Ever Have A Lifter Die ?

So a few days ago driving to lunch I said to myself "something doesnt feel right" and didnt think anything of it. So later that same day right when I started it up and was about to go home after work I could hear something not quite right but couldnt put my finger on it and continued driving home. My roommate who was in the Jeep at the time thought I was crazy as he couldnt tell that anything was out of the ordinary. About half way home I gave it some throttle to pass somebody and the motor boged down and then backfired, so I immediatly let up and it still shuddered and spat. None of the gauges said anything was wrong but the motor was running like ****. I thought it might be a tank of bad gas and limped it home since nothing appeared wrong. I let it sit over the weekend because I had to work and I had today off to mess with it. After talking to a few mechanic friends they said it could be a bad lifter since I had already checked plugs, sensors, and wireing, so I pulled the valve cover. I put a hand on the #1 exhaust rocker and could actually rock it pumping the lifter 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch. None of the other rockers did this. I even rotated the motor over by hand and tried it again and I was still able to move the lifter by hand.

So the question at hand is: if the lifter did die because it was a defect, is it out of the question for me to try and get Crane cams who I got the cam, lifters, springs and retainers from to pay the bill for the gaskets and new head bolts that will have to be replaced in order to fix the lifters?

Anybody else have something like this happen or have any helpfull info to add?

Background info: 1991 Jeep Cherokee, AX-15, NP 231, D30, F8.8, motor is a 4.6L stroker that was built over Thanks giving this year with new everything inside. The Crane Cam, lifters, valve springs, and retainters where purchased new from Summit racing. There are approx 5k miles on the new motor.

Thanks,

AARON

shoot a PM to 5-90

and it can Never hurt to call a company and DEMAND free parts because of their failure...
the worst they can say is no...

First off, read your warranty. That will tell you what they legally have to provide. Whether or not they will go beyond that is the question. The key is to be courteous and ask for their help. Being rude or abrasive can shut you down real quick trying to get a warranty claim. If the lifter died, there is a good possibility that the cam is damaged. Banging up and down on the cam lobe is not healthy. I would pull it apart before giving them a list of what you need replaced. I have seen cam lobes actaully rounded down, giving the appearance of a shot lifter when the cam was round. Having said that, do an oil change and drain the oil through a coffee filter and look for fine metal particles, a dead giveaway to a shot cam. Any time I drain the oil, I always run it through a filter just for the purpose of inspection.

Lifters don't normally just quit. The normal failure mechanism is to get plugged up and simply quit pumping up. A plugged oil passage feeding the lifter can also cause the same symptom.

Thanks old man. I completly understand the be nice and courteous thing. Anger doesnt get you very far especially when in this type of suituation. I have yet to take it appart but I dont think the cam is dead. I didnt drive it long enough for it to really bang around I hope. I dont think the oil passages could be pluged because the motor is less than a year old and has around 5k miles on it. I looked at the oil during the break in changes and it always came out clean with no shavings. I also have a preoiler on it so before the motor is cranked over, it has 40lbs of oil pressure. I dont think lack of lube was the problem.

Thanks again,

AARON

let me re-phrase my DEMAND

when they start giving you the ring around and shift you over to someone else, to someone else, call you back, and make it a hassle to get your claim through and talk to the people you need to talk too...

take notes of everyone that you talk to and their title and when you get up to the big gun (as i have had to many times with waranty stuff) list off all the people you have talked to and their titles and give him/her a small hint of your irritation at being pushed around...

people go out of their way to keep customers happy...

i am not saying be an ass hole, just dont get taken advantage of...

Exactly where is the "slack"?? .....is the pushrod moving up and down in the lifter? Or is the rocker arm moving the valve?? Something that sudden sounds like a broken valvespring to me...You didn't burn a lobe or a lifter base...that would have happened in the first hour of engine break-in....the fact that it happened when ya nailed it seems to go along with a broken spring.....and the motor will backfire erratically...If you have dual springs the outer could be broke and the inner has (so far) held enough seat pressure to keep the keepers from spitting out.

If it turns out to be a spring....replace the whole set and find and fix the reason it's coil binding.

I didnt "nail it" it was more of an ease into the throttle when it started to backfire. I could feel that something wasnt right when it started up so I think the lifter was slowly bleeding down and when I did accerlate, it finally let go. The spring is not broken. I can grab the pushrod and move it up and down and it feels like the lifter is no longer working. None of the other lifters do this. I have had the valve cover off and inspeced everything on the top end and everything else looks good. I will have Crane replace all of the lifters.

Again I appreciate the help.

AARON

You're using Crane springs. Was is necessary to modify the head any to provide the correct seat height for those springs? Spring bind being the question if you have a broken spring.

If it's a lifter, I just went through that on my stroker. It ran fine, but I had an occasional tapping starting about 2000 rpm. It got more and more frequent until it did it all the time, but it only tapped after it warmed up a little. Those are new lifters, about 6 months old, and I only occasionally drive it around town, and trailer it to the trail. I put half a bottle of Marvel Mystery Oil in the oil and drove it around on and off for a couple of weeks, and even though it got worse before it got better, it finally quieted down. If it hadn't quit tapping over the weekend, I would have put in a quart of tranny fluid, let it idle for a half hour or so, and then slowly driven it to work and changed the oil.

Yours sounds more serious than mine since mine never ran rough, but if some crud somehow got in the oil passage or in the lifter, you can try to clean it out before you tear it apart. I was afraid that I had a bad lifter since it kept getting worse, and wasn't looking forward to having to pull the head to fix it. I have no idea how it could happen since it's all so new, but it did.

were the cam, lifters and springs matched? I had a problem with breaking valve springs on my SBC. My cam lift was pretty small, so it wasn't coil bind. The motor was built by someone else with unknown brand springs and lifters. I am pretty sure I just got a crap set of springs made from bad steel in india or china. I just replaced them with a matched set of cam lifters and springs from comp cams with the correct spring for the cam and lifters that could take the spring pressure and not collapse. I think there is a alot of crappy offshore parts coming in and we are best to stick with a reputable manufacturer.

SeanP

I got everything from Crane Cams and they said it would all work together just fine. I am pulling the head tomorrow night when my tools show up. I am down in Daytona Beach, FL for the summer working a job and most of my tools are up in North Carolina where I normally live. Dont ya just love the parking lot repairs?

AARON