WTF?!?! Loose rocker arms

[ikessky]

I'm almost done with my little project here, but wanted to ask a question before I get too far. I have about 3 rocker arms that are loose. I've torqued them down to the proper spec and tried a few different rocker arms on the spots where they are loose. Is this just because of the position of the cam lobes or is something majorly wrong here? They are not that loose, but you can wiggle them around a little bit. BTW, they are the '95 ball and nut style.

[v6h.o.]

if your talking about the rockers that are not being used (ie, sitting at rest, not pushing on a valve) being slightly loose that you can wiggle them side to side a bit and whatnot... then yes thats normal.

now if they're stupidly loose, then you have a problem.

[ikessky]

No, no, they must just sitting at rest. They can't move and slip off the valve or the pushrod can't come out, but they are able to wiggle. I thought I was on the right track thinking about how the cam is probably sitting, but I wanted to run it past you guys first before I go and mess my engine up real bad.

[Juglenaut]

Check your lifters, rocker studs, valve springs, retainers, keepers...

[Cliff8928]

Not alll of my rockers were solidly tight on my 2.8 back when i had to remove and replace the heads, etc.. Just tightened them to spec and never had any problems..


Cliff Scott
89 BerettaGT
89 Volvo740

[geoffinbc]

There fine. That is 100% normal. All rockers on the base circle of their lobe will be free to wiggle. IF you torqued them down your good to go. No guess work.

[Corpse]

As Was said, as long as the rocker arm nuts are still torqued you are usually fine. It is just a problem if you have excessive valve lash, that can mean there are worn parts.

If you can fit a dime between the top of the valve stem and the rocker arm, I would say check into things..

-Dave

[Juglenaut]

There shouldn't be all that much lash on hydraulic systems.

[geoffinbc]

There is NO lash on a hydraulic system. There is .005 to .020 PRELOAD

[ikessky]

If you had to set valve lash on these, then there is no way you could torque the nuts down to spec.

The engine is now fixed and is running great. Thanks for all the responses throughout this process guys!

[Corpse]

The lifters are preloaded to a certain amount, which is why, if you have play you should investigate. As I was saying before, if you can fit something like a dime but, thinner between the rocker arm and valve stem face, check into it. I was thinking a dime is thinner though but, it's about .050", due to the hydraulic assembly in the lifter though, you may be able to fit something large and create a gap.

So, the best way to tell if the setup is wearing out would be to turn the engine so that the valve you are working with is relaxed then try to measure without forcing the feeler guage into there. If there is play, investigate. If not, you are probably ok.

-Dave

[ikessky]

I just torqued them to spec. There were 3 that were still a loose, but as soon as the engine was started, they never made noise. Well, there was a noise, but it was a lifter that was stuck and worked itself out with the help of a little motor flush . I've driven it to work every day now this week (90-100 miles a day) and there are no noises, I get good mileage, and it runs very nice! I'm positive it was just how everything in the engine was sitting at the time that I finished it up. I was just a little nervous at first because I thought my cam might be wiped out!