How long before an engine fails with worn cam lobes?
Running a high-mileage engine with scored cam lobes and worn roller bearings without a full timing job is essentially rolling the dice on its lifespan. Because the truck is old and rusty, paying for a complete repair often exceeds the vehicle's worth, leaving owners unsure how much time is left before it dies.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Changing the oil more frequently and continuing to drive it
- 2Checking if scratches on the cam lobes can be felt with a fingernail to decide whether to run it or source replacement parts
- 3Backing off cam cap bolts to sneak in a new rocker as a shortcut repair
- 4Cutting open the oil filter after a few hundred kilometers to check for metal debris
- 5Using cam locking tools to attempt the shortcut repair correctly
- 6Running the vehicle with minimal repair investment until it fails
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Was replacing the valve cover gasket and spark plugs for a buddy and saw a few cam lobes looked… questionable. How long does he have on this thing before it dies?”source ↗
“one of the cam lobes has a score line all the way around it.”source ↗
“What do you think of the severity? looks to me like the roller bearings in the rocker is shot.”source ↗
“Truck is old and rusty and not worth paying for a full timing job.”source ↗
“doing the rocker without full timing job is rolling dice on a engine with 250k km, but i get not wanting put much money in rusty truck.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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