Followers worn out already?

[dickie14]

I've run out of adjustment on my rockers and the garage (VW Centre in Farnborough) have discovered the hydraulic followers are heavily worn - so much that only two could be retrieved, the others appear to be burred to the point that a magnet won't pull them out, and the case is going to have to be split to get them out.

I'm surprised (and frustrated) because the engine was rebuilt less than 10,000 miles ago with mostly new parts, including the followers. Are there really such crappy parts available or could the heavy wear be symptomatic of something else?

Cheers,
Dickie

[kevtherev]

What oil has been used?
Were there any oil pressure issues?

[silverbullet]

How much lift are you getting? A knackered cam could be at the root of the problem.

[dickie14]

Ta for the swift replies.

It's run with 15W-40 oil, changed every 6 months. No oil pressure issues. Or perhaps I should say the dash light always stays off after starting.

I thought it was the cam too - a worn cam was behind the rebuild two years ago (though looked like that was built into the previous Vege engine from the start! Bastards).

The van has had to have the rockers adjusted a couple of times since during servicing and each time has restored a bit of liveliness to it that I hadn't noticed had been fading away. But the garage are sure the camshaft is fine, plus the followers they could retrieve were heavily dished.

[kevtherev]

So how were they adjusted.?
Were the lifters noisy?

[horizontal kipper]

Chances are if the followers are shot the cam lobes they been running on will be shot as well. If they are that burred that they wont come out with a magnet your case will need machine work.

[dickie14]

Kev - yes they were noisy. The last adjustment (a couple of months ago) required the locknuts to be fitted on the other side of the rocker to get enough thread out to seat the rocker properly. The garage were rightly very keen to stress that this was a temporary solution only and the root cause needed to be investigated, hence the current work.

Kipper - I'm worried this might be the 'case' (sorry). I guess we'll see once it's split...

Cheers,
Dickie

[kevtherev]

Kev - yes they were noisy. The last adjustment (a couple of months ago) required the locknuts to be fitted on the other side of the rocker to get enough thread out to seat the rocker properly. The garage were rightly very keen to stress that this was a temporary solution only and the root cause needed to be investigated, hence the current work.

Kipper - I'm worried this might be the 'case' (sorry). I guess we'll see once it's split...

Cheers,
Dickie

If they were noisy, it says a few things.
To me anyway.
That the oil pressure in the lifter gallery maybe poor.
That the lifters were not filled before fitting.
That the lifters were incorrectly set after fitting.

Putting to much preload on a lifter will wreck it...and this appears to be so.
Squeezing the lifter made it a solid, and with no expansion gap it got too tight on the cam.
Reads like this is the case to me.

[silverbullet]

The last adjustment (a couple of months ago) required the locknuts to be fitted on the other side of the rocker

Somethng is desperately wrong in that engine.

[horizontal kipper]

I have the old camshaft from my CU engine mounted on a bit of wood. It still surprises me how within a few miles the van went from running fine to almost a standstill. Im old school Aircooled bring back solids

[kevtherev]

A hydraulic lifter is eventually a solid.
But it has the added ability to self adjust.
Human error is often responsible for there demise.
Same with solids, wrongly adjusted they too will destroy valve stems.

[dickie14]

Well, the garage have finally got the engine apart and have found an incredible amount of wear on the followers - 5mm! The camshaft has worn a little too so I'm going to get that replaced.

There was a layer of metal filings 3mm deep in the sump!

The garage suspect the followers were re-ground, thus removing the hardened surface, or possibly so budget they were never hardened in the first place.

They're under strict instructions to rebuild with the highest quality followers (and cam) they can get - I don't want another rebuild in 2017!

I'll be checking on progress in a couple of weeks so hopefully can get some photos of the damaged parts.

[horizontal kipper]

Give Jim at stateside tunning a call he will get you a cam and matched lifters.

[dickie14]

So, the van is finally back on the road and happy again. It was indeed the followers, see if you can tell what's wrong in this picture:

[Oldiebut goodie]

That is worrying!