Cam Bearing Night Mare!

[Winger]

This has been going on forever! Its an 88 2.3 I had a oilling issue wich caused the camshaft to spin a bearing and seize up and break the cam just foward of the second cam bearing 2 years ago. I took the head off took it to a machine shop and had them put new bearings in it and check it over went ahead and put a new short block in it just to be safe. Put the new head on and within a 2 hours of running it only a few miles of test driving it Oil pressure starts dropping and lifters start rattling! Two center bearings are making mettel! Take the head off take it back to the Machine shop guy scratches his head and fiddles with it some more puts restrictors in the bearing supports and tries some new improved bearings. I figure well this has to be it its got to be fixed! Nope! So he demands this time to have the whole engine wants to check clearances in the bottom end. He does this tightens up all the clearances I get it all back put in and started up makes 75lbs of Oil press. on start up and holds about 65psi when warmed up.... Should be good I work out some idle issues and emission problems and put about 20 miles on it and notice the lifters making racket again! Just pulled the valve cover off and the two center bearins are making mettel again! BAD! What in the &%%&$^ is going on? Front and rear bearings are good this is getting old! Anyone ever ever had this kind of problem with the 2.3s? Its gotten expensive for the machine shop and for me!

 

[Mark_88]

Only thing I can think of is the center bearings are not getting enough oil...did they degrease the head and check the oil passages for gunk?

 

[fastbluetruck]

did the machine shop check the line bore on the head when it broke the frist cam it could be from the cam tower shifting(bent one way or the other) from what i understand this is a issue with the 2.3 head after taliking with esslinger about head modifactions. i have not had a lot to do with 2.3's but i believe it would be the next thing to look at. esslinger's does sell straps that you weld to the cam towers to make them stronger. i just built my 2.3 and at start up with 10w30 in it i got 90 psi on cold start and after warm up idle at about 30 and withany rpm it goes straigt up to 55 to 60 and at about 3000rpm i am getting 75 psi on warm engine. good luck

 

[Winger]

I guess I should give those guys a call my guy at the machine shop doesn't even want to see this thing again! I would think the same thing that it's a blocked passage some were. But it gets oil at least for awhile as the lifters in the area of those two cam towers pump up for awhile in the begining and as this problem starts to happen they bleed down and start to allow the rockers to rattle wich is the first sign that there's a problem. This guy mentioned doing a line bore check on this head and on the block. I actually ordered the short block from Racer Walsh trying to speed things up as this machine shop has worked lined up for months. On the last round of machine work he demanded to checked out the short block and claimed that the mains weren't properly align bored the tolerances were real loose etc! I hoped the guy had really found the problem. I think he meant well and was trying anything he could think of. Wich helped him recoup some of the cost of re-doing the cylinder head for free twice! Thanks guys

 

[fastbluetruck]

ok the frist question i have is are you using the same oil pump in all the rebuilds? if your machine shop checked the line bore on the block and installed new bearings then it is not the lower end. if this block came from racer walch i really don't think they would have put a short block together with out checking the line bore on the main bearings, it should be one of the frist things to check for on a block as it is being built since a used block could have what they call core shift. i really dont think racer walsh would skip this step, since it is the frist thing i have checked along with sonic testing before i waste any money on building a motor. the next thing to check is the intermediate shaft, this is the shaft that drives the oil pump off of the timing belt, if you run a distibitor this shaft also drives it. if there are any issues with this shaft it will cause ptoblems since this is also a issue when building a 2.3 with any performance upgrades. the bearings for this shaft should also be checked at the same time when the line bore is done on the block and new bearings installed. other than some serious blockage somewhere in the block thats about it for the lower end as far as oil issues. there are different clearance issues when building a engine for different types of use such as street, drag racing, etc. but your machine shop most likly set the clearances for street use. so as long as you really cleaned the block up when putting it back together there should be no issues with dirt in the bearings. now comes the head. frist thing here is to have head magn-fluxed to check for crackes around the valve seats and water jackets and check the line bore of the cam towers. then putting new bearings in to the towers the clearances should be checked between the bearings and the journels on the cam. again clean clean clean the head before final assembly. now on final assembly i use assembly lube not stp or white grease this is just my own preferance as we all have or own secrets for final assembly (LOL). call esslingers and get a e-bar for checking cam timing and also check for lash on the vavles, even with hydralic lifters. if you get them to send you a catalog it has some very good infromation in the back of it for putting a 2.3 together. i have built tons of v-8 engines and only one 2.3 but damn did i learn a lot about them while putting my engine together. i would really get a new oil pump for sure since it could be the problem. it is strange to me that the only lifters you are having issues with is on the lifters for 2 and 3 but i have seen lots of stranger things with motors before. good luck and remember clean clean clean check check check and then run it like you stole it. i would like to know what you find so please let me know.