The sage, at least to me, is over on where the iron in my engine oil is coming from. My
last oil analysis came back with even higher iron content than the previous two even
though I ran a flush treatment through the engine on a previous oil change. The analysis
is here:
http://jndneff.home.texas.net/dakota/blackstone2/jpg
I decided it was time to find out what was wrong before it stepped and showed me on it's
own the next time I was 500 miles from home and 50 miles away from the nearest garage. I
started at the top of the engine since it was the easiest to get to figuring I'd look at
the valve springs, rockers and pushrods, followed by the cam and lifters and ending,
hopefully, with the oil pump. I pulled the valve covers and noted that all 16 valve
springs looked good. Nothing obviously broken or out of alignment. Next, I pulled the #2
cylinder rockers. I looked at the rocker and it's pivot noting that they appeared to be
wearing poorly and felt rough when I moved the rocker against the pivot by hand. I also
noted that the oil groove in both parts was nearly worn away and there were longitudinal
scratches on both parts on their wear surfaces. On the pivot, there is also a noticeable
ledge between the worn surface and the adjacent surface which does not touch the lifter.
The lines which appear to go directly across the pivot are reflections, but you can see a
diagonal scuff to the left of center just below the oil groove. The rockers on cylinders 4
and 6 were identical to this one.
http://jndneff.home.texas.net/dakota/rockers/2-intake-p.jpg
http://jndneff.home.texas.net/dakota/rockers/2-intake-r.jpg
I showed this rocker and pivot to Bernd since I trust his opinion and knows more about
these engines than anyone else I know. He agreed that this was more than likely the source
of the iron in my oil. The dealership he's working at, Allen Samuels Dodge (Used to be
Heart of Texas Dodge) was willing to price match a deal on Mopar 1.7 roller rockers and
valve covers so I ordered the parts from them right then and there. As I understand it,
the price I got on the rockers is actually below the employee discount so I'll just keep
that figure to myself. While I was waiting for the parts to come in I removed the rest of
the rockers and push rods, but didn't look at them.
When the parts came in three days later we checked them out, found everything to be
present and a pretty shade of blue. They should go nicely with my truck. :)
http://jndneff.home.texas.net/dakota/rockers/mopar-rockers.jpg
I didn't start the install for a couple of days due to other commitments. The install went
smooth except for two things. First, the jam nuts provided to install the studs were, I
felt, a little thin. By the time I had finished the last stud on the passenger side, the
threads were buggered up. I replaced these with some thicker nuts from Home Depot, but
they were softer and were trash by the second stud on the drivers side. I checked out stud
installers on Mac Tools web site and found they look just like the adjustor nuts for the
roller rockers. So, I used one of them to install the remaining studs. This was by far
easier than using jam nuts. Next I wiped the gelled oil of the new pushrods, dipped them
in Mobil 1 and slid them into the engine followed by loosely installing the rockers and
adjustment nuts. Here's where I ran into a problem. Some of the lifters had bleed down and
others had not. Should I install them to 1/2 turn past zero lash and run it? Wouldn't that
leave me with some being too tight or others too loose? A desperate email to Bernd told me
to get the lifters pumped up and reset the rockers. So I set the rockers a little loose,
dropped the new MP valve covers in place and fired up the engine. It ran, but sounded like
crap. After about 30 seconds I shut it down, pulled the covers and rest the rockers to 1/2
turn past zero lash. This time I buttoned everything down for good and fired her up.
Everything sounded smooth and even the slight ticking I expected from the rockers was not
present. The next day I took the truck down to see Bernd again for his once over check and
listen. He gave it his seal of approval and sent me on my way.
I have about 300 miles on the rockers now and everything is running great. I'll do another
oil analysis on the change after the oil I'm running now and make sure everything is
happy, but I'm confident it will be. Remember I said I didn't look at the rest of the
rockers when I removed them? Well, today I did and I was a little shocked by what I found.
The rocker over cylinder #8 on the exhaust has a curious problem. I'm not sure if this was
a factory defect, or if a chunk came out of the pivot sometime in the past 117K miles. In
either case, it's not good. If I buy, or build, another Mopar 3.9, 5.2 or 5.9, I'm going
to swap out the factory rockers before I ever run it. I know 117K miles is considered high
mileage, but this kind of wear scares me. Maybe the rocker design has worked for Dodge for
a long time, but I personally think it's a poor design.
http://jndneff.home.texas.net/dakota/rockers/8-exhaust-p1.jpg
http://jndneff.home.texas.net/dakota/rockers/8-exhaust-p2.jpg
http://jndneff.home.texas.net/dakota/rockers/8-exhaust-r.jpg
John
http:/jndneff.home.texas.net/dakota/dakota.html
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