My truck know it's Labor Day weekend.

[ddsmith]

So I get off of work today and go out to start the truck. She starts great as usual but then I start hearing a strange engine noise. I say to myself "sh@t that ain't right". I figure home is 8 miles away and I can make it. At idle the truck isn't acting to bad but as soon as I give it gas it start knocking. I figure might be gas related so I shifted tank. Unfortunately, I shifted the lever to off not to Main like I thought I had. The truck died. So after some great troubleshooting I realize she's not getting gas. I figure fuel pump and went inside to select off on fuel selector to prepare for the upcoming fuel pump replacement. I said the Homer "Doh" when I saw it was already off. I put it back to Main and the truck started but the noise was still there. I limped the truck home. I heard a sound similar to this before when I broke an exhaust rocker arm. I pulled the drivers side valve cover and everything looked good. Then I pulled the passenger side cover and was amazed at what I saw. The rocker wasn't broke. A pushrod was still in the recess in the rocker arm and the rocker arm was sitting nearly 90 degrees out of position. I guess your all saying how can that happen. The pushrod was bent at about 20 degrees and is partially cracked. I think I'm going to have to check camshaft lift with a dial indicator to see if I wasted the lobe. I think she was just letting me know that she doesn't work on Labor Day.

[fast71]

Dont feel like the loneranger mine has decided to start when it wants to start . I think either the starter or the switch but I'm leaning more towards the starter since it only starts when its cool . but whats throughing me is we went to a cruise in tonight and I parked the truck and shut it off well i felt Ineeded to move foward a little bit and when I went to start it nothing not even a click . I pulled the key out of the switch and put it back in and boom it started but when I got home she hasnt hit yet.

[palallin]

Sorry to hear that!

Take some comfort in that you CAN work this weekend. I was planning on putting in two solid days on my truck, but it's going to rain all weekend hereabouts (so say the weather-guessers), and it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

[Class of 69]

The cam should be OK. It is much harder than the pushrod, and rocker arm. Big Q is, why did it bend??? Have you over revved it recently? I've seen the rods bend, and even push thru the oil hole in the rocker arm from that.

[ddsmith]

Well,
I haven't had the truck above 75 on the highway. At 65 mph she's only running about 3300 RPM. This truck isn't a canidate for drag vehicle either. No burn outs. It's hard to say what the cause is. It's possible that the pushrod was bent when installed by whoever rebuilt the engine. Come to think of it I thought I had an exhaust leak on that side and figured I'd get around to replacing the manifold gasket and doughnut gasket but I never really pinpointed the location. I guess it's possible that the noise was actually the pushrod messing up. I got a new pushrod and rocker arm assembly. Don't want to trust the old one after it's been beat around for a while. I'll still get the dial indicator on the pushrod end and see if I'm getting the right lift. No sense in doing a half a@@ed job. I think the valve covers need sandblasted and painted too.

[jef5150]

its likely you collapsed that lifter,you then loose tension on the push rod ,,,i know you dont wanna hear that,but unless your nut backed off ,a collapsed lifter is probably your "gremlin'.....jeff

[Nova_Cobra64]

Fast71, I had a problem like that. Erratic non starts. I figured the starter was overheating and everytime I would open my hood for about 5 minutes to cool the engine compartment off, it would fire right up. Then once it started doing it cold every now and then and then just firing up a couple minutes later....I was told to check the battery. I had my dad test the battery at work. Even fully charged it was giving erratic readings with quite low CCA. I swapped the battery over to a big AC Delco in spring and haven't had a problem.

This may not be your problem.......but it is an easy, free place to start.

[fast71]

I fixed it today . Starter solenoid cured the problem. I had one in the garage so I thought I would give it a try and bam it works .

[Ackattack]

Yep, I've had starter gremlins all the time. Got jet hot coated headers and a heat shield, and that helped, but she'll turn over slow after a long cruise.

My truck has gotten some TLC this weekend. I put a new posi in her last night, and just got done spraying in a bed liner. Tommorrow I'll hopefully get to finishing the custom center console. I got some nice vinyl for the sides yesterday that looks REAL close to leather. The main thing I have to do is finish working out the dents and stuff on the metal top and painting it. Should be fun.

[ddsmith]

The lifter was not collasped and everything looked good for valve lift. The top of the vavle is beat up and when I start the engine with the valve covers off that rocker arm moves to one side. It is still on top of the valve stem but not centered. The head pushrod opening prevents the rocker arm from falling off the valve. I think what happened was this has been off center for a long time. The original pushrod had been functioning okay in this off center position, but once it started to bend, end of game. So everyone, how long do you think the new pushrod will last? I currently have no plans to pull the heads. This will be an interesting test. If the head had guide plates like my 454. I wouldn't be the least bit concerned.