AndyBee

Hi!
My ī56 olds with stock 324 engine started to sound noisy a low rpmīs the other day. I think the sound comes somewhere from the valve train, but itīs hard to find out. I discovered that on one cylinder, the valveīs didnīt open as much as the other cylinders. So i suspect the cam is worned. The engine is probably never opened, itīs got about 85000 miles on it.

Is it risky to keep driving it during the summer? The noise disappear if the rpmīs goes higher, and you donīt hear any noise during normal road speed. The noice differs in the sound from time to time, sometimes itīs louder, sometimes the tone of the sound differs.

I donīt want to blow the original engine, is there a risk that metal pieces may clogg a oil channel and damage something? How does a worned camshaft behave, does it just smooth down or do pieces of metal come off?
grateful for your input!

72 cutlass455

Did you try some marvel mystery oil to try to clean out the oil hole in the lifter can't hurt. And yes as i was reading on the oldsfaq site the cams were subject to wear. The one you have will have to be reground to original specs good luck with it.

Tedd Thompson

I've never heard of a flat cam coming apart or hurting the lower end. I could see it effecting the valves if it's so flat that that the valves don't raise enough and cause them to burn. And yes as mentioned before 56s had a problem with their cams....Tedd

oldsmobum

The service manual for 55 suggests that if you suspect a sticking lifter, deliver a medium blow with a hammer to the rocker arm while the engine is running... Different times back then. You might try that and see what happens. If nothing else pull the lifter out and see if it is scalloped, much cheaper and easier to replace the lifters than the whole cam.

AndyBee

Well, actually iīve already bought both cam and lifters a couple a months ago. but because of lack of time, money and a good workshop i decided to fix it during the next winter. But i would really like to drive the few months left of the swedish summer, that why i wonder if this is risky business.

I figure that if i have to change the cam and liters, it would probably be best to take the engine out. And of course check the heads, and maybe the piston rings and then the.... Well, you know, you always want to restore/change more parts as you go along, and itīs always more time consuming and costly then you thought from the beginning.