My timing belt broke and my headgasket was leaking. These two things, of course, forced me to remove my cylinder head to determine how much damage was cause by the timing belt breaking.

After I remove the cams to remove the head bolts I noticed that there are several grooves cut into the cam seats and in the camshaft where it meets the seats. I know this is probably not the right name for the seats.

I assume this damage was caused by metal in the oil. But my real consern is how bad does this effect the engine and can this be repaired.

I am basically looking for some opinions on this damage and what I should do about this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks,

ANTGRIFF

If there are metal flakes in the oil, your last concern is grooves in the camshaft "seats". What kind of grooves are we talking about here? small scratches or actual grooves that you can feel with your fingernail?

These groove can be felt with the finger nail and they look slightly deeper than the grooves on a vinyle record.

Just take some 1000 grit sandpaper make sure there are no high spots and you will be good to go.

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There seems to be debris in my oil. So is there some thing I should special to flush out the debris. Or should I just replace what needs replacing and clean oil pan before I start it back up?

Thanks,

Ant

My personal opinion is that the bearing surfaces on the cams and head should be glassy smooth. So much so that the cams should actually pop when you remove them due to suction between the two surfaces. If you have grooves that are deeper than on a record, then I would start saving for a rebuilt head. There is no real fix, outside of welding material into the cam journals and reboring. The cheapest thing is to find a good, used head and get it rebuilt. You can throw everything back together and drive the car for a while. The problem won't go away, but will get worse over time. The clearance between the journals in the head and the camshaft bearing surfaces will continue to grow. Eventually, you might start to lose oil pressure as the clearance grows. The really bad news is that your crankshaft and rod bearings likely have the same damage. They are lubricated by the same oil and can get scored the same way.

Corbin

'95 ESI-T
Now with more power and fewer leaks



Gimme fuel...Gimme fire...Gimme that which I desire

Originally posted by antgriff
My timing belt broke and my headgasket was leaking. These two things, of course, forced me to remove my cylinder head to determine how much damage was cause by the timing belt breaking. After I remove the cams to remove the head bolts I noticed that there are several grooves cut into the cam seats and in the camshaft where it meets the seats. I know this is probably not the right name for the seats. I assume this damage was caused by metal in the oil. But my real consern is how bad does this effect the engine and can this be repaired. I am basically looking for some opinions on this damage and what I should do about this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, ANTGRIFF

What are you calling "Camshaft Seats"? Cam Journals?

Originally posted by AFX_Manufacturing What are you calling "Camshaft Seats"? Cam Journals?

Yes the Cam Journals. I was unsure of the name.


Thanks for the input. This is what I figured.

ANTGRIFF

Originally posted by antgriff

Originally posted by AFX_Manufacturing What are you calling "Camshaft Seats"? Cam Journals?

Yes the Cam Journals. I was unsure of the name. Thanks for the input. This is what I figured. ANTGRIFF

If the damage is in the head, then they need to line bore the head to fix it. Or you replace the head.