NoDucksGiven
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So the dreaded tick got me and due to my poor hearing it must have been going on for a while. At the same time I noticed mine, my mom's jeep also developed one.
This thread is going over the repair and, more importantly, how I am going to keep it from happening again.
My parents' experience trying to get warrunty work done was a nightmare at best. "The oil is sludgy," "The oil looks really black," "It needs a new head too!" Were things the service managers through around to get around the warrunty work and to insinuate proper maintenance wasn't being done. They have lost a family of customers. I didn't even bother taking mine in, not worth the blood pressure increase. My dad and I did all the work on both trucks ourselves.
Now, every high lift lobe on my bank 1 intake cam was worn down to basically nothing and the surfaces of the rockers had deep divots worn into them. (Like I said I have bad hearing, a buddy told me about the tick after I got a check engine light) Bank 2 was perfect. (Mom's jeep had one bad lobe, one just starting, bank 1) The DTC was for bank 1 intake cam slow. The reason for the code was the metal shavings had built up on the magnetic stripes the position sensor reads.
Through research into maintenance bulletins I found that it is recommended to also replace the lash adjusters. New cam, rockers, and lash adjusters were around $600. Repair went fairly smoothly I pulled out all 4 cams and cleaned the sensor wheels, checked all the low lift bearing and exhaust rockers. I put a magnet on the oil pan and ran new oil for 15 minutes of idling then another 10 with an oil flush solvent. I pulled the oil pan, cleaned out all the shavings, and reinstalled. New oil added, magnet left on.
Engine runs great, I got lucky considering the amount of metal shavings that had gone through the oil system.
Now to make sure I never have to do this again, or at least not for another 100k+ miles.
I did more research on oil and oiling systems than I ever thought I would have to. In my head, it had to be an oil/oiling problem. The extent of the damage far exceeded dry starts and it seems the 99 out of 100 pentastars with this issue have it on the bank 1 intake.
1st thing I'm changing. More oil changes. I was doing 5k miles, now I'm going to 3k. I don't want to risk the oil chemistry or viscosity breaking down to squeak out an extra 2k miles. I also do a lot of towing so it makes sense.
Second, I'm making the oil pump WORK once per day of driving, crank up the rpms on an onramp to get that high oil pressure not seen under 3k rpm. This is to blow out anything building up in the tiny orifices in the rockers. The lobe lubrication can't come only from what leaks out of the cam bearings, if that were enough there wouldn't be an issue. There also needs to be oil being sprayed out of the exhaust rockers onto the lobes.
Third, better oil. I was running what jeep tells you to. 0w20 full synthetic API certified oil. This is a mistake. The API certification tells you many things, but most important to my issue and application, it tells you how much zinc compound is in the oil. Long story short, not nearly enough. ZDDP/ZDTP are compounds that maintain an oil film on surfaces. They were necessary in older engines with flat tappets to maintain proper lubrication. API sets a maximum to zinc which should be fine for modern engines, but the engineers at jeep decided to put in old technology that needs more lubrication. Now ZDDP/ZDTP has issues, it is corrosive in very high ammounts, and it will toast your catalyst after a long time. The oil I now use is a racing oil so it can sidestep the zinc limit mobil 1 has 800ppm, the racing oil is 1700ppm. I also went to 5w30. I know, I know, the horror. My engine sounds way better, runs way better, and my oil temps are down 20°F. Yes, 20° I would regularly see temps in the 200s and sometimes as high as 215°F. Now they barely break 185°F.
So there you have it. I will report back as other things happen and different mileage milestones, but I am hoping this won't be an issue in the future.
If anyone has two cents on other ways I can prevent issues other than the Baxter filter adapter or the aftermarket electric fan thing, I would love to hear it.
Happy Jeeping everyone!
This thread is going over the repair and, more importantly, how I am going to keep it from happening again.
My parents' experience trying to get warrunty work done was a nightmare at best. "The oil is sludgy," "The oil looks really black," "It needs a new head too!" Were things the service managers through around to get around the warrunty work and to insinuate proper maintenance wasn't being done. They have lost a family of customers. I didn't even bother taking mine in, not worth the blood pressure increase. My dad and I did all the work on both trucks ourselves.
Now, every high lift lobe on my bank 1 intake cam was worn down to basically nothing and the surfaces of the rockers had deep divots worn into them. (Like I said I have bad hearing, a buddy told me about the tick after I got a check engine light) Bank 2 was perfect. (Mom's jeep had one bad lobe, one just starting, bank 1) The DTC was for bank 1 intake cam slow. The reason for the code was the metal shavings had built up on the magnetic stripes the position sensor reads.
Through research into maintenance bulletins I found that it is recommended to also replace the lash adjusters. New cam, rockers, and lash adjusters were around $600. Repair went fairly smoothly I pulled out all 4 cams and cleaned the sensor wheels, checked all the low lift bearing and exhaust rockers. I put a magnet on the oil pan and ran new oil for 15 minutes of idling then another 10 with an oil flush solvent. I pulled the oil pan, cleaned out all the shavings, and reinstalled. New oil added, magnet left on.
Engine runs great, I got lucky considering the amount of metal shavings that had gone through the oil system.
Now to make sure I never have to do this again, or at least not for another 100k+ miles.
I did more research on oil and oiling systems than I ever thought I would have to. In my head, it had to be an oil/oiling problem. The extent of the damage far exceeded dry starts and it seems the 99 out of 100 pentastars with this issue have it on the bank 1 intake.
1st thing I'm changing. More oil changes. I was doing 5k miles, now I'm going to 3k. I don't want to risk the oil chemistry or viscosity breaking down to squeak out an extra 2k miles. I also do a lot of towing so it makes sense.
Second, I'm making the oil pump WORK once per day of driving, crank up the rpms on an onramp to get that high oil pressure not seen under 3k rpm. This is to blow out anything building up in the tiny orifices in the rockers. The lobe lubrication can't come only from what leaks out of the cam bearings, if that were enough there wouldn't be an issue. There also needs to be oil being sprayed out of the exhaust rockers onto the lobes.
Third, better oil. I was running what jeep tells you to. 0w20 full synthetic API certified oil. This is a mistake. The API certification tells you many things, but most important to my issue and application, it tells you how much zinc compound is in the oil. Long story short, not nearly enough. ZDDP/ZDTP are compounds that maintain an oil film on surfaces. They were necessary in older engines with flat tappets to maintain proper lubrication. API sets a maximum to zinc which should be fine for modern engines, but the engineers at jeep decided to put in old technology that needs more lubrication. Now ZDDP/ZDTP has issues, it is corrosive in very high ammounts, and it will toast your catalyst after a long time. The oil I now use is a racing oil so it can sidestep the zinc limit mobil 1 has 800ppm, the racing oil is 1700ppm. I also went to 5w30. I know, I know, the horror. My engine sounds way better, runs way better, and my oil temps are down 20°F. Yes, 20° I would regularly see temps in the 200s and sometimes as high as 215°F. Now they barely break 185°F.
So there you have it. I will report back as other things happen and different mileage milestones, but I am hoping this won't be an issue in the future.
If anyone has two cents on other ways I can prevent issues other than the Baxter filter adapter or the aftermarket electric fan thing, I would love to hear it.
Happy Jeeping everyone!
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