Thread: Rocker Arm and Camshaft replacement

I'm having a problem on my 94 lowport where it keeps popping the #3 intake rocker arm. As a result of this the camshaft, rocker arm, and part of the one retainer have chew marks. I reinstalled the shims and rocker arm but it came off a second time.

I have a spare engine I can pull parts from. My plan is to replace the damaged camshaft with the good one. I am also going to replace the damaged rocker arm with a good one.

I have some questions before I do this. Just wanted to get some thoughts.

Should I replace all 4 intake rocker arms or just the number 3 rocker arm? For all rocker arms that I swap over should I use the shims that come with those rocker arms or keep the ones that are currently on my motor?

just replace the ones that look damaged. if its only #3 then just replace that one. keep the same shims dont swap them out for the other ones.


is it poping out after high rpm runs? if it isnt then you may have need to adjust the number 3 valves. other wise shift earlier.

Actually I think the first time it happened I did give the car a good rip. The second time my rpms were in the 3-4k range at most. The original problem I was trying to solve was that I did not have compression in the number 3 cylinder. I found that the rocker arm had come loose. I reinstalled the rocker arm and shimms but my motor didn't fire back up on all four. I gave it a little rev 3-4k rpm and then just shut down since the car never fired on all four. I opened up the valve cover and the rocker arm had come loose again a second time.

its possible you have a collapsed lifter. replace that if youve got another one. and make sure youve got 1 locking shim so it cant slip out.

Thanks for the help. I replaced the cam, rocker arm, and hydraulic lifter. For piece of mind I also went ahead and bled the other three intake hydraulic lifters. My other three lifters also released air bubbles so it was good that I took that extra step.

My car is finally running on four cylinders again. What a learning experience this was!!! The good thing was that nothing was damaged in the bottom end.