This can't be good., rocker movement - help diagnosing before tearing Options

[iankarr]

Just checked the #2 exhaust lifter with the boroscope (cause I have every tool known to man. My garage looks like China.) it's also hydraulic.

The pushrods are magnetic,so I assume they're chromoly. But they look normal sized. I thought hydraulic rods were fatter? Could this be another episode in the adventures of DAPO???

Here's a pic of the #2 rocker assembly, but the rest look like this too. My yellow car had a McMark-built 2056, which had some pretty big differences...so I don't know what's "normal" for a "stock" 2.0. But I have read that spring rings like the ones on this rocker assembly are usually paired with hydraulic lifters...is that correct?

Now that the hydraulic cat is out of the bag, I def want to switch back over to solid. Problem is I don't know if the cam was changed and/or if it will work with solid.

Any suggestions on how to change it are appreciated... Will start another thread with specifics.

Thanks!

[rgalla9146]

Just checked the #2 exhaust lifter with the boroscope (cause I have every tool known to man. My garage looks like China.) it's also hydraulic.

The pushrods are magnetic,so I assume they're chromoly. But they look normal sized. I thought hydraulic rods were fatter? Could this be another episode in the adventures of DAPO???

Previous owner had no interest in hitting redline.....and less interest in regular
valve adjustments. Hydraulics ! Voila !
Ian, as an aside I have a '89 VW Westy that has hydraulics.
If it sits for a few weeks they leak down and then take a while (1/2 hr) to pump up.
This is especially true in warmer weather. I'll renew them this summer.
Until you decide what course to take replace the oil w/ Shell Rotella 20w50 or similar.
You can also bleed the lifter before re-installing it. Immerse it in oil and pump it with the pushrod until it becomes harder....er stiffer...er.... less springy.
Never did it myself but heard of it.

[r_towle]

It could be fine if you let the oil get warm and fill up all the lifters again. No damage will happen, just lots of noise till the valves get warm.
If you want to check the cam, pull the oil pump and look for rivets instead of bolts where the cam is fastened to the cam gear. Stock is rivets.

[cgnj]

CrMO for sure, Cam any ones guess. I"d go to solid lifter. Or is that injecting another problem?

[iankarr]

Thanks guys. Doing some research on conversion to solid now...

[Mark Henry]

You absolutely have to change the cam to go to solid lifters.

Looking at the pushrods and lifter I can tell you I'm 99.9 % sure that it's an aftermarket hydraulic setup.
The .01 % is it could be a stock VW hydraulic cam with aftermarket lifters and PR's.

The solid steel spacer on the rocker shaft are stock VW hydraulic, keep them.
With the correct number of rocker shaft flat (thick) washers you can use them for T4 performance with 911 swivel feet, big cam, etc. Don't use the thin wave washers like in the pic for this, as they will break.
In fact I prefer steel spacers and consider the aftermarket aluminum spacers as cheap crap, because they wear too fast.

CrMO for sure...

Never say "for sure", I would bet it's just cheap regular steel pushrods, not CrMo.

Cam any ones guess. I"d go to solid lifter. Or is that injecting another problem?

Yes, it would be creating another problem.
All hydraulic lifters have hydraulic only cam grinds, even the so called performance hydraulic cams.

[Tbrown4x4]

I was more worried about new lifters on an old cam. I totally forgot about the different lobe profiles. I guess deep down I was hoping he didn't have to split the engine.

[iankarr]

Much appreciated, World.

If this is a cam change job, I'll probably drive it as-is this summer and do the surgery next winter. The car did drive great with the exception of the occasional hesitation at 3K. Hopefully the dizzy cleaning took care of that. And it's still the original case, so I guess I got that going for me. Which is nice.

[iankarr]

Just a quick update...

Turns out the rough running was due to a bad spark plug cable (old school NGK with cracked shield). The pertronix is rock solid and the noisy hydraulic lifter pumped up with oil and quieted down after about 5 minutes of driving. All great now. Nice to know I don't have to split the case right at the beginning of the season.

Thanks again to the great engine forensic detectives!