Timing Pin - I think I Boke It?

[Hunter4x4]

I THINK I broke by timing pin today - but I can't see that it's a huge problem. Read on!



I adjusted my valve lash and replaced the valve cover gaskets on my '91. 5 CTD today for the first time. I've been a 'gear head' for years, but this is the first CTD I've owned and had the absolute pleasure to wrench on (I've been leasing late model CTDs for 4+ years - got tired of the big payments!!).



The valve lash adjustment wasn't really that big a project - except for the timing pin deal. I diddled around for 10-15 minutes trying to get the timing pin to seat, and finally I gave up and found TDC the old fashioned way - watched the valves on #1 cylinder.



So anyway the job went well, I buttoned everything up, and the last thing I did was check the timing pin - it appeared to be pushed in further than when I started - and I 'popped' it back out. That was probably what caused the problem. Keep reading!!



OK, so I drive over to my brother-in-law Bernie's (another great guy - typical gear head like the rest of us TDRers and Jeepers) and I stop in his driveway and I'm hemoraging oil. Pop the hood thinking I screwed up on one of the valve covers and I immediately see that the oil is blowing out from where the timing pin USED TO BE!!! Lost a quart of oil on the way over to Bernies!



After I visited with Bernie for a while I came home and put my deer hunting tracking skills to the test! I could see my blood (oil!) trail back home, and then I found where I started leaking going out and was able to determine that I lost the timing pin somewhere between my driveway and the end of the block. My Jeepin' gearhead 18-year old daughter and I started looking down the street - one of the grade schoolers on the street asked what were looking for - and wahla - he finds it for me about 5 minutes later!! Thank you Jesus!!



I plug the timing pin back into its housing, and I've solved my oil hemorage problem.



It apears that the timing pin was broke - i. e. , the little 'tit' (sorry about choice of words, but this seemed to described it best!) was broke off. BUT, the timing pin is made out of some kind of composite material (not metal), and I do not know if I broke the 'tit' off, or it was already broke when I was playing with it during my valve adjustment.



So here's the question: Do I have to worry about the timing pin 'tit' being broken off? (I don't need it to do the valve lash adjustment, but will I need it for anything else?) Do I have to worry that I can just 'pop' it back in (i. e. , will it 'pop' back out?)?



1. I'm concerned that it just 'popped' out, and 'pops' right back in. According to the valve lash adjustment instruction on "DodgeRam.org>Main>Diesel Index>1st Gen Maintenance>Valve Lash" there's what appears to be an internal snap ring that is supposed to keep the timing pin from popping out. And OBVIOUSLY it's missing 'cuz my timing pin pops in and out!!! I don't have any idea if the retaining ring was even there when I bought the truck.



2. The fact that the 'tit' is missing probably means that it is (or was!!) in my engine somewhere. Since it's a composite material it was probably ground to bits and filtered out. I'm hoping!! Any comments or experience? While rolling the engine over I NEVER felt the pin 'set' or any impeding of my rolling it over. So I'm guessing that the pin was already gone, but agian, I'm only speculating.



Any input, advice, experience, and 'light you can shed' is appreciated!!!!

 

[nascar mark]

I would drain your oil and change the filter. Chances are the plastic material will wash out with the oil change but it could be possible that it was ground up when hitting the back side of the cam gear or was snapped off clean. Either way you don't want to take a chance that any bits get caught in a piston squirter and cause a burnt piston.

 

[dpuckett]

I'd change the oil, now that he mentioned getting it into a piston cooling nozzle. I've broken one or two through the years. No huge deal. I take the keeper/ snap ring doohickie out, and just let the o-ring hold the pin in place. I normally end up having to stick my finger in the hole as I turn the engine (talk about a poor choice of words ), and can feel the cam gear come around. I put the pin in so the o-ring is about 1/4" inside the groove where the snap ring goes in. The teat you referred to is about 1/4" long, maybe 3/8, and the pin has to go in pretty far to ride against the cam gear.



QUestion- how do you tell by looking at the valves when it is at TDC? Isnt there a few or several degrees where the valves are closed, thus opening the possibility for an error of a few degrees off TDC? on this one.



Daniel

 

[SRadke]

That "few degrees of error" doesn't matter much when adjusting the valves. If they're closed, they're closed.



-Scott

 

[Hunter4x4]

If you're rotating the engine forward (clockwise) the #1 exhaust will open, and that will roll into the #1 intake opening. Rignt in the middle of those two cycles is approximately TDC on the exhaust/intake stroke. Rotate the engine 360* to gt to TDC on the power stroke.



If you have to rotate the engine backwards, you'll see the #1 intake valve open first, then the exhaust valve, and again, right in between these two valves cycling is approximately TDC for the exhaust-intake.



Mark & Dan - thanks for the input. The bummer is that it's brand new oil in the engine right now!!!! Ths only miles on it is the trip over to Bernies yesterday!!!



(PS: I'm thinking that I don't have to change the filter again, though. If the broken piece is in it, it's in it and not going anywhere, right? agree/disagree? thanks!)

 

[Scot]

My tit was tightly stuck in the cam gear. Cummins mechanic suggested heating a 3/32 welding rod, letting it melt into the plastic and it will come out easily.

 

[bubba_zanetti]

I had the handle part of the timing pin break off (apparently the dealer did it, since he was the only one to touch it).



I took a drill and tapped a small starter hole, and then put a screw into it. I bought a replacement but still have the one with the screw in it... just in case.



So once you find the remaining piece of plastic that is hopefully in the gear, then you can use a long screw or some such thing to get it out... I would have to assume that warmed up welding rod idea would work also.

 

[cwienenga]

the piece of the pin probably wouldn't get through the oil pickup screen. the pieces that have plugged cooling jets came from oil filters on the inside which didn't get filtered.

on the valve adjustment,when the exh. rocker comes up and stops and the intake starts down it is close enough. you can adjust half the valves, on #1tdc comp. then rotate 360 deg. and do the other half. the manual will tell you which valves. overlap method works also.

you will need the timing pin if you have to take the fuel pump off as it has to be accurate.