Broken rocker shaft........ Wasnt expecting that!!!!!!!!

Hey guys, only my second post here and a little update on my 2002 vogue se that I bought four or five weeks ago. Bought it with a misfire although it ran ok with no overheating albeit quite noisy under load. Anyway, had a quick look and found cylinder one plug all oiled up. Decided on the heads off and had to wait till today when I finished a contract in Portsmouth to strip it down. I have driven it a hundred miles a day since I got it and the noise has never changed and still no overheating!
Started stripping down today and when I got the rocker cover off I found the Rocker Shaft had completely snapped! That will be the misfire then! Im assuming the noise under load is just that the pressure and the fuel had no where to go?
Will get the head off tomorrow and see what the piston looks like.
Anyone got any Idea what I might find? Or have a guess and we will see who is closest!!!!
Would love some advice on where to get the best parts for the rebuild. I want to change the Cam and all the followers and the rods. Both rocker shafts and associated parts as well as the water pump, thermostat etc etc etc. Seeing as its 11 years old now I might as well go the whole hog while its all stripped out!
Any advice from anyone who has done this would be much appreciated!!!!!!!!!!
Heres a pic of the broken rocker shaft

Thanks dudes!
Rob.

It a classic Rover V8 symptom of the swarf from a knackered cam lobe (or lobes) finding its way into the gap between the rocker and shaft causing the rocker to snap after the friction starts to weld the two together. The same swarf will have found its way into the big-ends and mains.

Check the cam, if there's heavy wear you'll need replace the cam and all lifters (OEM ones) may as well do the timing chain while you're in there and the majority of the plain bearings (hard to do the gearbox end mains in situ.

If your cam is fine then you've just been unlucky with a dodgy rocker!

StuckAgainSteve said:

It a classic Rover V8 symptom of the swarf from a knackered cam lobe (or lobes) finding its way into the gap between the rocker and shaft causing the rocker to snap after the friction starts to weld the two together. The same swarf will have found its way into the big-ends and mains.

Check the cam, if there's heavy wear you'll need replace the cam and all lifters (OEM ones) may as well do the timing chain while you're in there and the majority of the plain bearings (hard to do the gearbox end mains in situ.

If your cam is fine then you've just been unlucky with a dodgy rocker!

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Cheers Steve, will have to wait and see when its all stripped out. Going to do the cam anyway........ its been in 11 yrs so wont do any harm to change it!
Sorry i this sounds stupid but what are the Plain bearings?

big ends and mains, they're dirt cheap but obviously there's the hassle of changing em.

StuckAgainSteve said:

big ends and mains, they're dirt cheap but obviously there's the hassle of changing em.

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Ah ok............ is it possible to do them with the block in the car?

rangerob said:

Ah ok............ is it possible to do them with the block in the car?

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big ends is easy enough, you can check by removing one main cap bottom shell on mains will be the most worn ,top shell on big ends ,rocker shafts are easy enough to change