Post
by White Exec » Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:10 pm
"...and its the top of the bucket that wore away along with the exhaust lobe."
Interesting. The Rover (ex-Buick) V8 3.5 petrol engine suffered a similar wear problem, this time with alloy rockers running on an internally-oil-fed hollow steel rocker shaft. Despite the presence of hydraulic tappets, with age the valve lift decreased, and power dropped off. Amazingly, the alloy rockers wore right through the lower portion of the steel shaft (around 20mm dia and 5mm thick wall, IIRC) ! You would expect the other way round, with the alloy parts getting the wear.
The cause was abrasive microparticles, which built up in the engine oil, embedding themselves in the alloy rockers, which eventually destroyed the shaft they ran on.
At the bottom end of the Vee, the single camshaft lobes would also lose profile, gradually turning circular.
To minimise this, oil and filter changes were recommended at 3000 mi, but this only put off the evil day. The two shafts could be expected to last around 150,000 mi, before needing a "top end rebuild".
I wonder whether other dissimilar metal pairings could suffer a similar problem, particularly if lubrication were marginal? And can hydraulic tappets accelerate wear, by keeping all the surfaces in constant contact, again more so where lubrication is sparse?
Aren't higher output (but standard pressure) oil pumps often used for competition purposes too?
Chris
1996 XM 2.5TD Exclusive RP7165 Polar White
1992 BX19D Millesime RP5800 Sable
1989 BX19RD Delage Red Deceased; 1998 ZX 1.9D Avantage auto Triton Green Company car 1998..2001; 2001 Xantia 1.8i auto Wicked Red Company car 2001..2003