HELP! Is my camshaft still good!? (Pictures)

[Cleandenali31]

I was replacing lifters in my 6.2 because of bad lifter noise from a previous oil pump failure. I found one of the rollers in the back with pitted spots all over it (pretty bad). Obviously I'm replacing all lifters. I rotated the cam and saw that there was some minor pitting on the top of the lobe (looks ALOT worse in the photo than actually looking at it). I WOULD get a new cam BUT I kind of don't really have the extra funds for it and one or two other reasons I won't dive into. So my question is, If I replace the lifters am I still considered okay? No grooves or anything in the cam except for the pitted spots. All other cam lobes are normal.

 

[Buzzcut]

No it is a paperweight replacement is needed.

 

[Cleandenali31]

I was told that I would be okay for the next 20k-30k before it starts tearing into the new lifter. I'm hoping it runs long enough for me to drive it into the dealership and dump it and get rid of it

 

[Buzzcut]

Indeed that is a hard call to make. I wouldn't tear it down that far and band-aid it and hope is lasts that long.

 

[Cleandenali31]

Well the other issue I mentioned I wouldn't dive into is, when i went to put the Harmonic balancer on with the old bolt after replacing the bad oil pump...I went to take the old bolt out to put the new one in and I can't get the old bolt out..not even with a 600ft lb impact. Torqued it to 240, it's on straight, but it over torques 240 reversing it. So at the moment that's preventing me from getting the balancer and front cover back off to get to the camshaft

 

[Buzzcut]

Well U R in a fix. Pull the engine and repair or replace the engine with a good pull out.

 

[Cleandenali31]

Well U R in a fix. Pull the engine and repair or replace the engine with a good pull out.

Let me ask you this, would it be okay to put new lifters in, cap it all up and find a new vehicle I want and just get rid of it? I didn't want to take it in the dealership sounding the way it did

 

[Buzzcut]

Let me ask you this, would it be okay to put new lifters in, cap it all up and find a new vehicle I want and just get rid of it? I didn't want to take it in the dealership sounding the way it did

You can but that's a gamble you take.

 

[Brian Wilson]

It would be a risk. If I were a dealer, I would drive a car before I offered money to trade in. And in my experiance, lifter pitting is directly proportional to cam pitting. So new lifters (at 100$) and gasket set (around 150$ including bolts) might make it 100 miles without sever noise. Are you a gambling man?

 

[Cleandenali31]

It would be a risk. If I were a dealer, I would drive a car before I offered money to trade in. And in my experiance, lifter pitting is directly proportional to cam pitting. So new lifters (at 100$) and gasket set (around 150$ including bolts) might make it 100 miles without sever noise. Are you a gambling man?

If I can let them take it and trade it in then fine. I owe 4,000 on it yet and at 118,000 even in poor condition it's still trade in value at 14,000. I might take that gamble