I bought a 2001 F-250 that has excessive white smoke after warm up. It gets worse the longer it runs. Thinking it was an injector or O-rings I took the valve cover off to repair it. Cylinder 1 failed the contribution test. Well what I found was not what I thought was wrong. the intake valve was not opening. I could stick my finger between the push rod and rocker arm. Figuring it had wiped out the cam. I checked the cam lift for laughs and it cam out at .2535 in. Right on the money. So I tore the head off the right side to see what was up. What I found was not something that I am used to seeing. ( I work on heavy trucks ie. ISL, ISM, ISX, MP7 and E-Tech engines). The bottom 1/4 of the lifter is broke off. Roller pin and 1/4 of the body are gone. The camshaft lobe though is in great shape, no damage from what I can see.
So it seems the parts have fallen into the oil pan and I am going to drain the oil tomorrow and see what I find. Has anyone seen this before as I thought 7.3 lifters are not much of a issue in these engines. Would you fish out what you can and install a new lifter and let it go? this is going to be my truck so if anything happened it would be on my dime... Thoughts?
So it seems the parts have fallen into the oil pan and I am going to drain the oil tomorrow and see what I find. Has anyone seen this before as I thought 7.3 lifters are not much of a issue in these engines. Would you fish out what you can and install a new lifter and let it go? this is going to be my truck so if anything happened it would be on my dime... Thoughts?