Please help, valve troubles on my brand new remanufactured motor!

[Tsestak45]

Hello my name is Tommy, I have a '98 ranger XLT 3.0L. very very very long story short, I bought a remanufactured motor from powertrain products in Maryland 2 years ago. My neighbor who's a mechanic for the city of Philadelphia and myself put it in. 817 miles later a rod came through the block. When I disassembled it to get a new one under warranty I had discovered it was because they didn't torque everything down the spec at the factory. So they sent me a new motor for free, had a mechanic put this one in, and like 700 Miles later a head gasket blew and a piston ended up melting. Again it seems as if they didn't torque down the head bolts two spec at the factory. When I called and asked them if anything needed to be tightened down when I received the motor they said " no everything is torqued down here before the shipped". So they sent me ANOTHER motor for free and this one I put in myself. Fast forward 1300 mi and I start getting a valve tap and when I lose all compression in the number 6 cylinder I open the valve cover and low and behold I find the top seat part of the lifter, bent push rod, valve stuck open. Now I'm hoping that the valve is stuck open because there was a spring collapse not because the valve is bent. Which is why I am writing this post now and my question to anyone out there who I hope has please please please experience this before, is it possible to remove the valve spring with it not being fully up to start with? And if so is it also possible to replace it and get the valve back in without taking the head off? I have included a picture of the valve in question so you can see the height difference to the other two near it. The more I've sat here and thought about this though I'm also questioning if it was stuck for a while wouldn't that mean the piston was hitting it every time it came up and what possible damage it could have done to it? Much obliged for your help if you do, if you don't have a nice life!

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I can't see it being a collapsed spring. If it is the spring then you should be able to pull the valve up by hand.

 

[Josh B]

I had a bad experience with a transmission shop in MN a couple3 years ago and no way I'd start sending anything back
Took my lumps and went onward through the fog

 

[RonD]

+1 ^^^ alwaysFlOoReD
See if you can lift it up

You have a 3.0l OHV Vulcan engine, which is a non-interference engine, that means at no time during the 4 strokes will the piston and valves occupy the same space in a cylinder
So a piston can never hit a valve even if its wide open and piston is at TDC

OTHER 3.0l Ford engines were interference engines, but not the Vulcan

I take it when the rocker was on and you rotated the engine the valve would not compress any farther, push rod is bent then
Rotate engine now and see if intake valve compress's farther than stuck valve

You might rent a bore scope and see if something is stuck in the valve holding it open, thru spark plug hole or pull exhaust manifold on that side might be better
You could see that thru the exhaust port

If not then stem is bent the head will need to come off, but I think that head will need to come off regardless


I would see if the place you are getting the engines from will refund ANY of the money, and cut your losses of TIME and money and try a different place

 

[Tsestak45]

+1 ^^^ alwaysFlOoReD
See if you can lift it up

You have a 3.0l OHV Vulcan engine, which is a non-interference engine, that means at no time during the 4 strokes will the piston and valves occupy the same space in a cylinder
So a piston can never hit a valve even if its wide open and piston is at TDC

OTHER 3.0l Ford engines were interference engines, but not the Vulcan

I take it when the rocker was on and you rotated the engine the valve would not compress any farther, push rod is bent then
Rotate engine now and see if intake valve compress's farther than stuck valve

You might rent a bore scope and see if something is stuck in the valve holding it open, thru spark plug hole or pull exhaust manifold on that side might be better
You could see that thru the exhaust port

If not then stem is bent the head will need to come off, but I think that head will need to come off regardless


I would see if the place you are getting the engines from will refund ANY of the money, and cut your losses of TIME and money and try a different place

Thanks man, a lot of good info in there I didn't know about. Yeah those were my same thoughts because even if they give me a new engine AGAIN I don't trust them building it correctly and that's the only part that is out of my hands. I'm gonna take the head off after work and I guess if the piston looks ok I'll replace the valve and spring and go on pretending that my truck and my life aren't in shambles until the next failure. If theres anything wrong with the piston then yes im gonna tell them to come get there engine and to just give me my $$ back or atleast part of it.

 

[pjtoledo]

pulling the head may affect the warranty, I would call them first.
you can see the valve heads (when open) thru the spark plug hole.
much easier when it's on a stand.
if you're going to remove the retainer/spring, air pressure will not hold a bent valve closed.
the "old school" trick is to feed about 2 feet of rope into the plug hole then run the piston up thus holding the valves closed.

these are not interference engines under normal circumstances, however,,,,,

since the lifter lost its top it may have expanded too far before the cap fell out.
that could have opened the valve too far.

did you find the lifter retaining clip? not the dog bone.

 

[19Walt93]

I agree, don't take anything apart until you talk to the 'rebuilder", the try for a refund and look elsewhere. When I retired in 17 we'd been using Ford remans from Fred Jones for years with great luck. In the 80's Ford remans in New England came from RMP in Mass and their quality was so bad we sold our customers low mile used engines instead for years. Jasper's rep isn't too good either.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Wow... what a string of bad luck... perhaps it has nothing to do with luck and it's about competence with the rebuilder.

I've never owned a 3.0L... and I'm not gonna blow sunshine. That valve is bent...

I would call them... be civil... and tell them how you feel about the entire situation. See what money you can just get back.

 

[BroncLander]

Maybe they'll send you a small block V8? They're probably out of 3.0s by now.

Then put it on an engine stand, take it apart, inspect everything and then put it back together with fresh assembly lube, new whatever it needs, and figure out the rest od the swap

 

[Tsestak45]

These people at powertrain products are morons and it would be impossible toward void my warranty based on their incompetence alone. Here's where I'm at though, I took the head off and sure enough I have a bent valve. And yes whoever asked did I find the pieces of the retaining clip for the top of the lifter YES I did and I removed all three of them so that I know nothing got down into the piston. My question is this though, how do I close the bent valve so that I can use the spring compressor to remove the retainers and then get the valve out? Can I just hit the valve with a rubber mallet or a hammer to close it or is that a bad idea? Thank you for everyone who has responded it's nice to know when you can't find something on the internet which still blows my mind because it's the year 2023 that there are other people who have been through this and have the answers and most importantly respond in a pretty timely manner

 

[boss3.0lranger]

My advice
Never force valve backwards bent valve means bent stem.
Since have off eBay new valve can place in valve facing up pour fluid like mineral sprit and see how fast runs out if drops rapidly will need seat work
or have head done at local machine shop.
second is where on piston valve hit? Rings are in channel near edge so if top ring groove is crushed then more work is expected but can be done in frame.