Your write up is a trip down memory lane for me. I think you will be pleased with the results.

 

Thanks! I am looking forward to getting this done. Project is a little slowed at the moment, working on the garden and repairing the lawn tractor and rototiller. Hope to be back at it soon.

 

Attached are pictures showing the DNJ brand VLA's from RockAuto compared to the OEM ones removed from my engine.

The only visible difference is that the groove is lower. Not sure the effect of this or why.

The DNJ VLA's are nicely individually packaged. I tried to compress them and not one would move meaning that they are prefilled which is the last step of the diesel cleaning process. You can see the length difference of the prefilled DNJ ones compared to the collapsed OEM ones. The removed VLA's easily compressed further, granted the engine last ran at the end of November 2015. Many of the removed VLA's had broken seals so I feel good that I am replacing them.

 

Next I carefully disassembled the rocker arms and shafts for cleaning. I did one cylinder head at a time and used a labeled piece of paper to ensure no mix up of components.

The intake rocker arms had numbers cast on them so I made notes of these as well. I also scribed the rocker shafts with their as found orientation on the front end cap and the lettering is perpendicular to the bolt axis so I know which way is up and front. Labeling was DI, DE, PI, and PE for Drivers, Passenger, Intake, and Exhaust.

 

Next I proceeded to clean the rocker arms and shafts.

I used a length of 1.5" PVC pipe with a glued on cap to soak the shafts vertically in Berryman's Chemdip for about 1.5 hours. After removing from the dip, I scrubbed with a scotchbite pad then washed the shafts in hot water with Dawn soap. Quite effective. Shaft was lubed with 30W while waiting for assembly.

The rocker arms were soaked in the Chemdip for about 45 minutes, then also washed in hot water with Dawn soap. Lastly, the rollers were lubed with 30W while waiting for assembly.

Wash, rinse, repeat...

 

After thorough cleaning, the rocker arms and shafts were assembled and installed.

Assembly lube was applied to the tips of the valve stems.

I started with the intake rocker shaft, and the rocker arms were reassembled per the order removed. The bores for the VLA's were flooded with 30W oil and with my finger blocking the oil hole on the arm back side, I pushed the VLA's into the bore forcing oil thru the arm.

I did not have special tool MD998443 which is used to hold the VLA's in the arms. Instead, I cut the tips off rubber gloves and used them to hold the VLA's in position while fitting the assembly to the head. Once in position, I snugged the bolts lightly, removed the finger tips, checked to ensure that each rocker arm was properly centered, then hand tightened the bolts. I then fitted the intake rocker arm shaft springs and finally torqued the bolts in 2 passes to specs.

I then proceeded to install the exhaust rocker shaft assembly in a similar manner.

 

I was very careful in labeling the positioning of each rocker shaft during disassembly and observing the mating of the oil feed holes from the head to the shafts.

The manual has this picture showing that the "notch" on the shafts goes towards the front of the head as evidenced by the camshaft pin shown in the picture. I found this to be in error for the driver's side head where the notch goes to the rear. This is how my engine was as-found and is the only way the oil feed holes line up on the drivers side.

On the passenger side, the notch does indeed go towards the front and the oil feed holes are aligned.

 

I'm rooting for you!!! Love your labeling system for the rocker arm parts laid out on the page. Simple and efficient. Brilliant.

 

Thanks man!

Labeling is key since I can't finish everything in one session. Glad I did it as I found the manual to be wrong on the drivers rocker shafts.

 

I just ordered 24 of the ENGINETECH brand VLAs from RockAuto. I also bought the easy-in tool for $27. Gonna tackle that one afternoon after they arrive. I hope one or more of the VLAs is the culprit.

What state can I install the new VLAs? Do they need to be primed full or drained empty before installed? I don't understand why it would matter because I assume the motor oil pressure and moving cam would prime them to operating state.

Also, how did you verify your knock was engine failure and not something else before ripping into it? One time a 3.8liter Ford Windstar I had developed a knock but no other symptoms at all. Took it to shop and they swapped motors swearing it was failed motor bearing. In doing the swap the harmonic balancer fell out of the mount, showing it was the actual knock culprit. It had fractured for some reason (probably from wife goosing it, lol) and the chunks were causing the knock.

I was livid. Since then I've always wondered how to verify bearings or rods if there's only a sound and no other problems.