Valve covers off my Jeep.

[sparkplug]

I was diagnosing a lifter tick today and I snapped some pics of my valve train. Not bad if you ask me. Tan oil color, no sludge little varnish. Oil history has been 35k of Valvoline Synpower 5w30, 10k of Rotella 15w40 last summer, 3.5k of Kendall GT-1 Syn blend last fall, 5k of M1 5w20 EP this winter/spring and I'm 1500 miles in on a 5k run of Rotella 15w40. I think I'm going to stick with Rotella 10w30 blend year round. All on Wix or Pure1 filters.

YES, I know I got a little sand in there. I wiped it down before the video.

This is a 40k mile K&N. It does its job very well.

 

[L_Sludger]

you're a wild man!

 

[440Magnum]

Oil flow looks adequate ;-)

I'm a little surprised at the amount of varnish given the amount of time you ran syn blends- but as you say its pretty harmless compared to sludge.

Why not RT6 5w40 instead of the 15w40?

 

[VNTS]

How many total miles on the Jeep?

Do you change the PCV valve every 30K or so????

So wht was the noise? check your rear exhaust manifold bolt on the driver side, they can break off, sounds like a tick.

 

[saberz]

Nice looking internals, much better than my 4.0 was. They like the 40weight.

 

[sparkplug]

I've though about running RT6. It takes 6 quarts but I guess I can only dump half of the other 4 quart jug in. haha. I'm totally surprised how well 40 weight flows to the top end. I guess I'm in the "thick" crowd in the summer and "thin" in the winter.


I have a grand total of 160,674 miles on my baby. Yes, this is my 3rd PCV change since I've bought it. But, I've modded my PCV valves with good results. No oil consumption but I could install a catch can.

It is a lifter tick, it's slowly going away since I put a Wix back on it. It does it hot or cold and my exhaust stud is fine so I know its not the exhaust leak. A couple of lifters on the passenger side are bleeding down, due to age I suppose. But after I start it it ticks for a few seconds and it goes away. Didn't hardly do it as much with the 5w20.

 

[addyguy]

I was going to comment that the 'wear line' on the camshaft lobe looks to be very pronounced, but with 160k miles, I'd say everything looks pretty darn good!

 

[VNTS]

OK

Sounds like you bought it at 110K , do you know what was used before.

I have a 4.7 but it only has 55K miles on it. I have used Amsoil and Mobil 1.

 

[sparkplug]

Yeah, around 110k. I'm not sure how it was used. By the looks of the varnish its been on bulk dino its whole life. It can tell you it's been abused and neglected. No differential changes, transfer case, tranny changes. Shocks, brakes, rotors, I need to replace the pitman arm end. [censored] reliable though. Thanks to this place I don't know what oil to use, keep with the Rotella or go to Mobil 1 10w30.

 

[bdcardinal]

So thats a 4.7, looks a lot like a Ford 2v 4.6/5.4. Valvetrain looks almost identical.

 

[IndyIan]

Looks to me like your good oil is taking off some of the varnish off the valve cover atleast. I'm a rotella guy so I'd say stick with that, probably cleans abit better than the mobil 1 and is cheaper.

 

[saberz]

The 4.7 is tough as nails. I like the clatter of the 4.0 & 4.7L engines. Specially as they get older, they begin to sound more like a diesel lol.

Seriously though, I'd use the 5w40 Rotella year round. My Wrangler had 225k miles and it ran on everything, but did seem to run best(butt dyno tested) on 40 weight.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
So thats a 4.7, looks a lot like a Ford 2v 4.6/5.4. Valvetrain looks almost identical.


And it lasts about like 4.6 Modular, too. Tough engine. I'm not a big fan of OHC this kind of application (2 valve, low-RPM torque engine) but hey, it works.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: sparkplug

It is a lifter tick, it's slowly going away since I put a Wix back on it.


It looks like the 4.7 doesn't really have "lifters" per se, but a plunger sitting in a borein the head on the non-valve end of the roller follower. The plunger gets pushed out of the head so the follower is held against the cam by oil pressure. Is that right? Or is there a hydraulic lash adjuster in the roller follower itself like in the 3.2L/3.5L/4.0L v6?

Our old 3.5 would make noises like the whole top end was coming apart if you let it sit for a few days *and* rotated the engine during that time without starting it (say when you were replacing a timing belt). The first time I started it after a timing belt replacement I just about had to change my shorts- I thought I'd mis-timed it and bent all 24 valves (even though the left half of my brain KNEW it was a non-interference engine). But it was just all the hydro lash adjusters having gone limp and needing to pump back up.

 

[Nick R]

Nice dude. I guess I was wrong, it's going away since you put a wix back on in place of the PureONE? Hmmm.

 

[sparkplug]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: sparkplug

It is a lifter tick, it's slowly going away since I put a Wix back on it.


It looks like the 4.7 doesn't really have "lifters" per se, but a plunger sitting in a borein the head on the non-valve end of the roller follower. The plunger gets pushed out of the head so the follower is held against the cam by oil pressure. Is that right? Or is there a hydraulic lash adjuster in the roller follower itself like in the 3.2L/3.5L/4.0L v6?

Our old 3.5 would make noises like the whole top end was coming apart if you let it sit for a few days *and* rotated the engine during that time without starting it (say when you were replacing a timing belt). The first time I started it after a timing belt replacement I just about had to change my shorts- I thought I'd mis-timed it and bent all 24 valves (even though the left half of my brain KNEW it was a non-interference engine). But it was just all the hydro lash adjusters having gone limp and needing to pump back up.


Yeah, I got lazy. I didn't feel like typing hydraulic lash adjusters.

They perform the same job.

 

[sunfire]

Originally Posted By: sparkplug
Tan oil color, no sludge little varnish. Oil history has been 35k of Valvoline Synpower 5w30, 10k of Rotella 15w40 last summer, 3.5k of Kendall GT-1 Syn blend last fall, 5k of M1 5w20 EP this winter/spring and I'm 1500 miles in on a 5k run of Rotella 15w40. I think I'm going to stick with Rotella 10w30 blend year round. All on Wix or Pure1 filters.


All of these quality synthetics and HDEOs over 55K miles. But they still can't clean out the existing varnish. The varnish is darker in some areas. This contradicts my belief that syn and HDEOs can clean varnish. As far as removing varnish... motor oil can't do it alone. Motor oil can only keep engines clean with normal OCIs.

 

[CBR.worm]

Does that engine have HLA's? If not you might want to check the valve clearances. It looks like they may be zeroed out.