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More Worn Rocker Arms

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Just finished up a 2008 that came in with a heavy misfire, lacking power and white smoke from the pipe. Relative compression and manual compression were really bad in three cylinders and the #4 intake rocker was broken and laying in the head.

 

Having seen this before I inspected all of the rocker tips and sure enough, recessed into the rockers. I put a full set on and a high pressure turbo for leaking oil. Rechecked compression and everything was great. Point here is that worn rockers can not only cause compression issues but I also saw some really funky short term fuel trims... like full positive and full negative.

 

I thought for sure I was headed for an engine. Posted Image

 

The guy swears he changes the oil. He does but this truck needs to be serviced by engine hours rather than vehicle mileage. Engine hours calculated to about double the actual miles. That HAS to be idling.

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Engine hours calculated to about double the actual miles. That HAS to be idling.

Assuming it has no PTO, I agree. I did a power company last week whose trucks sometimes park for days with the PTO running that have really lopsided numbers also.

 

Did you confront the owner/driver about that? I'm curious what he said.

 

Posted Image

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He's picking up today and I just had the discussion with my Service Adviser about the engine hours. My SA is well informed about this topic. We see plenty of police and municipal vehicles that really need to be maintained by engine hours. I'll let you know what I hear back if I hear anything.

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Had an ambulance in with the same thing. 159,000 km on odometer, 5050 hours on the meter( thats a lot of idling). Blew of both rockers on #3 and bent 1 pushrod. Pulled both heads and found some odd wear patterns on the valve stems but the lifters were fine. The rest of the rockers all had the little tips worn right off them. 2 heads and all new rockers and bridges got this one back on the road courtesy of Ford.

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So to wrap this one up, I conclude that this owner was servicing his truck, just not properly. We did inform him of the engine hours theory and explained how it affects service requirements. He was receptive and actually expressed that he had no idea and is somewhat grateful for the advise. He has a different aspect now, not only for maintenance purposes but also as to why his employees are running the engines so much... now he has an answer as to the reason for his astronomical fuel costs and is likely to address that as well as his maintenance scheduling. I love when a light bulb goes on when you educate a customer. I just wish I was there to see it.

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lessee.. Grumpyjim is banned. Jim Warman is banned. The earths orbit nearly changed when they found out that kodaman was grampyjim. Last I heard, Hiram Walker was still OK... but only just...

 

I think I might be forgetting a couple or so...

 

Wait... are we talkin' deezulstop or inford????

 

Ralph is prolly still a wiener...

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  • 2 weeks later...

And another one picked off the Garden State's highways with a broken rocker and an overheated DPF. Pull the covers and all I see is black. I don't know what is the bigger piece of crap here, the design of the rockers or the customer for not changing his oil frequently enough.

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I don't know if anyone has had any problems yet but be careful how you explain why the rockers were replaced. We had two kicked back because the tech said that the tips were worn. Ford says they don't cover worn parts.

 

Our reply was the rockers shouldn't wear this quickly even if the truck idles. We joke in the shop that rockers should be replaced every 30,000 miles.

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I don't know if anyone has had any problems yet but be careful how you explain why the rockers were replaced. We had two kicked back because the tech said that the tips were worn. Ford says they don't cover worn parts.

 

Our reply was the rockers shouldn't wear this quickly even if the truck idles. We joke in the shop that rockers should be replaced every 30,000 miles.

yep never want to use the word "worn" in your story....instant red flag to ford.

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How about premature wear? If any part of an engine "wears out" within the warranty period it would be considered a defect, no?

 

That's what we asked ford but then they asked for maintenance records and when the customer could not provide them ford denied warranty claim.

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