138 rocker gear

[stillruns]

Hi all,i got the old 138 running on sunday but it was sounding dry and sqeeky ,i removed the rocker cover and ran it too find not much oil on the shaft or rockers but oil was pooring out near the feed pipe ,i assume it shouldn't do that. Does anyone know this fault,is there a seal or o'rings or is the adaptor the oil pipe screws in to faulty.Some advise would be helpful,cheers

[ardiesse]

Hi,

The situation you've described is normal.  There's a bleed hole, facing down, in the hexagonal fitting that the oil pipe goes into.
As a first step, start the engine with the rocker cover off, and block the bleed hole off with your index finger.  Run the engine at a fast idle for a few minutes.  With the bleed hole blocked off, you should start to see oil appear at the holes right on top of the rockers.  Oil should come out of all the rockers.
Or, if for some reason (I can't guess why) you don't like shoving your finger into moving machinery, temporarily block the bleed hole with a little self-tapping screw: Undo the oil pipe, rotate the hex fitting until the bleed hole's visible, insert screw, rotate hex fitting back to pick up the oil pipe, tighten oil pipe.

It's more than likely that the rocker shafts are completely sludged up inside.  If there are some rockers that don't flow oil, you'll have to take the rocker gear off, and clean the gunk out of the shafts.  The other problem that affects grey motor rocker gear is wear.  When the shafts and bushes wear, all the oil leaks out between the shafts and the rockers, leaving none to flow out the oil holes at the top of the rockers, and your valve gear runs dry, particularly No.1 exhaust valve.  In this case, it's best to leave the self-tapping screw blocking the oil bleed hole.

If you do remove your rocker gear for cleaning, you'll have to reface your rocker arms before re-installing.  The ends of the valve stems wear an imprint into the rockers, and when you re-install the rocker gear, it's never in exactly the same position, and you chew out the outside edge of the valve stems.  It's usually only a few strokes with a file or an oilstone to get rid of the step on the rocker faces.

And finally, get an oilcan and squirt oil between the coils of the valve springs onto the valve stems, onto the top ends of the pushrods, and onto the tops of the valve stems.

Rob

[stillruns]

cheers Rob, muchly appreciated. I will indeed do as you have suggested,i wasn't sure of all the oil leaking out the nut as it seems a waste to not send it threw the rocker shaft but i am sure i can find a self tapper,cheers.