Help please

[liv4bass]

Hi mace

I recently fitted a set of your 1.9.1 roller rockers in my vt commodore. I have a major problem though they sound as if they are like tapping. Today i got just down the road and they were really bad so i went straight back home and took my rocker covers off to have a look and 2 of the bolts had unthreaded themselves. HELP PLEASE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

[2DIE]

Use some lock tight or some other high temp thread locking goo, something made for exhausts should work well. Just put a dab around the middle of the bolt and tighten it to 11-16nm?? using a torque wrench, cant remember exactly off the top of my head.

Did you install them using a torque wrench or just as tight as you felt needed? I'm no mechanic but I have read about this before and its what I would do the first time I install them just to make sure they wont come undone under normal driving conditions.

[MACE]

As above ^^^^

Please keep us posted

[liv4bass]

Hey mace just wanted to tell u after i retightened all the bolts they havent come loose since. Touch wood they will be ok from now on. Ive heard a few people around say that after ur first drive u have to re tighten them so maybe this was the problem. Just giving you a heads up so maybe you should tell people to re check there bolts after there first drive. Improvements are fairly noticeable though after a week of giving the computer time to recalibrate. Thanks Mace

[MACE]

Not a worry liv4bass

Glad to hear it's all sorted

[liv4bass]

Mace im having problems again. Its all sounds fine but as soon as i climb the revs a bit my engine starts to sound like a sewing machine and its horrible. Have u heard of this before? How would i fix this?

[acarmody]

Can you get us a recording?

[db_notso]

check oil level is not low........
check no more bolts come loose BUY LOCTITE use it and refit them
could be a damaged pushrod from tappet being loose ( not hard to replace just pull out those that were loose and replace them)

also check that you didnt need push rods with your new rockers mace sells a kit to fit the supercharged ones i recall~!

[liv4bass]

oil level is spot on and i used loctite and did them. Perhaps it is the pushrods. I just have the naturally aspirated v6 so i shouldnt have needed new pushrods. How do u tell if a pushrod is damaged? And would they have been damaged the first time when the bolts came loose? Im starting to regret even getting rockers at the moment seems like to much trouble haha. Be good if i can get em working nicely though

[liv4bass]

Also where can u buy pushrods for the ecotec v6 if it comes to that?

[immortality]

when you re-fitted the bolts with loctite did you clean out the threads to remove all oil etc. if there is oil present on the bolts or in the threads in the head it can prevent the loctite from working properly.

so i'd suggest double checking that all the bolts are still tight.

if all the bolts are tight you may need to remove the rockers that had come loose previously and have a quick look at the push rod and the rocker, in particular the push rod seat in the rocker and the push rod tip as well as looking for a bent push rod.

Steve will see this thread soon enough, just give it a day or two keeping in mind the time of year

Cheers

Bart

[liv4bass]

Hey mate yer made sure to clean all the surfaces before putting the loctite on as the bottle said. How do the push rods come out do they just pull straight out? And when u say bent rods does it mean u will actually see a bend in the rods when looking at them by eye? What should i be looking for in the push rod seat and the push rod tip? Also does holden sell replacement pushrods? Sorry for all the questions but i just want to get this done as soon as possible and any help is much appreciated. I believe u may be on the right track with the pushrods as i checked all the bolts today to make sure they were still tight and they were and i have heard of other people who have bent there pushrods in the ecotec motor and they say there engine sounds like a sewing machine which really is the sound it is making. Once again thanks everyone for trying to help its very much appreciated

[immortality]

look for a very slight bend in the push rods, there may be some slight scuff marks down the side of the rod which would indicate that the push rod has a slight bend in it and has been touching the push rod hole in the head.

once the rocker is off the push rod will pull straight out (and go straight back in). inspect the ends for damage, when the rockers were loose the push rod may have unseated from either the lifter or the rocker push rod cup (more likely) which may have resulted in either damage to the push rod tip, or the rocker push rod seat.

replacement push rods are available so that isn't a issue

[liv4bass]

Righto thanks alot for that mate your a big help. Any chance u no where i can buy a set of pushrods?

[MACE]

liv4bass,

The advice above given is sound.

Please keep us posted with how you go with the above advice.

We can supply you with a new set of CROW pushrods to suit for $98 delivered.

Cheers,
Steve

[liv4bass]

righto well im going to tackle it this weekend and just drive the car real gutless this week as u can only hear it when u climb the revs. Hopefully all goes well

[MACE]

Please keep us posted.

Cheers
Steve

[liv4bass]

hey mace any chance i can take those crow pushrods for 98 bucks delivered? Cause i need a set haha. I looked on your website but i couldnt see any pushrods. I need the set to suit a vt commodore. Could u just put the link up or something. Thanks

[MACE]

liv4bass,

They're not on our website at the moment.

Shoot us a PM, email or call so we can get these sorted for you ASAP.

Cheers,
Steve

[vxcalais_01]

I thought the mace rockers came with pushrods. Also dont the bolts already have that red threadlocker on already. I think in the past, wasnt there something to do with the pumping up of the lifters and causing noise after high ratio rocker install etc ?

[liv4bass]

Hey mate nah from what i believe it is only the vy model that needed the new pushrods as holden has sloppy castings so a reduced sized pushrod was needed. Yer my bolts had red threadlocker on them already. As for the pumping up of the lifters what do u mean by this? Im willing to try anything haha. I got new memcal tune that accomodated the rockers and i dont no if its just me being stupid or not but it has seem to make the problem im having alot better. I dont even no if that possible but just seems that way ay

[azza77]

liv4bass, it honestly sounds to me like you haven't tightened the bolts correctly, either with no torque wrench (by feel) or a faulty wrench, then from the bolts coming loose on the arms you may have bent a rod. If i were you id start from scratch and get some new rods, new GM bolts and get yourself a decent torque wrench. Remember if you under torque the bolts they will simply come loose. If you over torque them you can strip the bolt and/or reduce the efficiency of the thread locker. When you tighten the bolts ensure that the torque wrench clicks at least 3 times just to make sure they are properly torqued to spec, as a few nm under spec can quite easily cause the bolts to come loose.

[liv4bass]

Mate i used a an almost brand new kincrome torque wrench. The bolts have not come loose at all since i put the threadlocker on but im pretty sure when they came loose that i did bend a rod which is what the ticking is. Im replacing all the rods and repeating the process hopefully this will solve the problem

[blue vs 5ltr]

if you roll the rods over a flat surface you can see slight bends to if nothing is visible by eye