So a mechanic tore apart the engine on my 01 ram ( which was running horribly ) and he found a bent pushrod and broken spring. The push rod actually reamed out the hole where it slides down to get to the lifter for the cam. The mechanic says that the cam and lifter could have been damaged from that. Besides the head or the engine having a bigger hold where the push rod goes. Do you think the engine is okay? Is it worth it to just have then throw in a pushrod and put a new spring on it? This was very weird as The truck was running in pristine condition and while it was idling just out of nowhere the rod got bent. Not even sure what caused it. The engine has only 69k miles on it.

 

A plugged up hydraulic lifter could cause it, even at idle and that is usually from dirty oil.

 

the cheapest thing to do is first try a new push rod, spring, etc, which is all done through the valve cover, which is already off. this will take a couple more hours to fix. and the spring is going to have to be replaced, no matter what else you do. cost is $$.

it may or may not fix it. and your mech. is correct, the cam and lifter might be damaged (or not).

if it doesn't fix it, then its going to take several more hours to remove the intake to expose the lifters. check them. maybe pull and replace the cam. cost will be $$$ or $$$$.

 

so the hole where the pushrod goes through to get the lifter was reamed bigger due to the bent rod. Will this pose a problem like causing the rod the slip out?

 

Not really. The push rod is captured in place the the rocker, and lifter. The valve spring breaking would have allowed the push rod to escape, and do all sorts of things it really shouldn't..... so, the spring MAY be the cause of the whole thing.

 

If he lost the spring, then that is the cause of the push rod jumping out. The push rod bent due to removal of the spring...

The hydraulic roller cam is rather tough, with out the force of the spring pushing back and the lifter I assume is still there, the cam should be fine.

Drain that oil, service that head (remove valve cover) and replace the lifter. I have a ton of extra stock style lifters from a 1999 5.9 Magnum if you are tight on cash and I may have a stock spring for you too although I do not like the idea of replacing valve train with used parts.

 

thanks for the input, The pushrod was bent really bad and it did ream the hole out double its original size in the 30 minutes or so it was running at the mechanics. The pushrod did not pop out and originally he thought it was just because of the broken spring but when he when he looked at the rod he saw it bent and took it out.

If I just change the spring, the rod and the lifter do you think it will be okay or do you think that the rod could have screwed up the lifter which damaged the cam lobes?

also, is it a hydraulic roller cam in the 5.2? or is that for certain engines only?

 

Roller cam. I would try the pushrod, and spring first, see how it runs. If that cylinder is still bad, pull the intake.

 

I know that the cat went becuase the exhaust valve spring was broken dumping raw fuel into it and they drove it 3 miles to mufflex with just the y pipe attached in that condition to get a new exhaust system put on. that truck ran like S*** and when you let of the gas rpm dropped to 200 before picking back up. It sounded like the valve dropped because I heard some type of clanking like metal to metal coming from the engine when they were pulling it out.

so, when they go to change the spring they will have to use compressed air to hold up the valve anyway and if the valve is damaged it will leak air, correct?

also, would a dropped intake valve or dropped exhaust valve cause raw fuel to get dumped into the cat?

 

Maybe... there certainly won't be complete combustion, and the O2 will see that, and lean things out..... (which really doesn't help.....) If the valve was being beat up by the piston though, probably gonna have to yank the head......