hi

started my new to me slant 6 today and it ran very bad , fine yesterday .

pulled valve cover and found 3 bent intake pushrods and lifters out of there bore ?

so what caused this ?

valve were not adjusted properly as some were loose and others tight .

why 3 at once ?

found the prob to be intake valves were so gumed up they slowed the valve closing to the point the pushrods came disloged and rocker bent them .

after removing springs and some gum cutter and working each one with vice grips they came loose .
now i just need 4 pushrods for a 225 solid lifter engine.

Cam to crank timing is off probably.

If the car has been sitting it’s likely that the valve guides may have rusted and stuck the valves, bending the pushrods. With the bent pushrods, there’s nothing to keep the lifters in the bores when the cam rotates and flings them up.

A jumped timing chain would retard the cam timing but I don’t think these are interference engines, or even if they are gear or chain systems. Getting old, I guess.

Sitting overnight probably not long enough to stick valves.

Did these use the plastic coated gears?

Slant is not an interference engine. Only way they bend pushrods is stuck valves, and it is very common. I have no idea why they do it, and it is complety random. Biggest issue is that oil has a hard time getting to the valve stems since it has to run uphill.

Buddy of mine stored his Dart for the winter at my shop. Started it up in the spring and drove it the 70 miles to my house and left it overnight. Started it up next morning and it was missing. It had bent an intake pushrod. I pulled it out, hit it with a hammer to straighten it, and put it back in. I sprayed the valve stem with WD-40 and tapped the top of the stem with a plastic hammer until it freed up. Ran for 3 years before we finally put in a new pushrod. Still runs today, 6 years later.

So, was the car sitting for a few years that you got slant out of? I've seen varnish/slime build up on valve stems and guides that was drawn in AFTER first fire up from car sitting. Could easily bend some stuff.

hi
car sat over winter , i bought it not running , got it running and driving

drove it a few times short trips till ,backed it out other day and push rods bent at start up , at first thought fouled plugs ,then maybe broken valve spring ? turned out to be 4 bent p rods due to gummed up valves .

a zone got me 4 p rods in 3 hours so i got it running .

need to install v cover then test drive to get some fuel system cleaner !