Rebuilt my 241 red ram a while back, and finally got things so it would run regularly. Tore down the heads and lifters had it all done new caps on the oil tubes and cleaned them all out. After having just headers on it for a while and only moving it around the garage etc, i finally get it together enough to drive, and got the exhaust done. After that I hear a squeak on the p***enger side of the engine. Inside I find the top of the head bone dry. Two exhaust lifters are chewed up bad one galled pretty terrible. So I at the least need a new rocker set for that side. (Have not pulled the head yet.) Need to find out why with tons of oil pressure none is making it to the p***enger side.
Rockers can be rebuilt. It's expensive, but cheaper than ruining a motor. You might have saved yourself some big bucks. Did you actually clean out the rockers shafts and each rocker before you put it back together? They almost ALL need to be gone if they never have. It's a sludge magnet in there!
I would think that you have to pull the whole thing apart and clean every single nook and cranny again. Those metal bits from the rocker could be every where. If you have a blockage on the rocker tube, what's to say that you don't have one else where that you did not yet see. Who's to say you don't have a scorched main bearing or cam bearing as well. Really stinks but it's best to take it apart and redo it all, reclean the whole thing. Not like it's a cheap engine. Hate to see you eat stuff up. Sorry.
I would also agree, it would be wise to do a FULL inspection of the motor after a breakage like that. Best case, you clean it, repair the damage, re***emble. Worst case and saving grace, you find a blockage and fix it along with any other damage.
The rockers are fed through one small hole that comes up from the cam bearings. If it gets blocked or clogged, no oil to the rockers on that side.
If you meant heads & rockers, did you make sure the rocker stand with the hole got back in the right place?
The tubes have caps on them and we pulled them and completely cleaned inside, it was full of goop but empty now and at time of the rebuild new caps where put in. the tubes align one way so they should have matched up. It looks like no oil ever made it to the tubes on the p***enger side. It makes me wonder If I spun a cam bearing or if they where not installed properly. I had the shop do the bottom half. The driver side seemed ok from a quick glance. But its going to have to come off as well for an inspection. Gives me a chance to fix the paint job on the intake but damn its a huge setback. George do you know it both sides feed off the same bearing or not?
only one rocker stand will have an oil p***age drilled. if it was not in the right place, no oil to rockers. so there is a 1 in 3 chance the wrong stand is restricting oil flow. the head on the right side of the engine gets oil from the second main or bearing and the driver side is from the 4th. not to mention that it only gets one little squirt of oil for every rotation of the crank and it takes a while to fill up the rocker shafts. did you prime the engine while turning the crank before firing?
Primed it with a drill running the oil pump. Its also been running several times since with lots of oil pressure, however with open headers so I never heard the squeak till this week. Thought it was something to do with the new exhaust but obviously not from what I found. Just looking down the sparkplug tubes I can see plenty of oil on the driver side. Need to do a tear down and inspect on it.
I like pic's, can someone take a photo of the right & left rocker ***embly and point out which "stands" has the "hole"? Thanks
----------------------- Ditto on making sure you didn't mix up the rocker shaft stands when you ***embled the heads. This a fairly common and easy to do mistake when ***embling heads on an early hemi. Also, what are you running for a cam - an aftermarket piece or a reground stocker? If it's an aftermarket cam, check and make sure that there's an oiling notch in the rear cam journal. The notch is there to allow oil to p*** from the cam bearing up to the heads. It's not likely, but its possible that with an aftermarket cam, that the notch was accidentally not machined into the cam when it was made - and if the notch is missing, no oil will get to the rockers. Mart3406 ===========================
Lined up the stands with the holes on the head for oil flow. Was in right place when I removed it as well. Just DRY. Its the exhaust one as well so it would be the lowest one. Nothing in there I'd say it never got any oil to it. The engine has been fired several times for short periods of time since it was rebuilt. Initially I used the drill to prime off the oil pump. The cam was a replacement. The shop that did the rebuild located it for me after discovering mine was trashed. (Missing lobes). I am starting to suspect an improperly installed bearing. I will be pulling the head the rest of the way soon. I'll see if I can locate the failure. I also seem to remember seeing a picture/reference to a pressure primer for the oil system. You loaded a reservoir with oil and either pumped it or hooked it up to air supply then connect to you oil pressure sending port, and pressurize. This would may make finding the problem a little easier.
so looks like I am looking for / making one of these. http://www.elanfactory.com.au/pdf/technical_information/Engine oil primer bottle.pdf
You can notch a piece of rod to engage your oil pump. Spin it with a drill while turning the engine over with a wrench. When the 1st rocker hole lines up the drill will push easier, wait for oil to appear before moving on to the 2nd one. The only real way to check the p***age for blockage is to pull the cam & run a small piece of welding rod down it untill you can see it in the cam bore.
Put a piece of thin welding wire down the oil feed p***age and turn the engine by hand, You should be able to feel the camshaft turning if the feed hole is lined up.
So just the exhaust side rocker tube was dry and the intake side showed it was getting oil??? Or BOTH were dry?? Confused... If the intake side is receiving oil but not the exhaust side, check the feed rocker stand. There is a port/galley that goes between the intake and exhaust rocker shaft. It's small and could easily be plugged if not cleaned. Also, the rockers themselves really need to be flushed if they haven't. Just something to check.
Both were dry. But the exhaust was really bad. Nothing getting to the top. There is even rust in a couple of the lifter to pushrod pockets.
Found the problem. Its better and worse than expected in some ways... The machine shop installed the #4 cam bearing aligned to the wrong side. Both 2 and 4 point to the driver side. Therefore no oil to the p***enger side. The bad part is I had the engine back from the shop 10/06... Almost 5 years.. Less than 50 miles on the car since, but what the hell can I do... They ****ed up and its going to cost me big... One little thing, look at where you are putting them and line them up right... Hell of a lot easier with the engine on a bench than in the F'n car. At lest the cam is not trashed as well.
I’ve been following this thread and I’m Glad you found the problem. My tall deck Desoto is in the machine shop now and I will be keeping a close eye on my builder.
Glad you find your solution! That IS good and bad. Maybe the machine shop would be willing to work with you on the situation.
Have you talked to the shop, some shops understand projects and if the ****ed up they will stand the repair. If the shop is worth their salt, they might at least offer to replace the cam beaings and reinstall them.
You said your cam is OK, so I ***ume you meant to say that two of the exhaust rocker arms were chewed up, not the lifters.
Had a problem with one side getting oil and other not.Cam bearing hole for rocker oil was blocked.When i ck with owner ive know,n for yrs he let his son do it.he was 12.Alot of work because of a kid,im not against them learning but teach them before letting them do it and then ck there work.
Ok here's the update. The problem this engine feeds engine to the heads through the cam on #2 Driver #4 P***enger. The cam bearings on these two have 2 holes. The shop installed #2 correctly, but put in #4 so oil fed the camshaft but blocked the hole to feed the top of of the p***enger side. This did a number on the hemi rocker ***embly for the p***enger side. The intake side is possibly usable. The Exhaust side has one very bad rocker and the shaft is really chewed up. I have a used rocker ***embly coming. Thanks to the HAMB. I also need to do something about the #4 cam bearing either new or drill the opening (the feed hole was aligned which saved the cam). I would have to find a cam bearing tool or make something to do the job.. Also need to replace the gaskets. Anyone know where to get a reasonable cam bearing tool. Autozone doesn't lend them
shop rat, its broke but kind of ok. He kept the in holes lined up, but neglected the out to heads that these engines have on the #4 He got #2 right.. So the camshaft always had oil.
Most likely a cam bearing is not positioned correctly. After the cam bearings are installed and before the cam is inserted, take a 3/32" br*** or aluminum rod and run it down the oil port on top the block where the oil comes up to the head from the bearing. Make sure the end of the rod is round and not sharp edged so as not to marr the bearing surface. You should be able to see the rod inside the cam bearing. If the rod won't go in, the bearing is not clocked correctly. Do it on both sides of the block before inserting the cam. I actually found out the hard way myself sometime back. Bill
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