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MG MGA - Do I have a problem with my pushrods?

Hi,

I apologize if this is a stupid question, but my pushrods don't seem to be falling in place correctly. I'm putting on my cylinder head, and when I dropped in the pushrods, one of them didn't go down all the way. So I tapped on it lightly with wrench, and it felt like it was catching on something and I had to pull it out with a pair of pliers. (It wasn't hard to get out, since I didn't tap it very hard.) I turned the engine over a couple of times with a wrench, and then that one fell in easily, but two different ones didn't fall in easily. I pulled them out, and dropped them in a couple of times, and then they went in.

I had my wife look at the pushrods when I was turning the engine over with a wrench, and she said that only the rods in valves 5-8 were moving. I haven't attached the rocker assembly yet.

What's going on? Something serious, or is this normal?

Thanks,

Darian
Darian Henderson

If number 8 pushrod is moving that is a good sign, the camshaft is not broken.
To have only two pushrods moving it sounds as if the cam followers are stuck.
Use a piece of rod, not your pushrods, to see if you can tap the cam followers down.
If this is the problem, pour some engine oil down the rod while it is in contact with the follower.
Repeat the tap down, turn engine, tap down until they are free.
I believe that you only recently bought this car, has the engine been run since you have had it?
By the way, do not use silver paint on your head gasket, as you were considering.

Mick
Mick Anderson

Check your cam followers, some may have lifted out when you removed the push rods


Terry
T Drinkwater

Thanks. How do I check the followers? Do I have to take the engine block apart?

By the way, I have only had this car for four months. It sat for 20+ years before that. The engine is dry at the moment, so hopefully some oil does the trick.

Darian
Darian Henderson

take off the side covers and drop-in place or use a magnet to raise and drop in place. Followers at times get sucked out by the push rod because of the oil in the cup.
Mike

Hi Darian. I agree it sounds like several of the lifters are sticking or seized. I would take off the two tappet covers, and spray a teflon based lubriant around all of the lifters. Let the teflon lube sit for a few days, and then try turning the engine. Hopefully the lifters will free up. Cheers, Glenn
Glenn

Darian. With the additional information you have provided, the car has sat for 20+ years, I would combine Glenn's and Mike's suggestions. I would recommend that you pull the tappet covers, one bolt each on the manifold side of the engine, and remove each tappet. Keep track of which hole it came out of as they cam and tappet have worn together over the years. (A simple piece of cardboard with numbers running from 1-8 will do this quite well. Just set each tappet over the proper number.)

When you have the tappet covers off, use Glenn's idea about some teflon based lubricant sprayed onto the edges of the tappets. They can be difficult to get out at times.

I just tore down an old engine which had been sitting for an unknown length of time. There were globs of congealed oil in the bottom of the sump which resembled black jello. By using a good penetrating oil, I was able to get the tappets out. But, it took several days and some creativity. If you cannot remove the tappets, they are not working properly and assembling the engine in such a condition would not be in your best interests.

Pull the tappets out, clean them as well as possible and use some assembly lube on the bottoms and sides before re-installing. Then, make sure they will move in their bores.

Les
Les Bengtson

Thanks guys. As soon as I took off the side cover I could see that most of the cam followers had come out when I removed the rods. The rods fit so well that the oil makes a suction when you pull up.

Now they line up just fine...

Thanks again.

Darian
Darian Henderson

This thread was discussed on 31/03/2007

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