Bent valve stem?

[mark77]

Hi,
I have just attempted to adjust my valves for the 3rd time on my '83 FJ60 2F. I noticed that after setting them i could still hear some ticking noise when running the engine with the valve cover off. I put a long screwdriver on the top of each one to see if i could hear a difference on some and i could. One valve in particular (No. 3) was quite noisy despite being adjusted on the tight side of being correct. I then noticed something that didn't look right. On the side of the valve where the nut is loosened and adjustment is made with a screwdriver, directly underneath the nut assembly there is a cylindrical metal stem that goes down into the head (is this the valve stem?). These seems to spin around on all of them as the valves go up and down. The stem on the valve in question was "wobbling", i.e. it looks bent. They all seem to have a slight movement from side to side if wiggled with the engine is off. But this particular one definitely is bent as demonstrated by spinning it around. The No.1 valve also does this but to a lesser extent. Wondering if this could be causing a) valve noise and b) small amounts of smoke from exhaust after idling for a while and using oil in general. Is this likely?? Is is difficult to change these or does the head have to come off to do it??

Thanks

Mark

 

[fliphkd778]

The rod that goes into the head is a pushrod, it transfers the lift motion from the cam up to the rocker arm and to the valve. The top of the pushrod where it meets the adjustment is a concave sphere, so when wiggled it can feel bent. All in all, the rocker arm shaft must be removed and then the pushrods may be pulled out.

 

[mark77]

Pushrods..thanks for clarifying that for me. I understand what you mean by being able to wiggle them but the 2 affected ones really appear and feel different to the rest ..bent or very worn. I was examining them for quite some time. Is it common for these to bend/wear out? This car has 180000 original Km's. I'm guessing that from their function they will affect my ability to correctly adjust valves. The next big question - how do you remove the rocker arm to replace them?

Cheers,

Mark

 

[dignan]

Mark, were you able to figure out what this was? I noticed the same problem on my cruiser ('85 fj60 w/ 185k mi.) when I replaced the valve cover gasket the other day...

 

[lehiguy]

You should be able to loosen the adjuster on the one in question and slide the rocker over on the rocker shaft enough to get it free of the push rod. Then you can remove the push rod and inspect it for any issues.