H3RESQ wrote:Has anyone had a lifter or cam failure while running Valvoline VR1?
I broke my engine in with VR1 10w30 and a bottle of GM EOS. I used whatever cam lube Engle gave me with their cam. I started the engine and immediately took it to 2500 rpm. I didn't let it go below 2000 rpm's for 25 mins.
They dark with build as well. I did notice the thermostat is a 180, I'll go up to a 195 to get the engine back to proper running temp. With the three core radiator and such it was actually always running about 180-190, never has even went to 200. I'm thinking this will lean it out a little and actually be better for the motor and performance wise. Not sure why he put the 180 in it.
It isn't burning oil of any measurable amount. Never had to add anything between changes.
Just wanted to get on here and say THANK YOU to everyone that gave there 2cents and helped me out with this.
The motor is back together and was initially running rough. Specifically coming off idle and under load. Finally brought it to jeep and they were great and allowed me there to watch them get it tuned up. Ended up replacing plugs with basic champions (ran better) and then replacing accel coil with a stock mopar one (ran better yet, in fact better now then when I purchased the truck) I guess some things are better left stock than "upgraded". Was cool watching the changes and imporvments show on the programmer they have.
Truck is back together and running the best it ever has. Thanks for a great forum to help with my rebuild and all the help from its members. Much appreciated.
Cheers, Jason
BTW...for those wondering...here is the MJ I have (original motor build is on this forum as well from previous owner)
Like Silver XJ said, we ran higher zinc oils for years without cat complications and there's no way a high zinc oil is gonna puff a cat in 8000 miles. A super rich running engine on the other hand is almost a guarantee and based on that carbon disaster you have on the pistoles I'd say that is your cat culprit. That is a ton of carbon but since it was the exhaust that went flat you would get high cylinder temp and retained burnt and unburnt fuel. Just make sure there is no damage to the ring land or a collapased center on the piston.
I'm also gonna go with chermaniacs assessment of the lifter not rotating 'cause u see a lot of guys, professional or otherwise, that don't check their lifter bores. It looks like the lifter is flat on one side which would support the idea it quit rotating, whether before or after is the question. I'd also double check your valve spring clearance to coil bind as well as guide to retainer clearance at full lift just to be sure you don't have a spring going solid or retainer hitting. Depending on the amount of lift you are running you may wanna check the same thing on your rocker arm slot to rocker stud. While ur at it you might as well check pushrod lengths to be sure ur not bottoming one of them out.
It would also be prudent to have your block and cylinder head pressure tested to be sure a small amount of coolant wasn't getting on the lifter. You can have a very small amount that won't f up your oil but still wipes the lifter lobe....just sayin' 'cause I once had to build the same engine 3 times as a warranty cause the block had a porosity that was literally dripping a couple drops of antifreeze a minute on a cam lobe but it was enough to ruin the oil wedge and would flatten the cam but show no signs of water in the oil or a leaking cooling system under a pressure gauge. Had I not put die in the system to look for other issues I would have never seen it cause it was in the cam tunnel on a V8. Changed the block and presto!
In fact howz about you post ur total valve lift?
Finally, there's nothing wrong with synthetic oils vs dino based oils. In fact many of the same "package" ingredients are the same used regardless of base. Synthetics actually have a reduced friction coefficient if anything, resulting in ring seal problems but not cam issues. I personally do not use synthetics for a period of time on a street engine. In this case I would recommend a minnimum of a couple thousand miles before switching to synthetic oil, but again for ring seal reasons. Race rings and cylinder bore finishes make ring break in occur in a matter of dyno minutes on a race car. I do use and recommend oils that are designed for specific purposes and break in oil is one of those. Lastly, I'm from the school of run only what you have to and change it often so I don't tend to run expensive oil in daily drivers...
