1998 5.7 Valve Adjustment - oil flying out of one rocker . . .

[m002922]

I saw this thread ( http://www.gmt400.com/threads/350-tbi-valve-train-adjustment.37514/ ) and figured I would add my .02 and ask if anyone has any thoughts on the shooting oil issue. I've had a "tick" on startup (and now it seems to stick around most of the time) that I've been trying to locate, so figured it might be a valve adjustment issue.

First, I pulled the driver side valve cover on my motor. I'm not sure, but I think that may be easier on TBI motors, because getting it off of my spider injection motor required me to unbolt the A/C mount and pry the mount away for the motor, and even then it was difficult to get the valve cover off and REALLY difficult to get back on. In my research I didn't find anyone mention that this was challenging - maybe I just missed it. If you're looking at doing this job on a spider injection motor, heads up.

Second, everyone was saying how you can do it with the engine running and not get oil everywhere. Well, not me. My number one cylinder, one valve (exhaust I believe) was SHOOTING oil. It was a stream of oil that was flying out of the engine and hitting the engine computer and brake controller. The rest of them were flowing oil that was providing lubrication, but not flying - they weren't shooting oil like that.

I couldn't do the adjustment because it was just too messy (I didn't have oil deflectors - but I will soon).

I'm finding mixed information on whether the shooting oil is a big deal or not. Some people say all theirs do that. Some people say it points to a lifter issue.

Thoughts?

 

[tsr2185]

Surprised no one ever gave feedback on this. About to do mine today

 

[Schurkey]

Excess oil from the pushrod indicates a faulty lifter. The oil supply up the pushrod is supposed to be controlled by a metering valve in the lifter--often just a piece of stamped sheetmetal with a small orifice for the oil to go through.

Whether the excess oil on the pushrod/rocker makes the engine run bad is another story. If the rest of the lifter is OK, the excess oil does nothing harmful except lower the oil pressure a little bit. If the lifter guts have other faults, then the lifter could cause actual durability or running problems.

 

[letitsnow]

Surprised no one ever gave feedback on this. About to do mine today

I did mine this way. The AC bracket needed to come off, and mine was a bit messy, getting some oil on the manifolds etc.. It was worth the mess to know that they are adjusted correctly though. Patience and some old rags...

 

[tsr2185]

I did mine this way. The AC bracket needed to come off, and mine was a bit messy, getting some oil on the manifolds etc.. It was worth the mess to know that they are adjusted correctly though. Patience and some old rags...

I got.me some clips and man did they make a clatter. One fell off while doing the passenger side and I took em all off cause there wasnt enough oil coming out of the lifters to go over the valve gasket onto heads. It was a slow trickle bu tr def not enough to need clips.