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Replace cam?

tpierce

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Jun 23, 2011
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177
My nephew has a 1997 Ford Ranger with the V6. He has leaking intake gasket, and also has 2 ticking lifters. The mechanic doing the work wants to replace camshaft if installing new lifters. My nephew can't afford the cam change right now, but can afford to have the leak fixed, and replace just the lifters. The question is, will new lifters harm the cam or does it matter? The truck has 125000 miles on it.
 
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scottm

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Aug 3, 2009
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Is it flat tappet or roller? If it is a flat tappet I would replace the cam. My guess is that a 97 would have a hydraulic roller cam/lifters and would be ok just replacing the bad parts.
 

sberry

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Personally unless the cam was extremely worn I would toss a couple lifters in it and call it a day. Lets say just for giggles that new lifters would hurt a worn cam,,,, what difference would it make?
 

pop pop

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If I remember my youth correctly, install new lifters on either old cam or new cam. Install only new lifters with new cam - never old lifters on a new cam. We're talking flat tappet old school. You should be OK with a couple of new lifters.
 

sberry

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The poster doesn't have a location, rust belt etc but as important as the mileage is the year and the condition, whats the life expectancy of the truck? Maybe an engine half or 3/4 worn out is going to outlast the chassis?
 
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theoldwizard1

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Feb 22, 2011
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15 YO Ranger ? If the cam and all of the lifter have to be replaced you probably should just scrap it.
 

rtremaine

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Feb 16, 2009
Messages
30
usually the ticking sound that those engine's develop is the distributor drive, which
is a quick fix. If the lifters really are making the noise he should inspect the oil pickup
which is probably clogged. If indeed it's the two lifters, I'd probably go ahead and replace
the just two lifters that are bad because they are cheap and save the rest/cam for
when I had the funds.
 

sberry

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I was thinking the same thing,, I don,t know much about this engine (we had one apart a while back but didn't pay much attn and cant remember) but its some good advice from some of these guys not to assume every tick is a lifter especially if there are other problematic issues.
 

rtremaine

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Gary S

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Dec 27, 2008
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On a flat tappet cam, if the lifters are worn, the cam is equally worn. Replacing one buys you nothing. The new lifter on a worn cam will wear both of them faster than the old one was wearing. Same with a new cam and a worn lifter. You just are putitng a new smooth surface against an old worn surface, and they have to grind until they match again.

With roller lifters, you now have a complicated lifter that can wear at the roller axle. If the roller lifter is wearing there and not at the cam surface, you should be able to replace the lifters and if the cam is good, keep it.
 
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