Valve train not getting oil in 3FE.. (1 Viewer)

[IBFJ62]

So, I rebuilt my 3FE last spring, and lately I've been noticing more valve train noise than I'd like, so I pulled the valve cover, and to my horror, the valve train was pretty much dry, with a little oil on the back half (downhill side) of the head, but the front half had basically nothing but dried up oil. It's got a new Aisin oil pump and oil pressure looks good, and I checked to make sure the machine shop put the tower with the oil galley in the #4 position, so it should be getting oil. Is it possible some gunk got into the oil galley and isn't making it's way onto the valve rod to disperse? Suggestions?

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

can you see the head gasket tab sticking out the BACK of the head/block? If not, check to see if it is sticking out the front. if it is sticking out the front, the gasket is bass ackwards and blocking oil flow. short of that, they could have mis-clocked the cam bearings, or put the rocker shaft in bass ackwards...there isn't alot of oil action up there, but you should see some...

 

[3_puppies]

how long has it run like this? it shouldn't be dry. the oil just kinda oozes out and if run with the valve cover off you should see it drip off the rocker assembly and valve springs.

Was it like this at the first valve adjustment?

 

[IBFJ62]

Thanks for the feedback, I hate to say it, but this was the first valve adjustment since the rebuild.. I know, I know.. I feel terrible that it's been running like that. I'll check on the head gasket tab, and cross my fingers that's not it.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Take the valve cover off and turn the engine on to confirm that you do have an oil supply issue.

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

might be hard to do with the fj62, but one could crank it over to do the same...

 

[Godwin]

Pull the distributor to spin the oil pump, may need to rotate the engine for the oil holes in the cam to line up with oil passages.

 

[IBFJ62]

Jim, How would one know if the holes are lined up (or not..). Thanks!

* I was wondering if a 62 could be run without the valve cover, but I guess you'd have to have the AFM hooked up..

 

[BGarcia88FJ62]

^ I can only think it would have to be torn down to align the oiling holes. Let's hope that isn't it.

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

not sure what oclock the crank has to be, but the oil holes of the cam only allow for top end flow to happen within a certain window of timing. I turned the crank 30 degrees, primed pump to watch, turned 30 degrees, primed pump and watched and so on till I got it. If you don't see any after say about 6 revs of 30*, then rotate 20* and repeat the priming, 30* rotate cycle till you have pretty much decided you have or do not have top end flow...HTH. If the cam bearings didn't get clocked right, then the thing will need to come out and apart...

 

[Benjaman]

When I first got my 62, I was shocked how little oil I found around the valve springs. Being a OHV engine, I guess there not a lot of need for lots of oil.

 

[IBFJ62]

It's got pretty good oil pressure, would that be the case if the oil holes weren't lining up?

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

it could help keep pressure higher in the lower end(where the sender is...)

 

[IBFJ62]

At idle, the oil pressure sits just above the 1/4 mark, and under way its touching the bottom of the 1/2 mark. Which If I recall, was right where it was pre build. Normal or no?

 

[cwwfj60]

have you ever pulled the oil cap off with it running to see inside?

 

[Mace]

3 things

Did you check for oil to the rockers when you rebuilt it?
Who did the Head gasket (it installs beautifully backwards as was already mentioned)
And were the cam bearings pressed in correctly.

 

[IBFJ62]

OK, sorry it took so long to get back to this, but I finally had a chance to dig into the truck. So, I pulled off the rocker assembly, and it didn't appear that any oil was getting up into the head through the weep hole in the #4 post. I also couldn't feel the tab on the rear of the head, so I figured I'd pulled a dumbass move and not installed the head gasket properly (had the machine shop do the short block, but I reassembled). I then took the head off, I did install properly, and I still see no sign that oil is getting up into the port that supplies the head?!?

I'm assuming from previous posts that the oiling holes aren't lined up with the cam. I'm still a little blurry on how to get them lined up. And once you do rotate the crank to get things lined up, how do you time it since it's no longer at TDC??

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

after you find the magic degree window that oil should flow thru the bearings at the cam, and prime the pump and see oil at the top(or not depending on the install of the cam bearings), you can rotate the crank forward to TDC to set timing and fire it. there is no real way to see the rockers getting oiled while running on a 3FE, but you can verify top flow when priming(when at the right cam position...)

 

[IBFJ62]

Cool, that makes more sense, thank you. Just stopped at Harbor Freight today and picked up a big flathead screwdriver that I plan on cutting the handle off of for a priming tool. Will report back.

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

My rebuilt 2F oils the top, but not liberally...I think alot of machinists think that by slightly chocking-off the oil galleys on the cam bearings, they're getting more oil to the crank; which they are. I'm not sure how many of them know just how far they can go without completely drying out the top, tho...the F family of engines, while simple, still require some base knowledge of the platform to build correctly...points that I notice machinists have issue with are the cam plug, the galley plugs, timing plate oil squirter, and top end oiling( including flopping the rocker shaft in bass-ackwards-----OH WAIT...did you have your rocker shaft apart? if it gets assembled backwards, it won't let oil thru...how did I forget that one??? Did you rebuild the rocker shaft???