So after owning this D2 for the last two years I've dealt with a constant ticking noise when warm and recently a cylinder 8 misfire code. Previous owner told me the block had cracked so they used a donor and swapped everything from the old to the new one. I made the decision to open up the motor to see if anything looked unusual. Found a push rod on cylinder #3 that was mushroomed along with rocker arm cup destroyed. Found a lifter on #6 that was dark brown on the oil groove. Sent off the heads and was told that I had 3 bent valves and that they were warped in the middle. So here is what I got:

Cylinder heads re manufactured with the up to date LR TSB
New : camshaft, lifters, pushrods, rockershafts, rocker arm #3, oil pump gear, timing chain, timing gears, arp studs.

Never been this deep in the motor so hope all goes well.

Steve and Eric at Lucky8 have been great supplying the parts. Highly recommended! Hopefully they can tell me what the extra gaskets in the headgasket kit are for.

 

The headgasket job isn't awful. Everything just bolts on/off. However, you need to know *why* you had bent valves and a mushroomed pushrod!

These aren't interference motors. Even a broken timing chain won't cause bent valves or pushrods.

You need to verify that your crank isn't out of round or that some bump/gash on your block/caps/journals where your crankshaft rotates hasn't developed...

...which should be easy to do by hand rotating the crankshaft with trans in Neutral (with the heads removed??) so that you can see if a pushrod isn't going through the holes straight or if a rocker would be pushed too high, etc.

Also, check the lengths of the new pushrods compared to the old pushrods just in case the old pushrods were too long.

Heck, it could have just been as simple as the rockers being bolted down too far.



One advantage of using the ARP studs is that you can remove the heads multiple times and you won't need new head bolts each time any longer.

 

Thanks No Doubt. The place that re did the heads said that the valves were more than likely sticking in their guides. They said that they were the warranty company for LR and that was their 200+ 4.6 job that they've done. Also that they complied with a service bulletin that they've used in the past to open up the guides so they won't stick again. Seems legit but I could also have sucker written all over my forehead.

 

Naw, you're no sucker. That explanation sounds pretty good to me. If they disassembled the old heads and those valves guides/seals were stuck, then sure, I could see the valves getting bent, etc.

 

Getting ahead of the game since nothing is put back together but how do you oil prime these motors on a rebuild? Starter motor?

 

I didn't prime. The new bearings and new oil pump delivered instantaneous oil pressure.

Before the rebuild, it was taking a couple of minutes before the oil pressure light would turn off.

After the rebuild, the oil pressure light flashes a single time while twisting ignition key and remains off thereafter.





I *did* pack the new oil pump with assembly lube (plus on the cam & crankshaft), and I did have the cylinders covered in WD40.

 

Thanks again. I didn't have oil pressure issues before so I'm not going to replace the cam bearings. Good/bad idea? Heard they are a pita to replace.

 

How bad is it that I'm not replacing the cam bearings? They should only have less than 10k miles since the block swap.

 

If the cam bearings only have 10k miles, no visual wear or damage, have not "walked" out of place(forward or backward), and each is lined up correctly with the oil passage opening in the block(use a mirror and a light), then they should be ok.
The rear cam bearing is nearly impossible to get out with the engine in the truck.
There is a large freeze plug on the back of the block, it needs to be removed to access the rear cam bearing.

 

thx Six Pack. I'll check them out with a mirror.