Well, I got my motor back together yesterday. When I got home I decided to pull the valve covers off to readjust the rocker arms just to be safe, and I was pretty stumped with what I found!

One of my rockers was completely black. As the motor ran, it got absolutely no oil up through the pushrod.

What could the problem be? Tomorrow I plan on taking out the pushrod and making sure there is no debris in it. If that isn't the problem, what could it be?
Any suggestions/ advice are appreciated. Thanks!

 

Could be a bad lifter.

 

They're brand new. *shrug*

 

Which makes even more sense. Sounds like a defective lifter.

 

Could I just replace that one with one of my stockers?

 

If the new lifters that are in there are stock, then yes. If not, I would like to put the same back in. I can't see buying aftermarket lifters that aren't needed, so I assume the rockers that are in there are needed. I see you have a cam. What kind of lift and how high do you spin it.

Do check to see if the pushrod is clogged. I also wouldn't run it until that problem is fixed.

Good luck.

 

They are the ones that come with the LT4 kit. My cam is a 230/236 .544/.555 and I spin it to 6400.

 

Are they gm pieces then? I would see if you could buy one single lifter from gm.

By just looking at the cam and revs though, I would say you could use stock lifters.

 

Being that the lifter is probably bad and all, is it possible he f'd up the cam lobe too?

 

cam should be ok, if/when you pull the lifter, look/feel the roller, it should be smooth and roll freely, if it does, look in the lifter bore at the cam lobe, if it looks good, your cam is fine

 

Yeah, it's the lifter's fault. The pushrod and rocker have no blockage at all. There's no way to pull the lifter out with the intake still on, is there? What a PITA.

 

Nope, gotta pull it off unfortunately. Hopefully your cam is alright

 

Hmm. I swapped the rocker/pushrod and another cylinder's and the problem is now fixed. What gives? Problem fixed, w00t w00t!

 

So you swapped that rocker to another cylinder? I dont know if thats the best idea, if it got black, it got hotter then I care to think about, and who knows how long it's going to last?

 

seconded, If it got hot enough to get black, it got hot enough to lose the heat treatment