My engine blues continue and I'm in danger of enlisting the aid of a
professional mechanic.
Brief review and present status:
52 TD, engine completely rebuilt 18,000 miles ago
Gradually developed noisy tappet, which seemed to increase after
recent 500 mile trip . . . no performance problems.
Checked tappets, and found significant wear, with pitting in those
for cylinders 1 and 4,. Also found the head of one of the pushrods
had broken loose from the shaft, riding up and down in the hollow of
the shaft.
Replaced all tappets and offending pushrod. Can't be sure of cam
specs (reground or replaced . . . I don't remember which). Set the
valves at .013 cold, then readjusted to .012 warm.
Test drive about 20 miles . . . tappet noise gone, good performance
until about 10 blocks from home . . . lost power, uneven
running . . . limped home.
Checked spark plugs, all normal color.
Checked compression (1st time since rebuild) 2 and 3 cylinders 150, 1
and 4 low at 120 and 125 respectively. Squirted oil into 1 and 4,
compression came up to 180 and 155.
Reset the valves at .020 cold, .019 warm. Tappet noise is back . . .
seems to run better but still not at full power (3d gear hill now
needs 2nd gear, can't keep freeway speeds on gentle uphills.)
Pertronix ignition, nothing to check.
Carbs by Colortune unchanged (front runs a little rich)
Timing unchanged. Tried retarding 10degrees. . . seems to even out
idle, maybe runs a little better, but now transmission rattles.
Reset valves to .016 (compromise). Noise is gone, performance about
the same.
I don't know what else to do.
Andy
52 TD, limping
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