No oil to the LH rocker shaft.

[ASE Doc]

Hi Everyone, I'm new to the forum and come begging for help from the Cologne engine builders. I'm an old mechanic who is trying to help a friend restore his 78 Pinto Runabout. The engine has been freshly rebuilt. How we got to this point is a long story, so I'll cut to the meat of it. Before sending the motor to the machine shop, I found the LH valve train had been running dry. I traced the lack of oil to what looked like a worn #3 cam bearing. I was getting plenty of oil to the RH side, but little or none to the LH. I blew air down through the oil passage and could see the air coming out around the bearing.

I made sure to tell the machine shop about the oiling problem so that they could make sure it was resolved in the rebuild. Now the motor's back in the car, still no oil to the LH rocker shaft. I was talking to a friend over on the hotrodders forum who is building a 2.9, he referred me here for more information. He also mentioned something about an updated #3 cam bearing that Ford had released that was intended to solve the rocker oiling issue.

There should be a TSB from Ford presenting the upgraded bearing and recommending it to replace the factory installed part. Has anyone heard of this? If there is a different bearing, I want to be sure that my machinist knows about it before he goes back into this thing. Experience tells me that if Ford had redesigned the bearing, the aftermarket would have picked up the redesign and it should be standard in any bearing kit. I just want to be sure. 2 times out and in with this engine is plenty for me.

Thank in advance for any help.

 

[RonD]

Welcome to TRS

Worn cam bearing caused lower than normal oil pressure at the valve train, 2.8l and 2.9l issue.
New bearings would restore that, nothing special, just new cam bearings.

"Valve train oil pressure was entirely dependent upon a supply fed through the two center cam bearings. Even slight bearing wear could cause complete loss of oil pressure to the hydraulic valve lifters(2.9l), rocker shaft, and rockers.
Excessive internal "bleeding" through the half-moon camshaft thrust plate also contributed to this, though this can be remedied by reinstalling the thrust plate in an upside-down position."

Not sure how you could get no oil coming out on Drivers side but do get oil on Passenger side?

Also remove distributor, in order to use a drill to create oil pressure.
Remove drivers side rocker assembly and start the drill to see if oil pressure is pushing oil up through the head into rocker oil passages.

Could head gasket be at fault?
Blocking passages now?

 

[ASE Doc]

Thanks Ron D. The cam bearings are brand new. I can only guess that the alignment may be wrong on the 2nd bearing, blocking the oil passage to the LH rockers. I've thought about the head gasket, but it doesn't seem that it could have been installed wrong. It should only fit one way. I wish I knew more about the Cologne engines. I can't find any real tech info on them. All Data and Mitchell are both useless on the engine mechanical. No lube diagrams.

 

[ASE Doc]

Engine was picked up yesterday, headed back to the machine shop. I'm curious to see what they find. I'll post back with the answer to that. Really anxious to see this motor finished and running like a top again.

 

[AndyB.]

I believe the passenger side is fed from cam bearing #3, and driver side from bearing #2.

 

[ASE Doc]

Sorry guys, been so busy I forgot to update this thread. The machine shop called last week. The LH oil gallery plug was left out. They're doing a complete tear down and inspection to look for any damage from lack of oil. They're also redoing the LH cyl head and rocker shaft.

I don't know when the engine will be back. I'll update once more when the motor is back in and running. Thanks again for all the great responses.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Thanks for the update.

 

[ASE Doc]

Hi everyone. The 2.8 this thread is about is back, installed and running. I primed the oiling system with the valve covers off to be sure there is good oil flow to both rocker shafts. Looks like they done good this time. The motor is running pretty well.

I do have one question/concern. This is probably a dumba** question, but this is an early design so I want to be sure. The torque converter and flex plate have three equally spaced bolt holes, so the TQ can be clocked any of three ways. I'm familiar with some early (Mopar) engines that had independently balanced converters that had to be clocked a certain way. Of course they had uneven hole spacing so the converter could only be installed one way. This 2.8 seems to have an odd vibration at about 2,500rpm and I have to wonder if the converter could be an issue. Anyone have thoughts on this?

Thanks again for any feedback.

 

[RonD]

Wouldn't be flexplate or torque convert unless something is wrong with one of them.

2.8l, 2.9l and 4.0l used same flywheel or flexplate until 1997 4.0l when crank was change from 6 to 8 bolts

 

[Angie]

This 2.8 seems to have an odd vibration at about 2,500rpm and I have to wonder if the converter could be an issue. Anyone have thoughts on this?

Hi, I also rebuilt a 78 runabout. You aware of this site? www.fordpinto.com

In my build after all was bolted up and running, there were all kinds of odd things... I just chalked it up to a cheap made ford from mid 70's. runs straight and peppy as hell. (Fun to drive)

Is your vibration when driving or just idling in park? if idling, i get a bit of that too, blaming it on the Siamesed exhaust