bent pushrod's on 351w

[Bronco717274]

OK, truck has been setting for 5 years. After having my 71 and all my spare part's stolen and moping about it long enough I'm going to try and get my 72 runing again. Today I pulled the fuel tank cleaned and replaced lines and filters. Removed top of carb and cleaned out filled bowl with fresh fuel. Put 5 gallons in tank. Had charger on battery while I was doing all this. Well it fired right up but had a bad miss so I started pulling plug wires and it was only running on 4 cylinders 2 on each side. I removed the valve covers and found 4 bent pushrods one on each cylinder that was missing. Motor ran fine when parked did I just have some stuck valves from setting or is something else wrong. I ordered 16 new ones from my napa guy a friend of mine I called at home today he said they would be there in the morning. What do I need to do before I install these and crank it again? And what else do I need to check for before I hurt something else.

 

[TBS-POPS]

Prob stuck valves. after you pull all the rockers, squirt all the valve stems through the springs with some wd-40, pb blaster or similar them tap on the valve stems with a hammer to make sure they open. TAP not pound.

 

[Bronco717274]

I tapped on all of them after I removed all of them. The one's that were bent I had to bend them back some just to get them out. They almost looked like the letter Z.

 

[Ranchtruck]

Running bad gas can do the same thing, the intake valves will stick and the pushrods bend. Had it happen a couple times on a 361 industrial in the stackcruiser which only gets used once a season, so I keep a handful of spare pushrods to swap in when it happens.

Soak the valvestems in carb cleaner and tap them with a rubber mallet. Do that for a couple days, slip new pushrods in, and you should be good to go.

Hopefully none of the lifters popped out when the pushrods bent. If you're lucky, you can use a magnet on a stick to fish it back down its bore, but most times the intake has to come off.

 

[Bronco717274]

All 4 rod's that were bent were intake valves but I removed and cleaned out tank blew through all lines and replaced fuel filter and removed top of carb and cleaned out and filled with fresh gas before ever trying to start it.

 

[Ranchtruck]

The gum from the evaporated gas that was left after the last time you ran it is what does it. It will also blow a lot of oil out the exhaust if you run it with a bent pushrod, but that will clear out after you get the valves moving again.

I've had it happen on the 361 twice, and my GMC 270 once, all after having sat for a year or more. (17 years in the case of the 270)

 

[Bronco717274]

Replaced all 16 pushrod's pulled coil wire and bumped it over watching to make sure each valve was opening and closing. Replaced coil wire and fired it up. Run's like a champ, thank's for the input Guy's

 

[half cab]

Good to hear you got it back goin.

 

[roundhouse]

Few ears ago I bought a 77 cheap cause it had a bad knock and was skipping.

Turns out it was a bent pr, but the lifter had popped apart.