I was out datalogging today going about 45 mph, then suddenly the engine just dies. I pull it over and try to start it. I drive it back home slowly. I pull the valve covers as the weird noise got me worried. I see the problem. Small little pellets.

I'm worried that the small bearings got into the engine. What can I do to make sure? How many of those bearings are there per rocker arm?
Anything else I should know about? Should I be worried? Oil pressure was normal when I limped it home.

what do you guys think about Harland rockers? Which version should I use: 1.7:1 or 1.8:1 Ratios?

 

I would have Harland rebuild the stock ones, cost is $250. With the Harland 1.7's or 1.8's you 'may' have to massage the valve covers. With his rebuilt stock pieces you're just back on the road. Regarding the needle bearings, clean up what you can see in the pick and change the oil immediately. You'll probably find some on the drain plug if you still have a magnetic one. As far as how many per rocker, not sure.

 

Nasty N8 may be able to give you the number per rocker, I believe he does the Harland rebuilds.

 

Looks like your rocker threw up some bearings...I would 3rd that rebuild on them.

 

I found 48 bearings total from the one rocker that took a dump; I hope that's all of them.

 

Were they all in the top of the head?

 

The rest, aside from the ones in the pictures, were still in the busted rocker arm.

 

How many miles on them?

 

45k on the motor. I'm thinking the Trex cam didn't help any.

I've searched everywhere and can't find the amount of bearings there should be.

 

Opened up one of the good rockers and found 66 total. 33 per side.

Now, what should I do next to find those last 18 pieces? I drained the oil and removed the filter, but couldn't find them in there but I supposed the're in the oil pan. I then plugged the oil pan and poured all the oil (still new) back into teh engine. Drain oil, and still no bearings.

Where would they likely be? Oil pump? Oil pan?
Would removing the heads allow me to find all the places the could be hiding?

 

Hopefully for you they're in the oil pan and never reach the pump. I don't know how small the holes in the screen on the pickup tube are, but let's hope for your sake they are small enough to keep those roller bearings from getting sucked into the pump itself. I'm pretty sure you would know it if they did because there isn't room in there between the drive and driven gears that make up the pump for those bearings to fit in there. I'd sure would be tempted to pull the pan and try to find the remaining bearings.

 

Ya, I will remove the oil pan to see if they're in there. Where would they most likely be found? After falling into the hole on top of the cylinder head by the big head bolt, does it go straight to the oil pan?

Has anyone actually attempted to drive their car knowing that a few needle bearings are in the engine?

 

take a speaker magnet and run it on the underside of your pan towards the drain plug, then take a pen mag with a bent shaft and send it up through the drain plug hole. Just a suggestion.

 

Thanx for the advice vortec. I'll give that a shot before i install the Harland rockers in.

 

More info/links on having rockers rebuilt. I removed mine the other day and they had alot (too much for me) play in them. Seemed like I could get about 1/16 - 1/32 of slack.

 

I had the same amount of play, then had harlandsharp.com rebuild them.

 

Is it possible to have a rich condition on all cylinders if 1 intake rocker is broken? That was what i was getting. My LC1 wideband sensor is on the passenger side and the rocker arm that broken was on piston 1 intake rocker. What could cause the rich condition like that? I checked all the plugs and the plug on piston 1 was normal while the other 7 were black, sign of a rich condition.

 

theres a good chance the remaining rollers are stuck in the oil pickup screen.

if it was my motor, i would drop the pan to check.. i know, PITA, but i wouldnt feel good about it otherwise.

 

QUOTE:
I'm worried that the small bearings got into the engine. What can I do to make sure? How many of those bearings are there per rocker arm?
Anything else I should know about? Should I be worried? Oil pressure was normal when I limped it home.
END QUOTE...


I just had the same thing happen to my 99 and I found that there are 33 needle bearings on each side of the rocker arm. So some fancy math yields 66 needle bearings per rocker arm. I took apart a good rocker arm to confirm this.

I found that most of mine came out the drain plug, but some were in the top of the head, and there rest were in the lifter trays adjacent to the offending rocker arm. You might be able to fish a magnet down the pushrod holes and pull them up and out. Or try screening your oil through a stocking and pour it down throught the head which had the rocker arm failure and maybe you can "flush" the remaing needle bearings out the pan. I ended finding them all, but only after pulling the motor, the pan, and the heads just to be sure I got them all. The good news it that the bearing will not fit throught the pickup screen, so there is really little or no chance that will get sucked up into the pump and cylced through the motor, or at least that's my opinion. I did not find any needles trapped in the pan, but did find numerous pieces of the retaining cups, so you are not only looking for the needle bearins, but also the broken portions of the retaining cups.

Depending on how long the situation existing, check the tip of the valve and make sure there is no mushrooming or other damage....

I feel your pain...see pics

I went with comp roller rockers, fwtw....I expect valve cover spaces or other mods will be necessary.

Hope it helps
Chris

 

I also vote sending them to harland.

Only took them like 3 or 4 days to get it done. The rockers came back looking like new and they also give you all new bolts as well.

And you never have to worry about them losing bearings again.