No.

If you're finding metal in the filter it's time to tear it down and clean it out. The metal will find it's way everywhere else, and that's not good.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

I pulled the car out today and removed the adjustment screw on the offending valve. It had a clear flat spot worn where it sits in the push rod. Upon further inspection, the push rod was also bent.

I was able to replace the bent push rod and adjustment screw with spare parts I had laying around. I was then able to set the valve with plenty of threads to spare.

I also pulled the adjustment screw out of the number 2 exhaust valve and noticed some wear but nothing to the extent of the number 3 exhaust valve. Also interesting was some heat discoloration at the top of the 2 push rods that I pulled out today.

Should I expect the adjustment screw “balls” to be perfectly round? Is the heat discoloration on the top of the push rods normal?

Simple fix! Any discoloration on the pushrod should be where the cup meets the tip, but not on/near the cup surface where it meets the adjuster screw ball. If the latter, oiling is probably insufficient. I have had a few balls wear down over the years.

How clean is your rocker assembly, and can you see oil oozing out from between the rockers and on top of the rockers when the engine is running (valve cover off)??

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

The rocker assembly is clean. The motor probably only has approximately 20k miles on it. I do see oil running down the rocker arms. The discoloration appeared to be where you describe and not at the cup, I believe.

I have an old thread that is about 6 years old on the oil pressure issue. I put some oil treatment in, it clogged the pressure relief valve and caused some low oil pressure problems on a short drive. I cut open the oil filter and found some metal. This in combination with not being able to set that valve led me to believe I had a flat cam lobe.

The very top of the engine would have the hardest time getting oil if the pressure was low, correct? Could the worn “balls” of the adjument screw caused the metal I saw? Would it be in my best interest to pull all the adjustment screws and replace any that show wear? Or is some wear on them normal? And possibly replace the push rods as well?

Thanks for the help.

Attached are some photos of the adjustment screw out of my motor. Is this an acceptable amount of wear?

Yes, that looks OK to me.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Would even wear be expected across all the adjustment screws?

I removed the number 2 exhaust adjustment screw and the outer surface appeared to have some area that had flaked off but it was no where near the smooth and even wear that the number 3 exhaust showed.

Would it be safe to assume that it wore at an accelerated rate due to the bent push rod and probably running looser than the other? I don't remember any excessive valve noise prior to the car being parked.

We were so focused on looking at the adjustment screws and the push rod being slightly bent that we overlooked the end of the push rod that goes in the lifter.

Push rod on the left came out of the car and the one on the right is an extra that I had laying around. Obviously this was a bigger culprit on not being able to get the valve lash set.

Should I be concerned about damage to the inside of the lifter?

That worn rod looks to be something different from known Mopar example. Are both the same diameter and length? That end which rides the lifter probably wouldn't move or rotate enough to erode the ball off in a million miles, but I may be off base with this assumption.

You may need to slide off all rockers from shaft keeping them in order of their location, and flush rocker oil passages out with compress air and or solvent or whatever means to allow oil flow to push rod, lifter and valve stem tip.

I did this same project when I first got my Dart, turned out not only was a few rockers blue from heat, but rocker shaft was installed wrong way with oil ports facing away from valve. Once those two details were corrected, oil flowed freely to and through all rockers.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

The shape looks bad to me. I would pull the lifter out with a magnetic tool or a long needle nose and replace it with a new lifter. To be safe, you should run the motor for 15 min at 2000+ RPM to break in that lifter. You could do this by going on the hwy (uninterrupted cruise at 45-55 MPH) soon after you put the cover on and start the engine.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Pushrod on the left looks like all the OEM units I have sitting in a bucket on the shelf and the end still looks fine... the one on the right
does no look right even for an after market unit (the smith brothers moly units look like that but the ends look like the stocker on the
left).

I would pull the lifter and inspect as previously suggested.