Cam and lifter issue?
 

My friend blew the original 302 in his 1988 F-150. He bought a "rebuilt" 302 with 1800 miles on it. After installation and diving 600 miles, it developed a lifter tick and a knock. I pulled the intake and found that the lifters are down in the lifter bores by 1/4". I tried to remove the lifters with vice grips and they come to the top of the bore but no further. I think the "rebuilder" installed the wrong cam and lifters leading to the lifter tick and knock due to the exhaust valves not opening. Any ideas? I do intend to take this engine down further and check the rods/mains and figure out how to knock out the lifters.

improper break in??? roller cam?? non roller lifters?? wrong oil during break in ??

Talking about cams and lifters, my '03 Excusion with the 10cyl. has started an itermitent lifter tick. Sometimes cold and sometimes hot. Anybody got any advice on this? IS this a common issue. Trucks got about 100,000 on it and has always been routinley serviced.

V 10 Lifter Ticking
 

MY 03 Excursion has developed an ittermitent lifter tick. Sometimes it does it cold and sometimes it does it when its warm. Not really sure whats going on here. Trucks got 100,000 on it and has been serviced on reg. basis. :-huh

I found out it is a roller block, YYY, a non roller cam and lifters was installed BUT they used longer push rods to make up the difference. So, I won't know what happened until I get the bottom 1/2 opened up........

non roller cams have been used in roller ready 5.0 blocks in alot of ford applications its normal, so that explains the longer pushrods which is the norm, you might as well make it a roller, ull need the spider holddown, roller lifters cam and a distributor with the steel gear from a 85 carbed/roller lifter mustang application if ur using carb,,, maybe a collapsed lifter problem or worn cam lobe on ur flat tappet cam,, remember the rollers have shorter pushrods cause the lifters are longer taller

What sort of break-in lube did you use?

I don't know what kind of break in lube was used or if any at all. I finally got around to opening the bottom end. Put the engine on the stand, removed the oil pan, timing cover and gears. Turned the engine upside down so the lifters would fall away from the cam and then removed the cam. Yup, six lobes wiped! 6 lifters con caved! The engine was supposedly rebuilt by a reputable re-builder in this area. Some one goofed along the way and didn't follow break in procedure.:-X19
BTW, we did find a 302 with 166k on the clock. Put the rebuilt heads on it from the bad engine and got it running yesterday. My buddy is happy to have wheels again!:-jammin

What happened to you wasn't the fault of the rebuilder, that was the fault of either the lifter manufacturer or the person who installed and ran the engine thru the cam break in period. You're not the first, you're only one in a thousand other flat tappet cam/lifter failures of the last 10-15 years. Many of these were due to poor lifter machining, some due to bad cam cores, some due to the oil manufacturers omitting ZDDP from your oil, this was due to mandates by your "friendly neighborhood EPA". Go roller next time and you'll avoid any chance of this happening again.

In all of my years as a mechanic I have never seen an engine get less than 2000 miles before a cam failure as this one did. I am sure that the re builder installed this cam. I will have to double check the paper work. And, yes, we will go roller next time as my buddy wants me to check the bottom end and install it in the spring. The engine I just installed is a band aid until then.

I've personallly had two cam failures in the past ten years. I've heard of dozens more. The two I had, both were a single lobe, both failed in the 20 minute break in period. One was a Crane, the other a Comp Cams.

Did any of the cam manufacturers have a warranty?

Yes. Comp made theirs good, I simply replaced the Crane on my own rather than go through the steps in filing a claim, then waiting for results. On the Crane, it may have been either my firing the engine in low 30 degree temps that prevented the lifter in question from spinning in it's bore (thick oil) or it could have been a bad lifter that did it. With the Comp, I had slathered the lifters with moly grease that could have done it, or it too could have been a bad lifter. If anything prevents a lifter from spinning in it's bore, that in itself is a death sentence for the lifter and cam lobe on a flat tappet cam. I have since made sure the lifters spin freely in their bores when I drop em in, then verify they do by running it with the valve covers off and watching the pushrods to see that they're spinning in operation. I attribute neither to the lack of ZDDP in the oil, based on the single lobe/lifter failure. Your's could be due to the lack of ZDDP with a 6 lobe/lifter failure, plus the mileage since break in involved. Or could also be bad lifters too.

Some of the lifters were spinning like they should as they had the circular polished look on the bottom. But for those 6, who knows? They were dished 1/16" to 1/8". I had to use a punch to drive them out of the lifter bores. The cam lobes were worn almost to a circle. There was some kind of oil additive as the parts were sticky, not slippery.

Just based on your description, none of those wiped out lifters were spinning. That's exactly what the two I had go bad looked like. Both were worn to the point where they had a new oiling hole in the lifter face. Lke I said, when you run em in the braek in period, do it with the valve covers off and watch the pushrods. If any one of them are not spinning, stop the engine and pull the intake and the offending lifter. You may save the cam at that point, if caught early enough. It doesn;t take long to wiped the cam lobe with a lifter that's not rotating.