Today I removed valve cover and rocker assembly (everything was filthy still trying to clean it). After removing rocker assembly I found that the 3 or 4 of the push rods are clogged. I'm going to unclog them, but could this have been the issue or should i go for the lifters next. I don't want to have to remove the manifold to get to the lifters so what should I do spray carb clean down the holes? thanks in advance.

 

i can post pics if anyone wants to see

 

If that's all nasty I would pull the intake and clean the lifter valley, your intake gasket is probly leaking oil anyhow

Check all the rocker tips be sure they are intact, post a pic of the push rod ends, they start to mushroom, if that's the case a set is cheap on amazon or call lucky 8 since u need an intake gasket set, also good time to replace bad pcv hoses ( ones on valve covers) and thermostat, flush out the engine and heater core good with a hose, refill with new 50/50 green

After u reassemble I would change oil to dump and debris , coolant, cleaning chemicals that made it to the oil pan

 

Your V8 doesn't use hollow pushrods, they're solid. Lifters get top oil from rockers, drips down outside of rods. Oil galley's in lifter bores lube and pump up lifter. Get a bucket of Chemtool to soak parts in, decarbonizes. More than likely some of your rockers are occluded as well as the rocker shaft.

 

Yeah I posted this before I pulled the pushrods out. Turns out ihscouts is 100% correct they were solid. So I degreased and cleaned the rods in berryman b 12 carbclean. I also sprayed the lifters with the same berryman b12 carb clean, to try to eliminate a tick. The rods looked good and not damaged but I'm not too sure. I've put the rocker Assembly back after cleaning it. So I hope cleaning everything up will help with the tick. By the way I sprayed carb clean on the lifters and let it dry overnight, do you think I still need to change the oil. I just changed it a week ago.

 

On these push rods the ends mushroom when they are bad, post a pic

Like scouts said the oil comes from the towers that hold the rocker assembly to head be sure that's all clear

Full dissasembly of the rocker shafts ,clean ,lube, reassemble

If the engine was all gunked up with sludge and crud ,unless u vacumed it all out its probly a good idea to drain oil, either before u run or after its good and hot, depending on the type of crud there is always the chance u clog the oil pickup IMO, I was not there to soon the state of the engine or your process for dissasembly and cleanup

Tic is usually
No oil
Bad cam
Bad lifter
Bad rocker
Bad pushrods
Missing rocker tip
Blown head gasket
Bad exhaust manifold /gasket

Its usually the last 3 on these engines iirc

 

ok so i sealed everything back up before I read this post. Sorry i would have posted a picture. Like you said i removed the rocker assembly cleaned it and reinstalled it. Only thing I forgot was to re-lube everything. But i figured the oil will make it's way up on it's own. I hope I'm right. As far as the towers in which the rocker assembly is on, I did poke a tiny screwdriver down there no sign of a blockage, just nasty oil came out. I think I got all the sludge out so i'm hoping an oil change won't be necessary. As far as the tick though it's still happening but only when hot, and when you rev it up it goes away. Thank you guys so much for your help.

 

In order to do it right you have to disassemble the entire rocker assembly, then soak, then poke. The rockers and shaft are the two big culprits for low oil/no oil. There are two oil ports in each rocker and usually the one at the pushrod socket is carbonized and closed. I used stainless filler rod to clear em out because no amount of soaking removed the carbon cement. The tick is basically the rocker slapping the pushrod. I'd give it another go and I know you only removed the passenger side, the easy side. It's the driver's side that never gets any attention.


This pic was taken 30k after first head gasket replacement. Unfortunately I had to replace the first set since they sucked.

 

thank you so much for the pic, yes i did remove the passenger side how'd you know lol, i was going for the easier one haha. I didn't really didn't submerge the rocker assembly in solvent but i did poke a tiny screw driver in all the push rod sockets. In most of them there was blockage but now they are clean. As far as the left side i think that's going to be part 2 for next weekend. I think the tick is either the lifters gone bad of the dreaded piston sleeve lol. dont know if next weekend i should pull entire intake manifold like you did or just clean the rocker assembly.

 

What would happen if you only removed the carbon/sludge from the pushrod end of the lifter is allow more carbonized sludge to fill in the new void. Like I said, you have to remove them from the shaft and then you can pass a small gauge stiff wire through them to be sure there isn't any obstruction. Once you have all the rockers on that side clean hit the rocker shaft. You'd be surprised at how much they wall up sludge at the pedestal bolts since they pass right through. You may have rockers past their prime, loose on the shaft, they'll just leak oil out the sides instead of passing oil through to the pushrod. All the dimensions are in the Rave. There is a groove inside each rocker that allows the oil to lube it and pass leftover to the tip. Once that's gone it's game over, tick, tick, tick. A slipped liner is very rare in the older engines - better quality control.