Well, I took the cams out of my car on Sun to inspect the wear more closely and here's what I found...









And some shots of the rocker arms...







Sooo... Am I screwed?

Last time I took the valve cover off I looked at the cam lobes and I don't think the wear on the lobes has gotten worse. However, since I didn't take them out of the car last time, I couldn't see the rest of the story.

I'm not sure what to expect, but the wear on the journals where the caps hold the cams in place seems a little much. And there does seem to be wear in the rocker arms as well. Someone mentioned a "plating" on the rocker arms in a previous thread. Can anyone elaborate on this?

So, what am I going to do about it? Nothing. I'll pull them out in 5000 miles or so and see if it has gotten any worse. In the mean time, I might step up my oil change interval to see if I can keep it from getting worse.

Opinions from the experts would be appreciated!

-David, who is prepared for the barrage of criticisms

 

are those stock cams?

 

yes

 

Just curious, how many miles do you have on your cams?

 

What kind of driving do you do with the car?

 

I noticed on your first thread, you said that you think that you tightened your rocker arms too tight, and thats whats caused it. Is that still your thoughts?

 

I dont work on my honda, and I'm only familiar with pushrod V8's. When you adjust your valve lash, do you put the feeler guage inbetween the can lobe and the rocker?
If so, is it possible to scrape or gouge the cam lobe causing it to wear the cam bearing, which would wear the cam more?





[Modified by jond, 10:55 PM 7/22/2002]

 

What oil do you usually use?


[Modified by Junior R, 8:59 PM 7/22/2002]

 

The car has 56K on it, and I daily drive it and have tracked it at 5 or 6 events. I have run Mobil1 from the 1st oil change. I don't think the valve adjustment had any effect on it, and I doubt the metal in the feeler gauge could damage the cam or the rocker arm.

I suspect the damage was from exceeding the oil change interval, or driving it hard on dirty oil. Although I would say I was pretty good about it, I would slack every now and then.

 

Hard to imagine that slacking off on it a little would cause all that wear and tear.

 

My camshafts (stock and Spec B)and rockers have similar "marks" on them. The thing is that there is no depth to these "marks". They are only polished marks. If you run your finger nail or flat head screwdriver across the marks do you feel a difference in surface rugosity or is it smooth?
In my opinion it looks like normal "wear".

 

well do a vavle adjustment more often

 

The type r does have stiffer valve springs so you might have a little more wear as compared to a Gsr. I just took my brother's intake cam out of his Gsr and his car has 45k on it. The marks on his intake cam are similar to yours. I think that it is normal wear.

 

Floyd,

So you try and stick to a 3000 mile oil change interval? but occasionally exceed it? Are you still using the tri-synth formula or have you switched to supersyn?

Have you ever tried having your oil analyzed? You could do an analysis at 3k and if thats fine compare it to an longer interval (4-5k) and see if thats when the wear occurs.

However, I suspect this is yet another incriminating piece of evidence against Mobile 1 and its poor additive package.

 

Have you been adjusting your own valves?
And have you been using the lower limits?

Seems that a tight initial valve adjustment might lead to this kind of problem.
JMHO Ed

Have you shown the Dealer?
Yes, I know the mileage is up there, but it may have been some "latent defect" in the teat treat or coating of the cam.


[Modified by Zygspeed, 7:18 AM 7/23/2002]

 

Yes, this is the main thing indeed..
Last time I posted a pic of my camshafts where you see the broken surface very well.. In you case it seems the surface is smooth.... But the marks on the vtec lobe and the rocker (last pic) doesn`t look good...

Please let you oil analyzed... You must know if particles of cams and/or rockers are in it..

I post a pic again to show a real cam wear:

 

Do you let your car warm up (after start) and cool off (before shut down)?

 

why would you do that will???

 

That's what I think. The valve adjustment was to tight. My stock cams after 12000 miles looked similiar to the ones pictured(not as bad). I checked the valves and they were tight. I dropped in the skunks and loosened everything up within spec and have had no wear problems.

 

Thanks for the input, guys.

I did run my fingernail across the marks. and couldn't feel any depression, even on the rocker arms. I would agree that it's more of a polishing than a gouging.

The past two changes have been Super-syn, but before that it was the tri-syn formula.

The valve adjustments were done using the tighter spec. (i.e. .006 and .007) I think for the next one I will be happy with getting them between the spec. and not try and get them perfect at the tighter spec.

No I don't take extra time to warm up or cool down the car. i just drive gently til she's up to temp.

BTW, what is the darker colored square on the rocker arm? Is this an inset of a different material? And why are they off center, and why does the spacing between the various lobes differ? Just wondering.


[Modified by Floyd, 8:05 AM 7/23/2002]

 

The only pic that concerns me is the top pic. The vtec lobe seams to have wear from the rocker arm striking it. If the lobe surface feels smooth I'd put it back to gether, set the gap in the middle, and wouldn't worry about it. The wear in the other pics seems typical of the few others I've seen.

Wig