt flush it out. confused as its fine for 15 mins or so then they lose the oil pressure on the same 3. if it was blocked oil ways i would expect it to do it all the time, not as the oil gets thinner? thats why im wondering if its the bores of those 3 that are maybe worn so when the oil thins out they loose pressure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygott Posted June 25, 2016 Author Share Posted June 25, 2016 i just tightened them down, with each piston at tdc so no pressure on lifters from cam. didnt flush it out. confused as its fine for 15 mins or so then they lose the oil pressure on the same 3. if it was blocked oil ways i would expect it to do it all the time, not as the oil gets thinner? thats why im wondering if its the bores of those 3 that are maybe worn so when the oil thins out they loose pressure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Grainger Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Have you done an oil pressure check? Might be worth seeing if the pressure is dropping as the engine warms up which could indicate worn crank bearings. This would make it knock when you accelerate. Are you sure that it is the tappits as they tend to make more of a rattle sound. Saying that it is odd that it only affects these valves as they are close to the oil supply to the head and pressure problems usually affect the valves further away first i.e. nos 1 and 4. If you slide the cam out again can you feed wire down the oil delivery holes? They should come out at the cam journal. What you are describing with the top end could be normal as there is no oil pressure for the followers to work without the engine running. Has the sump been put on with sealer? Sounds odd I know but I have seen it quite a few times before where too much sealer had been used and when the sump was tightened it squirted out inside the crank case resulting in a large bit of sealer in the oil. It got sucked towards the oil pick up and caused pressure problems. This is usually accompanied be a bit of a whine from the oil pump at the front of the engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygott Posted June 26, 2016 Author Share Posted June 26, 2016 nope not done a pressure check. the noise comes from the top of the engine so im assuming its the followers, it happens when the top of the followers are down, im guessing its the cam hitting the follower as there will be loads of play in it then. the sump has not been off. i have just swapped the followers round, and its still the same 3 locations that have the problem no matter what follower i put in there. am going to fit the spare head i have and see if that sorts it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian71 Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Quick question,have inspected the camshaft lobes for excessive wear (i.e they have lost there pear shape) mine had two realy bad ones almost round and i lost power Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygott Posted June 26, 2016 Author Share Posted June 26, 2016 hi the original cam was worn, i swapped the cam and followers from another head i have, and it has the same problem. im guessing there is some sort of a problem with the oil ways thats dropping the oil pressure to 3 of the followers when the engine is hot? i have swapped all the followers round today and its doing the same on those 3 locations, no matter what follower i put in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian71 Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 I have four cars running same engine,and to be honest the most highly modified one is the only problem I have had. I know it's money you don't wanna spend ,but might be worth letting a engine guru have a look,might save money in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygott Posted July 4, 2016 Author Share Posted July 4, 2016 i took the head off. somehow there is a piece of a drill bit in the inlet manifold! a piece has broken off and was in cylinder number 4, another piece in cylinder 1. head and pistons are chewed up, it has badly scored the bores! have sourced a spare engine so am in the process of swapping them over, went from followers not pumping up to a dead engine in no time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian71 Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 Ooops ! thats not nice,still at least you have found the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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