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Thread: 4D55 Cam and Rocker are Reassemble!

  1. #1

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    4D55 Cam and Rocker are Reassemble!

    Well, I had some fine the last two weeks. Crash course in Intro to Diesel Mechanics. So, it started by changing a water pump. Which had its own interesting turn. I was working in the dark and didn't inspect the bolts closely, and broke one off in the engine block. Ended up being a best case scenario for an easy out tool, no biggie, but the previous owner had over tightened all of them and I was lucky to have only had one break off. New bolts and the pump was on.

    Checked my timing, replaced cover, power steering pump, pulleys, belts, and fan. I go to start, did it's normal thing and cranked over to start on a half key turn, then stops. Then spins when I turn the key.

    being a novice I assumed it was from poor work when putting on the water pump. My buddy walks me through a diagnostic of anything I could have done wrong or another simple solution. No answers so I take the top timing case off.

    Cam sprocket is off time by 8 teeth. Injection pump is on time. I go to manual turn the engine 360 degrees. I hit a hard spot.

    I then remove the valve cover and begin to inspect. Cam cap 1 (very front with three bolts) and 4 (1 before the back) are cracked around the threaded portion for mounting the rocker arms.

    i remove the rocker arms by loosening the adjusters screws, then the mounting bolts, and remove a chunk of cap #4. I try to rotate the engine, it cycles and turns smooth.

    There is one truck within a 100miles in a salvage, my buddy went by there, happens to be close to his job, and he got the cam caps, all in good condition. I went ahead and placed an order for a timing kit with both belts and both tensioners. I purchased a torque wrench along with some other stuff I needed, a feeler tool and a more complete set of metric wrenches. The torque wrench was needed for the specifics of this type of job, the most crucial part of a vehicle I have touched to date.

    i got the caps (note: I already had the rocker arm from this truck in spare parts, my buddy had pulled it preemptively before selling me the truck) Saturday and pulled off all of the old ones. When doing so I found the likely source of the breakdown. Cap #2 had been stripped on the rocker arm mount creating play. The caps we pulled all had the hollow dowl on the caps, and all of them had been left in the engine from caps I pulled. I used needle nose vice grips and carefully twisty pulled them out.

    i then lubed up each cap and put them on in order, setting them with a rubber mallet then prepping the bolts with anti-seize lube and hand tightening them to snug. Then set my torque wrench to 14ft lbs and cranked them down to specs.

    i then went to inspecting my rocker arm and shaft options.

    The one I pulled off the truck seemed fine till I got to the middle two rockers. Major resistance in either direction when attempting to remove them. My suspicions were confirmed, the incident had bent it. I put the rockers and springs back on in order and wrapped the bent shaft in paper towels for parts storage.

    The other shaft and rockers seemed to be in great shape, I cleaned them well with brake cleaner and began to live the shaft and arms and place them back on in order.

    I took it out to the truck and set in place and worked my wa down positioning the arms and setting the shaft. I had to back off the set screws as I went to get a perfectly flat connection. I used anti seize on the mounting bolts and hand tightened to snug. I then set the torque wrench to 26ft lbs and tightened to specs.

    I have tomorrow to read about timing and valve lash setting, timing kit should arrive in 2 days. Any advice heading into that or other things I should check for before I try to crank it up again would be greatly appreciated. I am a novice by all accounts.

  2. #2

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  3. #3

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  4. #4

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    Well, your novice work is better than the pro work done on it previously. You know how some people 'can' do something but probably shouldn't? You found that person. How the hell did they get the cam gear so far off mark? If there aren't any other nasty surprises waiting for you, it should run like a new clock. This is the way to learn about mechanics. Get something very dead, diagnose the problems and systematically rectify it. Bravo
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  5. #5

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  6. #6

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    Thank you geezer! That means a lot!

  7. #7

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    You know when some is a champ when they can't be bothered to mask anything up before taking a spray can to it. The paint on the cam sprocket is a new one... All the damage was done due to negligence and not as a result of mechanical failure. Are you planning on running a bigger turbo? A few members have commented the stock unit is too small for these engines.
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  8. #8

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    Something you may not be happy to hear, but the cam caps are usually PER HEAD, so if you use caps from a different head, you have to get the cam area line bored otherwise the cam turns really tight or have play
    Might wanna mic it and check for edges where the cap meets the head

  9. #9

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    I'm a fan of the CAT yellow block.

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by skullzaflare View Post
    Something you may not be happy to hear, but the cam caps are usually PER HEAD, so if you use caps from a different head, you have to get the cam area line bored otherwise the cam turns really tight or have play
    Might wanna mic it and check for edges where the cap meets the head

    My friend and I did not bore it, but he did have me rotate it before and after and along the way. It's not perfect, but I am crossing my fingers for some miles between the next failure. And keeping a damn close eye on it.

    I did have nice even squeeze out and made sure the caps were solid in place with a rubber mallet. I'll cross my fingers and remember you when it fails. Hehehe

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by geezer101 View Post
    You know when some is a champ when they can't be bothered to mask anything up before taking a spray can to it. The paint on the cam sprocket is a new one... All the damage was done due to negligence and not as a result of mechanical failure. Are you planning on running a bigger turbo? A few members have commented the stock unit is too small for these engines.
    Im satisfied with the power, my only problems are heat related. Hence where this started with a new water pump and a new temp sensor. New thermostat a while back and two different good feeling fan clutches. The pump and a flex a lite flex fan were the next steps, but I need specialty bolts for the new fan, flex a lite doesn't have a Mitsubishi kit. Getting them this week or next. Then a full service on the radiator.

    I think I read about an intercooler that has been made for the engine, I guess that would be the next step.

  12. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by gard View Post
    Im satisfied with the power, my only problems are heat related. Hence where this started with a new water pump and a new temp sensor. New thermostat a while back and two different good feeling fan clutches. The pump and a flex a lite flex fan were the next steps, but I need specialty bolts for the new fan, flex a lite doesn't have a Mitsubishi kit. Getting them this week or next. Then a full service on the radiator.

    I think I read about an intercooler that has been made for the engine, I guess that would be the next step.
    i cant remember if it was a b4000 or ranger, i am running a clutch fan from it on my 4d56 no problems

  13. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by skullzaflare View Post
    i cant remember if it was a b4000 or ranger, i am running a clutch fan from it on my 4d56 no problems

    I havent been able to test drive it with the new pump and sensor yet, because of all this happening. Hopefully by the end of the week I am up and running. Sooner if I'm lucky.

  14. #14

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    Well, I got my timing kit yesterday. Replaced the tensioners, which ended up being a good decision. Tensioner B was making grinding noises in the bearings. Easy enough.

    started attempting the timing belts last night, tried 3 times on and off, failed to have them all line up after the two sprocket forward and back test.


    Got right back after it today after work, even slipped out an hour early. After a couple attempts I got them to all line up. Went to valve lash. Did my A's, went to rotate and do the B's, I hit a hard spot trying to rotate the engine.

    took everything back apart to closely inspect the crank sprockets. I quickly noticed that there was a mark on the outer sprocket, that I had been following and a mark 180 degrees away on the other sprocket. I put the sprockets, timing cover, and crank pulley on. Line up the pulley mark to T and noticed I had been timing the crank on the wrong mark.

    started again off the correct timing mark, an hour later I had lashed the valves to a cold setting of .30mm, put the timing cover and crank pulley back on, started right up like she had been.

    calling it a successful night and getting in the shower. Tomorrow I reinstall the fan, pulley, and outer belts, run it to operating temp, lash the valves to .25mm, and take her for a drive.

  15. #15

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    Excellent work - fast on your way through your diesel apprenticeship.
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  16. #16

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    Alright! I got it fired up, now I have a fuel leak. Tried locating it, definitely on the injection pump, I think it is the fuel solenoid cutoff. Nearly impossible to get a wrench on. Doesn't seem to be a hose, but the plan is to dismantle the injection pump, maybe even take it completely off and reconnect everything, new hoses, see what happens then. Likely I've been leaking fuel since my buddy switched the injection pumps out for me.

    seems like a limited number of likely leak sources. The hoses, the two electrical component fittings, maybe the fittings the rubber lines connect to. Any advice?

  17. #17

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    If it is coming off of the shutoff you may want to check the copper washers on it before you tear too far into the pump. There are several fittings on these pumps that are only sealed with copper, if they are scratched or too badly compressed they can leak.

  18. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by dancinggecko View Post
    If it is coming off of the shutoff you may want to check the copper washers on it before you tear too far into the pump. There are several fittings on these pumps that are only sealed with copper, if they are scratched or too badly compressed they can leak.

    Is there a source for replacements? I have the original pump, it was fine except it didn't pull fuel well. But no leaks. Is using the fittings from it an option?

  19. #19

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    If it didn't leak then yeah, those washers should be fine to use, just don't damage them when you change them over and it ought to seal it up.

  20. #20

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    Alright, so after some cleaning, and further inspection, I think the source of the leak is under the bolt and spring of the throttle arm. Is there a seal in that assembly? I think I just missed it cause it was trickling out of one spot and working it's way down and around to the fuel cut off. Once I cleaned it up in prep to pull the solenoid, I went ahead and started it to look and make sure, now fuel is obviously on the top of the pump first. This is getting frustrating. It looks like if you were choosing what part of the pump to fool with, it wouldn't be that throttle arm set up. You gotta fight two springs when taking it on or off.

  21. #21

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    Try meddling with the auto choke on the regular Mikuni carb. The tensioner can crush a finger no problemo while taking it apart. Hopefully it is a bad seal and once you've worked it out, you'll be running leak free.
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  22. #22




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    Geezer, its a diesel, no carb here...lol
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  23. #23

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    I know pennyman, thus the regular Mikuni reference. Diesel is that weird oily stuff isn't it...
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  24. #24

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    Hehehe, I think so?!?

    looks like my plan is to outsource to a specialist. I want the pump inspected and cleaned, on top of, removing this throttle arm doesn't seem hard as much as tedious. Going to get a loan out hub puller and pull the pump Sunday. Take it in to the guy Monday.

  25. #25

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    Got the injection pump back today, put it on, learned my manual primer in not operational. Hooked up an electric pump, already had a wire, fuse, and bracket set up for it. Primed it that way, she's running, and not leaking anything profusely. Drove it about 10 miles, check for leaks in the morning, should be driving it to work again.

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