Suspected Lifter Failure

[kdx kawboy]

While the 3.7L is known for lifter failures, I never had the problem with the the other Libertys I've owned. Had good luck. Today I think I loft the lifter on #4. Started the car. As I pulled out of the driveway I heard a ticking. By the time I was 100 yards down the road and the check engine light started flashing. Turned around. got home, attached the code reader, for a P0304, which the forum says can be caused when a rocker arm falls off the valve when a lifter fails. As I was hearing a ticking sound that changed nature but kept ticking with the check engine light I suspect the lifter and not the coil/spark plug.

Tomorrow is carpal tunnel surgery but my son is coming over to Wednesday to remove the vale cover so we can check the rocker.

 

[u2slow]

Carefully check that all the valves come up to full height (closed).

I did have a loose rocker but it was because a valve seat had dropped, so valve couldn't close. But no engine light that I recall.

 

[kdx kawboy]

We got the valve covers off. Found all the rockers sitting on their lifters. However I was hearing the classic ticking lifter noise so I will go ahead and replace the lifters. The are signs of oil sludge being flung off the spinning camshaft on the inside of both covers. Found quit a bit of sludge buildup in oil filler tubs where it mounts to the block.

Found one connector to an injector that was completely broken: both the red tab that you slide up, and the tab beneath it that you press on to release it. So the connector just pulls on and off without snapping in place. Found a second injector connector missing the red tab but it still has the tab that snaps it in place. So have a little creative JB weld/Superglue mixed with baking soda repair work to figure out.

The 24 year old brittle plastic gave way on the driver side PCV valve, as well as the valve on the Oil filler tube. So a few extra parts to replace.

I'll pull a coil pack and spark plug to see if they look like they were replaced at the 90,000 mark. It has a new air cleaner so perhaps the 90,000 service was done.

 

[kdx kawboy]

We got the valve covers off. Found all the rockers sitting on their lifters. However I was hearing the classic ticking lifter noise so I will go ahead and replace the lifters. The are signs of oil sludge being flung off the spinning camshaft on the inside of both covers. Found quit a bit of sludge buildup in oil filler tubs where it mounts to the block.

Found one connector to an injector that was completely broken: both the red tab that you slide up, and the tab beneath it that you press on to release it. So the connector just pulls on and off without snapping in place. Found a second injector connector missing the red tab but it still has the tab that snaps it in place. So have a little creative JB weld/Superglue mixed with baking soda repair work to figure out.

The 24 year old brittle plastic gave way on the driver side PCV valve, as well as the valve on the Oil filler tube. So a few extra parts to replace.

I'll pull a coil pack and spark plug to see if they look like they were replaced at the 90,000 mark. It has a new air cleaner so perhaps the 90,000 service was done.

My son is helping. The last time we replaced lifters it was on his old Mercury Sable with the transverse V6. Replacing the lifters on that beast was a three day job. Had to build a couple of special tools out of 1" square tubing to get the rockers popped off and then popped on. You couldn't attack them straight on. They had to be lifted on from the side. At least this engine is easy to work on.

We enjoy working on cars together. Gotten to were we are making as good a team as his grandfather and me.

 

[kdx kawboy]

In doing research, you can get the individual fuel injector connector from Summit Racing for $26 a piece, or go on eBay and buy a set of 8 for $17. News one will be here next week.

 

[kdx kawboy]

Just learned an important something if you are driving a 2002, 2003, early 2004, you will want to replace your rocker arms with the lifters. In the early years the rocker arm it had a large hole in the top of the cup sitting on top of the lifter. In late 2004 they moved the hole to side facing the roller, and they made it smaller. Making it smaller improved the oil pressure in the lifter and facing it to the roller it squirts oil onto the roller/cam lobe/valve stem. I had a 2005 go 260,000 on original lifters and valve train.

I am going to order up a set of rocker arms to improve my engines chance at a long life.

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[lfhoward]

^^^ MartinBuilt’s videos are really good for this kind of thing. Our 3.7’s and his 4.7 share a lot of parts in common.

 

[CowtownBoy]

My son is helping. The last time we replaced lifters it was on his old Mercury Sable with the transverse V6. Replacing the lifters on that beast was a three day job. Had to build a couple of special tools out of 1" square tubing to get the rockers popped off and then popped on. You couldn't attack them straight on. They had to be lifted on from the side. At least this engine is easy to work r

We enjoy working on cars together. Gotten to were we are making as good a team as his grandfather and me.

My 2010 Liberty has been laid up for 4 years, but I am about to bring it back to life. It has 138,000 miles on it, and in that process I have will have to remove the valve covers and replace the gaskets because there is evidence (i.e., an oil streak) that the gasket has failed on one of the valve covers. Today I just learned about the oil sludge and associated problems that have plagued the 3.7 L V6 Power Tech engine, and I now want to investigate the possibility that my engine has one or more of these problems .

What year model is your Liberty, and how many miles did it have on it when you discovered your engine’s problems, please? Thanks in advance for the courtesy of a reply.

 

[lfhoward]

In 2024 at 217k the 3.7 broke a valve spring and partially dropped a valve seat. Luckily the engine lost compression and turned off and there was no valve to piston contact. At that time I had an engine shop rebuild the heads and replace all the timing components, since the bottom end still looked in really good shape. It runs great now and I have about 240k miles on the Jeep. It is an 08 KK liberty.

 

[kdx kawboy]

In 2024 at 217k the 3.7 broke a valve spring and partially dropped a valve seat. Luckily the engine lost compression and turned off and there was no valve to piston contact. At that time I had an engine shop rebuild the heads and replace all the timing components, since the bottom end still looked in really good shape. It runs great now and I have about 240k miles on the Jeep. It is an 08 KK liberty.

We got to 260,000+ on our 2005 before it developed a leaking head gasket. She had also reached the point where it was burning a 1/3 quart with every fill up - an increase from the 1/2 quart every other fill up.

 

[kdx kawboy]

Discovered another advantage of the "newer" rocker arm design. The old rocker arm had a roller that was noticeable narrower than the cam shaft lobe. On the new design the roller is just as wide of as the cam lobe, which will improve the life span of the camshaft lobes.