VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Mechanical - Engine, Trans, etc one/two rocker arms not oiling on 235?

Howdy folks!

I've got an odd question I haven't been able to find much information on.

On my 235 with solid lifters, my 5th rocker arm doesn't have ANY oil coming out of the little hole on top. My 6th rocker arm has some, but not as much as all the rest do. Here are a couple videos, sorry for the dirty lens. Turn up the quality with the little gear icon in the lower right.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bW_oxyFdj93w-VsMPqyEKrLe-THoNWAc/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1auKWfcb9eL10DSQaByT_7LqPkcdc2_Qt/view?usp=sharing

I think this problem has been this way since I got the car so it's possible something was put together wrong. It wouldn't be the first thing I've found that wasn't assembled correctly (my carb float was upside down for peats sake). The car was in a display for a long time so issues like this went unnoticed.

I've looked for some diagram that could explain where something has worn or clogged that would only cause issues with effectively one rocker, or that pair of rockers, and haven't found much outside of a very basic picture in my manual on 6-24 and 6-25 showing the large holes in the baffle that almost certainly couldn't have clogged at that size.

I was hoping that the modern detergent in oil would help with whatever's causing this, but that doesn't seem to have made an impact. I've also tried blowing out the hole with a little gentle compressed air. While that had no positive impact, I noticed oil/air bubbled out from around the rocker where it sits on/around the rocker arm shaft. Strangely I don't notice lots of oil coming from that same location when the engine is running.

Thanks in advance!

From worn rocker arm shafts or sludge in shaft. Deteegert oil does not clean sludge.

I agree with Gene

You probably have the hole in the shaft blocked.
The holes are in the bottom side of the shaft where the sludge would lay.

It is also true that the detergents in modern oils (in particular API SP oils) will not be as effective at cleaning up old sludge as some of the older high detergent oils were.
The common old detergent additive calcium has been found to cause low speed pre-ignition in direct injected gasoline engines.
Also, it competes with anti-wear additives zinc and phosphorus making them a little less effective.
So, the level has been reduced.

Long story short...
Remove the rocker arms and shafts and clean them up.
Reassemble and readjust.

Hope that does it for you. 🙂

Found a video and now realize just how easily that all lifts right off. I knew it would be those 6 bolts along the tube but I figured there would be some more intricacy. Seems like a simple fix honestly, this is why I like working on old cars! I'm sure I'll have to redo the valve lash (as well as the timing while I'm at it), but that's no big deal.

I'm hoping I will be able to see down the tubes so I can better identify if the whole thing needs pulled apart and cleaned or not. I don't want to disturb something that's already working just fine. I will just have to find out!

I agree that you need to be careful when removing the rocker arm shaft mounts. Loosen each bolt about 2 turns at a time by hand. There is spring load on some of the rocker arms. You can break one of the cast mounts if you put too much side load on it.

Take lots of pictures and make notes about assembly sequence. It's easy to get things backwards or out of position when you re-assemble.

Hi Poppy48

Complete disassembly is easy.
In fact everything will slide off the inner end of each shaft all by itself if you aren't careful.
Just take note of the exact order that each piece is in on the shaft and reassemble exactly the same way.

And yes, valve lash will need to be adjusted when you have it back together.
And it can be done cold.

Have fun! 🙂

The oil line inside the lifter cover has a brass fitting with a drilled metering hole I would check that also how is the oil pressure?

So this may seem a little off the wall but I don't think it would hurt. If you don't already have things apart, you could pull the distributor (making sure to note where everything sets) and using a drill and whatever fits in the oil pump slot, run the oil pump with the valve cover off and just see how it flows in that situation. Might give you a better understanding of what is happening at rpm. That way nothing is actually in motion (except for the pump) while you're troubleshooting. You might even find you're clogged somewhat at the bottom end and not the top. Have you pulled your oil pan and cleaned and inspected all that?