Damaged rocker arms- What happened?

[senor RR]

I recently found the oil in my 383 engine looking dark. Beliving that somthing was damaged/broken, I took apart the upper engine and found that most of the rocker arm tips were gouged where they make contact with the tip of the valve. The tips of the valves look fine. Why did this occur?

I am using a small hydraulic cam with Crane ductile adjustable rocker arms to allow for lifter preload. Preload on my hydraulic lifters were set at "1 turn in" on the adjuster as recommened by Crane. This should allow for about .020" preload.

A brief history: I was having some oil pressure loss about 5000 rpm with the HV pump and HP relief spring in the oil pump. So, I replaced the relief spring with a factory spring to lower the pressure. Now the oil pressure stays steady at high rpm. I was thinking that I was running out of oil with my factory 5 qt pan.

So, would this loss of oil pressure be the cause of the gouged rocker arm tips? Also, the tip of the adjusters that fit into the pushrods look worn. This all must be caused by the lack of oil, correct? Anyone with a similar experience?

[Billydelrio]

Sounds like lack of oil to me. Do these rockers have holes to help get oil to both ends of the rocker? Are the plugs in the ends of the shafts? Are the cam bearings spun and not allowing oil up to the shafts?

These are a few things to check. Good luck.

Billy

[6pakman]

are you using two springs or one spring?? sounds like to much pressure on the valves. its not an oil problem unless there is no oil getting up to those rocker assy's.

[dirttrackracer]

Could have put the shafts on upside down. the holes and or banna goves go on the bottom side. are the push rod cups discolored like they got hot ? friction= heat.

[pcb1]

Check with Crane tech support. They had a production run of faulty adjusting screws that caused me to break one rocker & crack two others. If you make a fuss they will send you replacements at N/C.

[senor RR]

I am just using a single spring w/dampner, nothing heavy like double springs. I double checked the location of the oil hole in the shaft upon disassembly and found it was located correctly.

The Crane adjustable rockers do have an oil hole on top to supply oil to the adjacent rocker arm and valve tip.

[rustycowl]

Have you run the engine with the rocker covers off of it, and watched the oiling? Have you checked the ends of the shafts to make sure the plugs are intact? If you don't already have them, perhaps you need to run the 'banana-groove' shafts. Perhaps the rocker geometry is bad. Did you shim the shafts up in an effort to get adjustment on the rockers. You'll have to reface the rocker tips to restore the surface. You may have to go to the 6 qt pan.

[DartGT66]

The problem is certainly lack of proper oil to the pushrods/adjusters, and therefore too much heat there.

[6 packin]

What springs do you have? open pressure? closed? I would say alot and not enough oil. I never seem that before. I have seen them perce the rocker socker where the pushrod meats. But you have the Mushroom type push rod correct?

[rustycowl]

I'd also be checking the bores of the rockers and the bot'm surface of the shafts. I had a T/A motor gall the rockers and shafts, and it almost took the whole motor out. It sent debris everywhere. The oil pump looked like it was pumping crushed rock.

[60's Moparman]

I had the same problem with rockers being damaged where they contact the valves, but all of mine were on the exhaust only. I didn't find anything wrong with my assembly of the valve train and I didn't have an oil pressure problem. My engine only had 20 1/8th mile passes when this happen,I called Crane and stated my complaint to them about maybe missing a heat treating process on these rockers and they ask me to send them in with a short story about what happened. I actually bought these from Mancini and I really wasn't expecting to get anything accomplised through Crane or Mancini but in about two weeks I recieved a brand new set of rockers from Crane. They were very nice people but I never got any feedback on what was wrong with the first set.

[rustycowl]

I' ve seen the problem with rocker tips like that. I 've seen them occasionally on big block heads I've had to do rebuild. Didn't know the history, so I couldn't tell you why, I just resurfaced the rockers and valve stem tips.
I've also seen them on a couple of sl/6's and once on a VW 1600D/P which I had just purchased. Those were at least partially due to excessive valve lash, coupled with dirty oil ( & possibly running it low on oil).

[cuda367]

I have seen a number of crane rockers do this years ago. We switched to Iskys as they have a very hard pad where the rocker contacks the valve stem. No problems with them.

[dwc43]

It's an oiling problem. Never ever run a high volume pump with a stock 5 qt. pan. It will suck them dry every time. Street cars need only a high pressure spring to deal with the opened up bearing clearences. If you feel the need for a high volume peice put a 7 qt. pan on it and always run a windage tray no matter what.

[DODGEZILLA]

CRANE, QC was unreliable, but they make good if you document the failure. Part that were produced in 2-4 quarter of 2001. They will replace the parts & no labor reimbursement. I run a 5qt pan & windage tray with a 4 1/2 stroke 440 with no oiling problems. I replaced Isky w/Crane & no problems with the NEW IMPROVED QC checked parts!