Lash adjuster not pumping up. 2002 3.7

[Mitcheky]

I have a 02 Liberty 3.7 4 wheel drive. We did a complete overhaul including new piston rod bearings, rings, valve seals, crankshaft and main bearings. Did not do lifters( out of stock everywhere) at time of rebuild. It had a pretty noticeable tick after getting it back on road. Well not sure why as everything was torqued to speck but my passenger side camshaft berating retainer on the firewall side of engine backed itself off and almost bored two holes through valve cover and multiple rockers came off and amd broke 3 of the 4 camshaft retainers. I picked up a new camshaft from salvage yard and also took the new retainers(was told they were line bored and had to keep camshaft and retainers together) and the rockets also. I installed new lifters and and the salvage parts. Now the car is missing will not idle. Ran the car for about 35-45 minutes waiting for the new letter(lash adjusters) to pump up and never did. Am I missing a step? Was I supposed to soak them in oil first or prime them somehow? Thanks in advance for your time to read and respond

~Kyle

 

[teeje]

One tip, I had a new engine put in that had a very loud tick. Turned out to be a bad wrist pin. What were the condition of the connecting rods and wrist pins? I'm assuming you did those as well right?


2002 Jeep Liberty 3.7L with brand new engine
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RenKJ]

My understanding was that new lash adjusters need to be pumped up/primed while submerged in oil

 

[Mitcheky]

One tip, I had a new engine put in that had a very loud tick. Turned out to be a bad wrist pin. What were the condition of the connecting rods and wrist pins? I'm assuming you did those as well right?


2002 Jeep Liberty 3.7L with brand new engine
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Had a bad connecting rod when we bought it. Only one was bad. We replaced that rod and also replaced the crank and all bearings.

 

[Mitcheky]

My understanding was that new lash adjusters need to be pumped up/primed while submerged in oil

I will pull them and try that today. Any weight oil? I saw one video where a guy used diesel, and thoughts on that? I know diesel is used as a detergent but the engine only has about 5000 miles since rebuild.

 

[RenKJ]

I will pull them and try that today. Any weight oil? I saw one video where a guy used diesel, and thoughts on that? I know diesel is used as a detergent but the engine only has about 5000 miles since rebuild.

I think it should be whatever oil you'll be using in the engine.

 

[CactusJacked]

I see you replaced the valve seals, but did you take the heads to a machine shop to be rebuilt/updated? "Complete overhaul" would suggest they were, but you didn't say. If not, you didn't do a complete overhaul. These engines have a tendency to have the valve seats loosen from the heads and slide down as the engine is running. This can make noise, and is also one of the causes for rocker arms mysteriously flying off. The machine shop would fix this problem area.

 

[Mitcheky]

I see you replaced the valve seals, but did you take the heads to a machine shop to be rebuilt/updated? "Complete overhaul" would suggest they were, but you didn't say. If not, you didn't do a complete overhaul. These engines have a tendency to have the valve seats loosen from the heads and slide down as the engine is running. This can make noise, and is also one of the causes for rocker arms mysteriously flying off. The machine shop would fix this problem area.

Yes. They were machined. I just said the short version of the job to save time. We took the engine down to the block and rebuilt it.

 

[JasonJ]

I've always soaked hydraulic lifters in oil and pumped them up manually before installing in the engine. Need to purge the air out of them.

The one time I didn't, they never pumped up and rattled like hell until I did it right.

 

[Mitcheky]

I've always soaked hydraulic lifters in oil and pumped them up manually before installing in the engine. Need to purge the air out of them.

The one time I didn't, they never pumped up and rattled like hell until I did it right.

Yea I think that's where I am. I ran it for about 45 minutes at 2000-2500 rpms and still dies at idle assuming from no compression since I replaced the whole passenger side bank. I'll pull and soak/prime this evening.

 

[Mitcheky]

Checked lash adjusters today. All were firm, no play. I checked compression and no compression whatsoever on the passenger side bank. Am I to assume valve damage? The car was at about 2500 Rpms when it died in the road. As I mentioned before, when I pulled valve cover 3 of the 4 camshaft retainer bearings were broken and all but 2 rockers were of. The #4 camshaft retainer bearing bolts almost bored a home through the top of the valve cover. I would think once the cam became loose it would stop opening the valves and eliminate the chance of piston valve collision. The timing looks to still be in time and I feel no grinding when turning over by hand. The engine did however struggle to turn over initially whend it started knocking real bad before dieing.

 

[ltd02]

I'd say time to pull that head again and have a look. Sounds like things that should not meet, met. Maybe try a scope in the plug holes if you have one.

 

[JasonJ]

Man, that doesn't sound too good. No compression on the ENTIRE bank of cylinders? One cylinder I could understand.. but 0 compression on all 4 cyls on the right side tells me that either someone forgot to install piston rings, at least one valve per cylinder is stuck open, or there is a giant **** hole in there allowing compression to leak out as fast as it is building.

Pull head, inspect and recheck.

 

[Mitcheky]

Update: After pulling the head, all three intake valves were bent. Pretty bad (about 30* bend on one) I was able to successfully pull head without pulling timing cover. I used a bungee to keep tension on chain after pulling head and then snaked it back through when installing. I made 4 marks on the chain and sprocket to assist in re-installation. thanks for all the help everyone.

 

[CactusJacked]

Looks to me like the timing was off on that cam, opening the valves at the wrong time, and the pistons whacked the valves. No piston damage? Double and triple check your homework when reinstalling.

 

[JasonJ]

I hope you quadruple checked the timing marks when re-installing. Either the cam was ground or marked wrong, or it was put together off-time.

Make sure to crank it over by hand before starting, with plugs removed... feel for resistance..