Our "New to Us" Winnie

[T1 Terry]

Enough root cause analysis for you Jon ..

No. It's all supposition and theory.

Might be a good theory,.... But by grinding things to make it work hasn't fixed the original problem.

Time will tell I guess.

The original problem was the valves being held open, that has been established, it's the cause that's being questioned. I can't see what I would have gained by measuring the valve stem heights, they are in a very difficult position to get an accurate measurement and it would still have been up for debate as to the reason why the valve stem lengths were excessive.
Taking the heads off would have required removing the engine and transmission .... not something I was willing to do to prove a theory, when there were smarter ways to do it that didn't involve removing the engine to remove the heads.
The valve operation is nothing like the early engines that had pushrods and adjustable rockers, or lifters with very long travel to accommodate large valve height differences. I first ran into this problem back in the early '90s, when we were using the exhaust valves out of the over head cam 4.0ltr Ford engines in the alloy head cross flow pushrod 4.1 ltr engines .... the valve stems were so long the roller rockers ended up outside their adjustment range and the valve geometry was so far off the valve was being pushed sideways in the guide and HP was being lost because the rocker angle was under centre ..... so just increasing the stud length was not the solution, nor was taking 250 thou off the top of the valve stem ..... so we had longer pushrods made and machined spacers to go under the roller rocker supports to get the rocker geometry correct.

In this case, the cam lobe runs on a roller in the rocker, the short end goes to the valve, the long end goes to the lifter, so the valve stem lengths are some what critical. This roller rocker over head cam design has been commonly used across a lot of American engines since the 2000s, so the hydraulic lifters are common to a lot of engines and the valve stem height is a critical thing when reconditioning these heads. I think the cheapest heads available were used and assembled by non-tradespeople to keep costs down, so many steps were missed to minimise the labour costs. There is quite a lot of US$ between the cheapest heads and the others, yet all claim to have new stellite faced valves and seats .....

If my diagnosis is incorrect, then the valve clearances will close up again to the point the valves are held completely off their seat ..... I haven't heard a theory that stands up to logic that would support such a thing happening, but I'm open to suggestions ....

T1 Terry

[T1 Terry]

Terry have you changed the oil & filter ?
If not fill'er up with diesel & give 'er a run to flush the gunk out of her & then change everything again.
Oils ain't oils as ol' Sol reckons!
Love to know the history of that motor!

Wouldn't we all Bruce, someone has had some work done it previously.

Someone spent big $$ on this engine, the next part is an unknown, but the person I bought it from, purchased it as repairable right off due to roof leak water damage. He had the roof resealed and we have seen no signs of roof water leaks, even with the big rainstorms when we were in the Illawarra before we actually purchased it, nor since, unlike the Fuso

T1 Terry

[jon_d]

If my diagnosis is incorrect, then the valve clearances will close up again to the point the valves are held completely off their seat ..... I haven't heard a theory that stands up to logic that would support such a thing happening, but I'm open to suggestions ....

I can only go on what I read earlier.....

"At least did most of the driver's side, found couple that had tightened up to zero clearance again,")

[T1 Terry]

If my diagnosis is incorrect, then the valve clearances will close up again to the point the valves are held completely off their seat ..... I haven't heard a theory that stands up to logic that would support such a thing happening, but I'm open to suggestions ....

I can only go on what I read earlier.....

"At least did most of the driver's side, found couple that had tightened up to zero clearance again,")

The difference was, the compression was greatly improved to before I ground the lifters, to me, that indicates the valves are reseating.

Did the passenger side today, shared out the check valves I had among the ones with the most clearance. It's just about all back together now, just need some hose to make up the filter hose ends to 45mm from 40mm, so the top rad hose will seal. The latest kits I bought (lost all the others in the fires) didn't come with the adapter sleeves, nor did they come with hose clamps, tight a*sed buggers ... and they were more expensive

some of the contortionist moves required to get bolts out, require even more twisting and swearing to get the bolts back in, but at least the LPG converter is back in place after giving it a bit of a clean up with the wire wheel in the angle grinder
Found the hose that caused all the water leaks, someone had tried to crush a 3/4" hose down onto a 5/8" brass T piece on the LPG converter ..... used a bit of slippery to get a piece of 5/8" hose on the 3/4" fitting, much easier to do it that way and make it seal properly

T1 Terry

[Dot]

Terry, 1/ How many cars do you have now?
2/ How many are a going concern?
3/ How many need a lot of attention?
4/ When do you expect to head off for a long trip?

[T1 Terry]

Terry, 1/ How many cars do you have now?
2/ How many are a going concern?
3/ How many need a lot of attention?
4/ When do you expect to head off for a long trip?

Are we only counting cars ...... there is show about that isn't there? I think Margaret said the count was up to 15 vehicles, 9 of them are a going concern, although there are some concerns about a couple of them as to how well they are going ....
A) Mazda 3500 has a starter problem and rust work needs attention

B) The MG4 repairable write off will need the rear bumper structure replaced ... and maybe the rear hatch

C) Kombi needs front wheel brgs and the throttle cable freeing up after the trip through the flood water a while back
D) The C240 Merc sounds like it has a piston hitting the head until the oil pressure comes up ..... and it needs panel work up the left hand side.

E) The Winnie needs the engine work finishing off, solar and batteries (they won't arrive till the end of Nov due to shipping problems) so some time in Dec we expect we will be ready to start our travels.

I'll need to sort out if we are taking the Prius or the MG4 with us when we head off and just how the MG4 looked, bum up on the Gypsy trailer ...... might have to get a tilt trailer or sort something with the electrics to get it ok to flat tow. Or I could get the Blade back on the road and flat tow that ....

The ones requiring further work

1) The Jag I'm hoping will go again when we find the key fob and the starter button arrives from China

2) Jim the Junior Jeep needs the roof lining being fitted, the inside left hand rear plastic window trim, the left hand rear window fitted and a trip to a lock smith who can cut a key and program the remote so it can be started

3) The Blade needs a battery and some panel work

3) The taxi Prius needs a battery, 2 front wheels and front brake pads .... and find out what the shudder/vibration is under power ..... it might become a parts donor

4) The White MG4 is a stat right off, it would be easy enough to get going again, but it couldn't be registered, so it's a parts donor as well

5) The Lexus is a total write off as far as body damage .... it could be fixed, but it will be a parts donor as well to do an EV conversion on the Merc or a hybrid conversion on the Winnie .... that depends on how well it goes when we venture off and how much fuel it drinks

T1 Terry

[supersparky]

Terry, pull the rockers cover of the Benz, and have a look at the cam. They didn't have a cam bearing, just sits in the head. They used to be a bit notorious for eating the bearing area out of the head. I can't remember if it was the front or the back one though. It's been a while.

[T1 Terry]

Thank you David, is there a fix? Or just replace the cam and head?

T1 Terry

[jon_d]

replace the head? nah, just grind everything until is works.

[T1 Terry]

replace the head? nah, just grind everything until is works.

If the job had been done properly when it was reconditioned, the tops of the valve stems would have been ground to achieve the correct valve stem height ...... If I'd removed the head and ground the valve stems as should have been done in the first place, how would that have been a better fix?

T1 Terry