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lifter/rocker arm ticking help

729 views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  rusty69 
#1 ·
my 02 3.5L w/107k miles just started ticking. It sounds like it is a lifter/rocker arm in the vicinity of #3 cylinder(?). It sounds like it is in the middle-front of the left rocker cover. I've only owned it for the last 20k miles or so, but it is definitely a new sound. Since I've owned it I've changed the oil and filter every 5k miles. I have been using QS 10W-30 and Wix 51515 filters. It uses a little more than a qt of oil between oil changes, and the oil seems pretty clean for most of it's life and just begins to turn darker at the end of its 5k mile oil change interval. Do I need to replace the rocker(s), or do you think I could successfully remove and clean the rockers and revive the soft one? My thinking being that maybe a speck of dirt has somehow plugged the hydraulic end of the rocker arm. Has anyone else run into this?
 
#2 ·
ok, update: I couldn't get around to fixing it right away, and the sound wasn't getting any worse and my Jeep was down, too, so I continued to drive it on short trips. Well that was a mistake because now something failed big time. I think that maybe the rocker failed, possibly broke. I'm also afraid that the cam may now be a casualty as well. I'll tear it down in a couple of days, and have a better idea of the damages.
 
#4 ·
I had seen it once before on an ex-cop trep I bought at an auction. I fixed it, but I had no idea what caused the rocker to break. I assumed it was damaged in a high speed pursuit, or something. Evidently, it can fail in normal use, and is just a weak/poor design.
 
#5 ·
ok, latest update: I pulled it down as far as the rockers on the left head. Pretty bad news. When I removed the valve cover, there was about an 1/8" of "chocolate shake-looking goo" on the inside of the valve cover. My first thought was that I've lost a head gasket. No.2 exhaust rocker is really loose. It appeared that the roller had come off the end of the rocker, but upon close inspection, the arms holding the roller had broken off, too, taking out the no.2 exhaust cam lobe. And, wait for it.... the roller must have gotten caught between another cam lobe and the cast top of the head, and punched about a 1/2" dia. hole into a water jacket, hence the water in the oil.
Warning: Don't be like me, If you hear a tick in the valve train, DO NOT keep driving the vehicle. This happened within a couple hundred miles. What would have cost $50 in parts to fix, will probably cost as much as $1K in parts to fix. And that's if the water in the oil hasn't destroyed the crank or rods.
 
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