Valve problem, what to do?

Thanks guys. Sorry for the confusing pics. In #13 I hadn't pulled the rest of the lifter out of the hole. At this point, I don't think I'm missing anything. The mechanic said the little tall washer(?) thingy I took out of the stbd side valve cover belonged in one of the valve springs, or had something to do up there. Anyway, I also poured some gas in the ports before I went off to the mechanic, and several valves were showing leaking. I showed him all the busted parts and bent rod and egged out hole (he said he'd have "his guy" look at that to see what they needed to do). I expect to get a call from him today hopefully with an estimate. He had said $250-$300 per head previously, so we'll see. Also, it's never had a valve job under my watch before, just a replaced pushrod.
 
So the mechanic called yesterday and said my castings were junk, but here's the kicker. He's getting new ones, and putting the old valves, etc. in, and now the total cost is only $400 instead of the $250-$300 PER SIDE I was looking at? Unless he meant $400 per side...didn't think about that. Either way, supposed to have them Mon or Tuesday. Now I just have to decide whether to have them refurb the manifolds/risers (they look pretty good but haven't been replaced for at least 5 years), buy Barr's for $600 or Mercruisers for about $950? I see lots of people saying, "only buy OEM for these", but I'm not seeing a lot of, "I'm so sorry I bought aftermarket because they were junk"? Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place... Any suggestions on websites for the mercruiser ones, because all I can find is pbsboatstore and they don't seem to have mercruiser spacers.
 
DO a visual inspection of the cam lobe and then check the run out of the lobe using a dial indicator comparing it to another lobe. Being a hydraulic roller lifter ( your pictures show a roller lifter) unless it rotates in the bore should not harm the cam. Only close inspection with tell you that. Moving along to the head, there are aftermarket guides available, but before doing anything take the head or heads, may as well do both at this point to a very experienced engine shop that has the background in racing engines. Why? Well for the simple reason they tend to know the high performance component world, what works and what does not. Most racing engines must live long times at 7 to 9,000 rpm vs our 4000 rpm plus. Look around your area for a shop that's established and will take time to inspect your parts and give you the ways of repairing the head for long term service. If its junk they would also be able to determine that. Good Luck, it may not be as bad as you think.
 
Thanks Fred. They're probably just about done with them at this point, so too late to take them someplace else. I've checked my credit card, and it looks like they're only charging $400, so I'm happy with that. I don't understand it, but I'm happy with it. Ignorance is bliss, right? I ordered merc replacement manifolds, so hopefully by the end of next week I'll have things put back together and running.
 
Got the heads back. Got the new manifolds in the mail. Talked to the mechanic about putting this all back together and he was strongly advising me to hire someone to do it for me. I've never done it before, but he started talking about putting rocker arms on just right and bleeding lifters and "if you miss one little thing" you're going to break a rod and be right back where you started, and generally just put the fear of God in me. He wasn't even suggesting he do it, so I don't think it's like he was just looking for work. So, those of you who can do this in your sleep, should I attempt it, or hire someone? I certainly want this engine to run when it's back together, but I also don't want to fork out another $1000 or so if I can do it myself and be reasonably confident it will work. Right now, heads and manifolds are off, distributor is obviously out (and not marked, so I'll have to figure out the proper position to get it back in), and will be replacing all lifters and one bent push rod. Whaddya think?
 
Buy OEM manifolds. I found the best deal at Merc exhaust dot com. I bought the GLM's for cheap and they lasted half a season because I was tired of replacing riser gaskets since they never would seal. I went as far as checking the surfaces with a straight edge and tried to true them up. After that I was done with them and they now rot away, replaced by the OE Mercs. I didnt want to waste any more money on them by taking them to a machine shop to have them milled.
If your not sure what your doing, have someone else adjust the valve lash. 1) its a feel thing. You need to take the rocker down to 0 lash and then turn the prescribed amount (1/2 turn or whatever it calls for) you have to know the feel of 0 Lash to get the rest of the adjustment right. 2) It doesn't always work the first time. The adjustment is counting on all the lifters being pumped up, and if any have dropped or you take to long and compress the lifter and it bleeds down, you'll be back in there adjusting again. ( this is why i mentioned in the earlier post to soak the lifters in oil, it helps them take in the oil and wont take as long cranking to pump them up.) The sure fire way to adjust them is to set the lash where you think it should be and then with the valve cover off and engine idling, you loosen them one by one until they get noisy and tighten slowly until the tapping goes away. The problem with marine applications is that the exhaust manifold makes this difficult if possible at all (depending on engine setup).
Were I you, I would let someone do it, and make sure you run it when they are done. If it ticks, it's on him to take it back apart and adjust it right.
These little suckers help when doing a running adjustment to keep the oily mess to a minimum.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,238
Messages
1,429,075
Members
61,119
Latest member
KenBoat
Back
Top