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Non turbo 3.0 rocker assembly?

1K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  Venomous Duck 
#1 ·
Working on my 92ish 3.0 in my 92 lebaron convertable. Motor is a transplant from a 92 Caravan and has had typical 3L lifter tick and cam seal leaks since being installed about 10 years ago. I replaced the left side seals buy never did the right side since we barely ever drove it and didn't want to deal with removing all of the accessories.

Daughter was driving it and lifter went from tick to full blown clattering along with a loss of power, to the point I suspected (and still kind of do) spun rod or main bearing. Anyway, I pulled the covers and rocker assemblies and found 5 collapsed lifters. From what I have seen roaming the net I should have no problems replacing only the 5 bad lifters on an OHC motor as opposed to a push rod motor where it is recommended to replace all of them. Anyone see as to why that wouldn't be true? Keeping in mind the car only sees about 3000-5000 miles a year.

Second issue is apparently when this motor was in the van, someone replaced the cam seal on the rear head timing end and tore up the #1 rocker assembly cap REALLY bad getting the seal out. Hayes says the assemblies must be installed on the same head came off of. Is that because they wear in to the cam or because they are line bored during manufacturing resulting in the cam potentially jamming like if you switch crankshaft caps? I can't find any new caps for sale online anywhere and am considering swapping the entire assemblies or maybe just the #1 caps to put the damaged cap on the (trans) left side since the cam plug may seal it better that the smaller seal on the timing end. Any one see any issues with trying either? Plus side is it is easy to get to if it doesn't work, down side is I am certain it will jump time and probably destroy the timing belt if it jams up the cam shafts due to being line bored.

Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks
 
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#3 ·
Thanks for the reply Reaper. It is the #1 cap for the right (rear) head. Seeing as I had some time since I am waiting on a new set lifters to arrive I decided to give it a shot swapping the assemblies. Amazingly enough it spun freely and easily with a breaker bar. I was really expecting it to be seized up due to inconsistencies in the line bore. That now places a plug instead of a seal in the bad cap journal where it is more easily serviced and has more surface area to seal up. A little black RTV will probably help there too, since it doesnt have any potential to rotate like the seal end of the cam. Now to get the lifters in (I ended up ordering a full set) and hoping she runs smooth and no spun bearings. I am pretty confident now that it was all lifters since bearings wouldn't/shouldn't have caused a massive loss of power and there was/is no typical squealing that usually comes with spun bearings.
 
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