I thought of one other, horrifying, possibility last night: The SPROING sound was a valve spring, um, springing, because a valve was stuck open in its guide and got mashed by a piston back into place. I think I would "feel" this in an 18" wrench turning a crank, but IDK. I I can "control" where the air leakage is - intake or exhaust side - which makes me feel like it's not an actual valve problem, but I guess we'll see.

I assume I can see the intake valves, to some degree, with the camifold off, but i may end up removing the exhaust again to look at the exhaust valves.

Bah.

Well, pulled the camifold. That was fun.

There were two rockers that were mis-located upon removal, but I have no way of knowing whether they were like that or just knocked loose when I pulled the manifold. :shrug:

With the camifold off, I reran the leakdown test with the same results. No pressure held in 1/2, about 50% in 3/4. Obviously with no cams the valves aren't gonna get much more seated.

One thing I noticed with the camifold off, I could hear substantial air escaping from the 3/4 intake paths, even with the better leak down numbers. So, a detail.

This is the intake side - everything looks fine to me:

https://youtu.be/YDBw-jyzwOw

The exhaust valves *look* fine from the top. I'm debating on whether I want to pull the manifold. Like, what more will I learn?

One thing I noticed is one of the rockers for #2 is not squishy like the others:

https://youtu.be/5Z2AOO2IXso

This I think is wrong, and I think I'm gonna ask idparts to replace it.

Beyond that, I don't know what else to do here.... it's either pull of the head and have the machine shop look it over again, or accept this motor is stone cold and this leakage will seal up with a little heat. I trust the machine stop - they've done countless heads for me. I'm not inclined to point a finger at them for an issue here.

So, new rocker, new camifold gasket, cross my fingers? If it blows up, it's the river for this truck.

I remembered something I'd previously forgotten - at least some of the valve seats on this motor were replaced when the valves were replaced. Unfortunately the paperwork doesn't say which. I've never been paranoid enough to test a head after a rebuild, but maybe this is something that will run in and be ok.

Did you try this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=398gUBr ... IV&index=9

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I just put 16 new rockers in mine (from sasquatch) and they were all not squishy like the one you are worried about. I know nothing about how squishy they should be, but figured they will achieve proper squish after break in. Come to think of it, I dont remember squish checking the old ones for comparison.

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2005 KJ CRD SOLD in 2021
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Facet Fuel Pump, Secondary Fuel Filter
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OME 1.5", JBA A-Arms and Top Plates
245/75/16s, Spidertrax

No, but that is literally exactly what I was hoping/anticipating. With a little action from the springs the valves will settle into place.

When that video opened it looked so familiar (OTC leak down at 10/50 & curly Harbor Freight air hose) I thought, "I don't remember recording this!"

I don't know what that thing is called - it's lifter-like, so maybe it's a lifter. Anyway, I'm envisioning it's a mechanical spring that's assisted by oil pressure, and it concerns me that 15 have good spring and one does not. If this was a conventional engine and I could replace that part without complete disassembly I'd soldier on, but it's such an insane chore to get access to the valvetrain I'm not putting it together like this. Maybe it's the SPROING sound I heard. Maybe it isn't. But if idparts won't help, I'll buy a rocker and put it in. Or maybe use the nicest of the ones I pulled out - none of mine were broken or damaged in any way. But, I think idparts will help. Dog knows I've spent enough money with them.

It’s a hydraulic lash adjuster.
And it functions similar to a hydraulic lifter except that it doesn’t ride on the camshaft.

When you get a set of new hydraulic lifers for your Chevy 350, some will be squishy and some will be hard. Regardless, you are encouraged to soak all of them in oil and work the plunger in order to get some oil worked inside. If you don’t, at first startup you’ll get a lot of valve clatter before the lifters get pumped up with oil.

Same goes for the hydraulic lash adjusters.

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Makes perfect sense, thanks!

I've never dealt with a situation where new hydraulic lifters come in various condition... they're either all deflated and flat, or all springy. Even with used lifters coming off a used motor, I'd expect them all to be in similar shape.

I'm still a little put off by only one being flat. I did email idparts, we'll see what they say.

In any case, especially in light of the video CATCRD posted, this thing is going back together and I'm not thinking about it anymore. I'll try and order the replacement camifold gasket and compressor next week, and that should set me up to get the motor in over T-day weekend. I'll still be down a thermostat, I'll need to find or make a new heatshield for the turbo, and get somewhere on an electric fan. But that's not a huge amount of time or money. (Famous last words!!)

Am I correct the camifold bolts are M8 x 1.5? I don't have access to the motor right now, and I'm going to order some long bolts to use as dowels when installing the manifold. I was very careful last time, but in the event I can't be careful enough not to dislodge rockers, I'm just gonna make some dowels to be sure it goes in square.

I am not sure but I just took one to lowes and got matching threads from their specialty fastener bins and checked the thread with their thread checker there.

I hope this doesn't upset you but last time I replaced a set of rockers I heard a noise that got less when warm and had a little loss of power and acceleration and when I removed camisole every single intake rocker was cracked nut not broken. I used same torque wrench and the factory pin sets and cam tool holders and tightened to specs but the only thing I could attribute it to was the intake cam slipping some after startup. I was lucky that I took it back apart before motor trashed. It has about 2,000 miles on it since then so hope danger is past.

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I would hope you replaced all the rockers again after that?

To TheSameGuy... Can't say what the spring sound was, but do you know if the machine shop properly ground the valve seats? Not thrilled that they replaced those, that is a great way to crack the head b/c they are pressed in. Did they pressure test their work and not find any leaking? That's important! What about the head gasket and studs? Are you using the two-hole and the ARP studs?

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Over 225 CRDs currently driving with my valves, timing belt, rockers, or ARP Studs.
Bad noises = REALLY bad things.

They are M9 1.25. *correction they are actually M8 x 1.25!* Too long will make it more difficult. 8cm is about right when used in the positions described in the FSM. I used two pieces of wood along each side of the head for initial placement and then had a partner slip them out before the final lowering. Still a PIA.

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V6 Airbox, Samco Hoses, Provent
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Facet Fuel Pump, Secondary Fuel Filter
ARPs, 188 Degree Thermostat
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OME 1.5", JBA A-Arms and Top Plates
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I have very close to 100% confidence in the machine shop. I never say 100% about someone else's work, but they have done dozens upon dozens of heads for me from virtually every make of car. They are the go-to for most dealers in the area. I haven't even ever heard of them making a mistake.



M9? Seriously? That is beyond uncommon - like unobtainable!

1.25 based on my thread guage and they would thread into a M9 1.25 die but would not go into an M8 1.25 die.

_________________
2005 KJ CRD SOLD in 2021
V6 Airbox, Samco Hoses, Provent
Weeks 1&2, Thrush Glasspack
Facet Fuel Pump, Secondary Fuel Filter
ARPs, 188 Degree Thermostat
GDE Eco Tune Full Torque
OME 1.5", JBA A-Arms and Top Plates
245/75/16s, Spidertrax

Hold up... Are we talking about the bolts that hold the valve cover to the head? Those are M8x1.25. They are also available as a set from IDparts for not much money.

_________________
Proud supporting vendor of LOST Jeeps
TRAVELING CRD TECH. I come to you!
Need help? Just ask! I've taken it apart more than most.
Email jeep [at] maincomputer [dot] com - BOARD MESSAGING IS BROKEN
Over 225 CRDs currently driving with my valves, timing belt, rockers, or ARP Studs.
Bad noises = REALLY bad things.

Thanks for the correction. The dies are probably not exactly the same as what a threaded hole would be. Sorry for the confusion.

_________________
2005 KJ CRD SOLD in 2021
V6 Airbox, Samco Hoses, Provent
Weeks 1&2, Thrush Glasspack
Facet Fuel Pump, Secondary Fuel Filter
ARPs, 188 Degree Thermostat
GDE Eco Tune Full Torque
OME 1.5", JBA A-Arms and Top Plates
245/75/16s, Spidertrax

Coo, thanks.... M8 x 1.25 makes sense. I'll pick some up long bolts and hack the heads off!

Yeah, you can't use a cutting die to check a bolt accurately, they are designed to be just a *bit* smaller than the actual measured size so that the resulting cut will fit perfectly in a proper hole. You need a thread-checker set like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZYD4SS8/?c ... _lig_dp_it

_________________
Proud supporting vendor of LOST Jeeps
TRAVELING CRD TECH. I come to you!
Need help? Just ask! I've taken it apart more than most.
Email jeep [at] maincomputer [dot] com - BOARD MESSAGING IS BROKEN
Over 225 CRDs currently driving with my valves, timing belt, rockers, or ARP Studs.
Bad noises = REALLY bad things.

Well, I got my AC compressor, but FedEx appears to have bungled the camifold gasket. Hoping for a recovery so I can install the motor this weekend. It's still gonna be a month or more before it could start, but the weather is started to get wintery here and I'm not sure how many more decent weekends we'll have. Boo.

I do need to go through the parts that are still loose in the garage and make sure I'm not overlooking anything that will be a royal PITA to install once the motor is in. I will probably need to lean on y'all for that as my memory is serious foggy at this point. I should probably get going on that now!