Pulled the valvecover after hearing some ticking today.. I located a loose rocker and removed it then pulled the pushrod and it was missing the ball at the lifter end of it. I looked into the lifter valley where I pulled the pushrod and used a small magnetic pickup to pull out the ball which was just sitting in the middle of the lifter plunger.
Who else has had this happen to them? Is it simply a pushrod failure, thats my first guess since I don't know why it happened and I've never seen this happen before. Anybody else??

 

I believe OEM units have pressed on tips. Swap them out for some Comp heavy duty chrome moly ones. You'll probably never have to worry about those again...

 

Wow, I have never heard of that happening, or even though of it happening. Glad you could get it out.

 

D'oh! Good reason to stay away from cheap stuff & pick up some 1pc pushrods .

 

So far sounds like a bad pushrod. I wonder if the whole set should be replaced, I could but I'd rather just replace that one for now and make sure all is OK, and wait till I have more time this winter. Its just a very unusual failure.
Any other thoughts this morning?

 

I'd play it safe and replace the set. What brand and type do you have in there now?

 

I had this happen to me at the track. They were brand new Comp pushrods. Lost the ***** off two pushrods, both ends off one and one end off the other. Mine was caused by a missed shift, an overrev, and the wrong spring pressures on the heads I bought (The heads were assembled, ready to "bolt on."). I have one-piece chromemoly CC High-Tech pushrods in there now.

Interestingly, I wasn't aware of the failure at first either. I drove for over 200 miles before we discovered a problem. I never lost oil pressure or noticed any problems, but when we pulled pushrods to check, they weren't all in one piece. In my case, that wasn't the only damage though. Far from it...

 

I'm not sure what kind they are, I dont have the paperwork in front of me. I got them with a cam package from Combination Motorsports. They very well might be the comp cam hardened pushrods since the cam and rockers were comp pieces. However, they came in a plain round plastic container with no labeling so I'm not sure. In any case I'd like to drop a replacement in there just to run it and confirm there is no other problem and then buy some nice ones suggested above. I just wondered how unusual this failure was, thinking maybe it was a "made on Monday" or "Friday" kind of issue but it sounds more like they're just at the edge of their design limit.

 

for CMotorsports, they are going to help me out. Excellent customer service.

 

this is not unheard of by any stretch of the imagination. (not because of their brand, but just with pressed on tips)


Combination Motorpsorts Chromoly One Peice Pushrod

Close up of tips

 

Container

 

By the shots Trey gave us you can see that they are not Comp pushrods. Nor are they 1-piece either. A 1-piece pushrod is full machined and does not have pressed in ends.

Any Chromemoly pushrod that Comp makes has Competiton Cams on the side of it. That and the fact that Comps stuff comes in a package marked Comp Cams on it. If you buy Comp stuff it comes in a Comp marked package. So no it's not Comp stuff either.

"I just wondered how unusual this failure was, thinking maybe it was a "made on Monday" or "Friday" kind of issue but it sounds more like they're just at the edge of their design limit."

Yep on the edge of the design limit and probably manufactured wrong.

"this is not unheard of by any stretch of the imagination. (not because of their brand, but just with pressed on tips)"

True, they are pressed in and NOT 1-piece. I wonder what the camshaft and springs, along with rocker arms were used with these puppies. The first thing I think of is that it's the wrong part for the job if this happens.

Any high performance upgrade should include a 1 Piece Chromemoly pushrod, at the minum use a Comp Magnum pushrod. For $92 a set it's worth the money to not have this happen. The Hi Tech pushrods are nice and with high spring pressures they are needed, but most LT1 cam swaps don't need them. The high lift HR cams and the SR cams will need them.

Just my 2 cents.

Bret

 

Bret-
you are pulling me into a fight i dont care to be in. you know what I mean, and I honestly do not appreicate it. I do not want to have anything to do with this. I have no valuble input, I dont see why I am in the middle of it

edit:
wheres my email responce?

 

The comp hi-tech pushrods are NICE. They list for about 135 at jegs/summit. part 7940-16 for 5/16 in. diameter, 7.200 in. long, Hi-Tech pushrods, .080 wall thickness.

I got mine for 102.77. Price match FTforce.com (ie racenet), but DO NOT order from them.

 

Trey,

Doesn't matter anymore, because the only way to solve this is to put you on ignore. The one and only person on my ignore list

You're not getting pulled into anything. You only step in the **** you step in. You posted here and I quoted from what you said and talked about the pictures you posted. I don't see how you're being dragged into anything. I stated facts from looking at those pictures.

I offered my professional opinion. I don't see any problem with that. If what I say differs from what you think, this is not the first time, nor will it be the last. Nor do I see a reason not to say anything. The only thing you could argue against is that I didn't agree with you that a multi piece pushrod breaks apart, and I agreed.

My personal opinion is that I would never run a multi-piece pushrod, period.


quicksilver97ta,

I'm glad they are hooking you up with this, that's the right thing to do. Make sure there are no parts left floating around in your engine.

Bret