1. Home
  2. Car Maintenance
  3. Valve noise, Granada 2.0 SOHC

Valve noise, Granada 2.0 SOHC

I have a 1986 Granada, 2.0 SOHC manual 150,000 miles, I believe it's been well serviced but definitely has the original engine. It's always had a bit of a ticketty engine but in the last 6 weeks its got really loud, almost becoming a knocking sound. Sounds like it's comin from the rocker box, constistent with engine speed, regardless of temperature, gets louder under load. There's no smoke from the exhaust so I thought it might be the tappets. I checked the clearances which were OK, no valve obviously sticking or anything like that. I turned it over with the rocker cover off and there seemed to be plenty of oil getting up there as well. Only thing was, the cam lobes are all more worn on one side than the other (toward the rear of the engine). Is the cam shafted :)? Also, I can actually wiggle the valve end of the tappets from side to side when they're not being depressed, does this indicate excessive wear as well? Whats the learned advice out there? Please don't advise me to scrap it or take it to a garage, I'm skint ;). Thanks in advance..

Reply to
theMav
Loading thread data ...

Lol - the Pinto camshaft lobes are almost flat on one side and convex on the other - by design.

Is

No - that's what they should do.

Whats the learned advice out there?

The learned advice is you probably don't really know enough about what the parts should look like as new to know when you're seeing wear or not. When the lobes wear they generally end up with a groove at the top of lobe where the full valve lift position is. The followers also end up flat or concave instead of convex and with scuffed contact faces.

Anyway it sounds like classic Pinto cam wear noise and a new cam, followers and oil spray bar correctly installed and run in would no doubt solve it. You can't do that in situ without taking the cylinder head off though.

Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines

formatting link
I'm not at all sure why women like men. We're argumentative, childish, unsociable and extremely unappealing naked. I'm quite grateful they do though.

Reply to
Dave Baker
[...]

Although I've done it on a Transit with an angle grinder ;-)

John

Reply to
John Greystrong

That'll be the oil spraybar that's got clogged up then. You can adjust the valve clearances yourself.

Reply to
Conor

OK, thanks. Did Ford mean for the clearance to vary across the width of the follower then? Thats kind of what I am getting, in case I wasn't clear before.

Thanks.

True, I've never had a new car! I am learning this stuff as I go along...

Ah yes. Maybe I'll exhaust all other options first :) Flush the engine and try a replacement oil spray bar as suggested below...

Just looked at the cost of a new cam and gasket kit :0. Add a timing belt, head bolts and so on and I'm not sure it's worth investing the money and effort in the old heap, plus there's always the chance I totally balls it up. Whats the probability of a successful outcome if I simply get a lower mileage head from a scrappy and put that on? You needn't answer that !

Thanks again for your time, Martin.

Reply to
theMav

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.