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Warning....check your cam lobes..

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:09 pm
by buzzard
WARNING….Check your cam lobes!
My car is a B5 S4 well cared for.

A few weeks ago I posted that I had noticed a slight ticking under the bonnet.
Sounded like a dry tappet or worn camshaft. Me thinking –german technology –72k of unchipped motoring with warm up and cool down with oil changes every 5 or 10kor whenever it was in—I thought surely nothing too serious.
So I took it took a local guy who I know well. He knows his stuff and he agreed that it sounded cammy so I booked it in for the following week.
Following 3 days of local driving I went to the car on the drive to go to see some clients.
On starting..........
Major miss followed by a spit back…..unusual I thought ….so tried it again only to find that she would not turn over at all.
GULP.

So without hesitating I rang Doug at MRC and he said bring it down. So on the back of a trailer she went off down to Banbury.
Doug then sent me a few pics of the diagnosis.

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:10 pm
by buzzard
then it got worse

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:11 pm
by buzzard
and worse

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:11 pm
by buzzard
so now the engine is scrap


dougs on the hunt
to be continued............

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:19 pm
by kies4
ouch, good luck with the hunt!!

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:34 pm
by Turbo Joe
Is this a common fault though?

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:17 pm
by yorkie
Feel for you but surely worn cam lobes didn't cause all that damage?

Maybe cam seized, snapped timing belt?

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:25 pm
by buzzard
cam belt done 10k ago.

think it must of been running hot on the one pot.
then seized the lazy valve only to hit the piston then snap off and the rest of the valves ate it..

the bore has cracked possibly through heat or just self distruction.
this is the only one that doug has seen that has done so much damage only on one bore.

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:32 pm
by Mikey-S
It might be ok, have you done a valve leakage test? :-)

Seriously though, It must have been sickening to find all that damage.

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:35 pm
by rolskii
Ooouch ..... severly mashed up there buzzard ...... sorry to see it ..... :(

Could have been a case of backfire stripped/snapped the t/belt and possibly reverse crank rotation after the pop too ....
I fixed many shitty fords and rover with valves stuck in the p/crown .... but never seen valves moulded into the head like that .. nor a cracked bore ......

be good to look at yr oil pick up strainer ... see if its picked up anything to block or reduce oil flow/cause the lobes to wear prematurely also ....
(I got crank/rods pistons if needed..? couple heads too..)

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:48 pm
by DavidT
Sorry to see that matey, what a mess, strange.

Rolski's post reminds me why I love this forum so much :thumbs:

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:58 pm
by TopBear
Fuckin hell!! :shock:

Feel for ya mate

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:02 pm
by Doug_S2
Cambelt was still timed ok - the locking tool fitted on.

The worn cam has eaten through the follower and then worn its way down the valve stem until the collets have come off - then the valve would have dropped causing the above damage and scarily craking the bore with it.

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:20 pm
by Peakz
Hey buzzard look on the bright side, it's an ideal opportunity for a 3.0 Litre conversion and NA heads :rocker:

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:32 pm
by S4TAN
Bummer ... muchos condolonces dude! Hope it's not too pricey to get sorted.