Cam question...

[LJRuddy]

From everyone's experience, which bank do the v8 cams fail most on? The reason I ask this is because I was able to pull the front valve cover off of mine a few days ago and even with 170k miles, the cams had not moved 1 bit. I am trying to keep up the faith that the rear cams will be identical to the front ones and that the noise is coming from elsewhere (ballance shaft as i previously suspected).

Either way, I will find out Saturday how the rear cams look but I wanna know if they are more prone to failure...

Also, how likely is it to see 1 bank of cams look as if they have zero sprocket movement but the other bank have a spun one?

 

[SHO U UP]

From everyone's experience, which bank do the v8 cams fail most on? The reason I ask this is because I was able to pull the front valve cover off of mine a few days ago and even with 170k miles, the cams had not moved 1 bit. I am trying to keep up the faith that the rear cams will be identical to the front ones and that the noise is coming from elsewhere (ballance shaft as i previously suspected).

Either way, I will find out Saturday how the rear cams look but I wanna know if they are more prone to failure...

Also, how likely is it to see 1 bank of cams look as if they have zero sprocket movement but the other bank have a spun one?

It is possible for one bank to be fine and the other one to have a loose one. Take for instance my '99 I just picked up. The front bank sprocket was real loose, as the nut had moved side to side. Of the four SHOs I have seen that had failed, it was the front bank. My rears were good to go on mine though too. Lets see what others have to say as I'm curiuos on this now myself.

 

[E1 v2]

Front head, Exhaust cam is most common.

Seen all 4 fail at one time or another. Seen multiple engines with more than one sprocket loosening at the same time.

 

[Izzmo]

From the two I've had to weld. The back was bad in both of mine. But I would go with Mr. Lehmann since well, he's the pro!

 

[1993MTXSHO]

I am stupid when it comes to the V8 sho, but aren't all the cams made the same way and also put under the same stresses? Wouldn't that make every cam (statistically speaking) have an equal possibility of failure?

 

[Izzmo]

Well sure, they are mass produced, therefor (I'm not 100% positive) but a machine makes them. So, yes, if every single car was put through the exact same stress, style of driving, etc... then they would fail.

But, you can get more in depth and talk about the alloy of metal they use and the impurity percentage each shaft comes out on, because impurities will cause the sprocket, when bonding to the shaft, to adhere differently as well.

But every car is different because every person that drives them drives the car differently.

 

[1993MTXSHO]

Well sure, they are mass produced, therefor (I'm not 100% positive) but a machine makes them. So, yes, if every single car was put through the exact same stress, style of driving, etc... then they would fail.

But, you can get more in depth and talk about the alloy of metal they use and the impurity percentage each shaft comes out on, because impurities will cause the sprocket, when bonding to the shaft, to adhere differently as well.

But every car is different because every person that drives them drives the car differently.

I agree with what you said, which is why I said statistically speaking, but that has nothing to do with a specific cam failing in a specific head.

 

[Izzmo]

Ahh I see what you are saying. True, every came is different though. So, you could still say the front bank is weaker than the back. And, this could be true since the front bank has to run the water pump as well.

 

[1993MTXSHO]

Ahh I see what you are saying. True, every came is different though. So, you could still say the front bank is weaker than the back. And, this could be true since the front bank has to run the water pump as well.

oh it does (told you I know nothign about the V8)? ok so now we are getting somewhere, that could add stress to the front cams, making them more likely to fail then the rear for sure.

 

[Izzmo]

I'm not sure about that though, as I don't know how much resistance the water pump is actually putting on the cam and how much power it needs to turn the pump efficiently. But you could assume this, yes.