Loose Tappet guide securing bolt.

Loose Tappet guide securing bolt?
Hi, So top end of this motor was rebuilt around 7 years ago but has done only 100 or so miles since! Trying to get it back into service - oil pressure light comes on at idle so watching engine idling I noticed this wired bolt that I guess is 'tappet guide securing bolt' rattling around loose! See movie. There is non-ferrous metal particles in oil and quite a bit of oil was leaking from around this bolt. I figure that a cam bearing may have slipped or? Quite a bit of rattle noise from top of engine.
Any advice or observations on why / how it came loose or what may be needed, etc welcome. Thanks.

Welcome Nic
The wiring of the bolt is insecure as it looks just hooked on, rather than the wire binding it securely, they should have some thread sealant on otherwise, when I rebuilt my engine I used dowty washers that have an integral rubber seal that would stop,the oil leak
It does look quite wobbly and I wonder if it’s actually engaging in the hole in the tappet slider as it looks like should be nipping up by then
You might get an idea if it’s securing the guide by taking the push rod out, on this 200tdi you can see the bolt showing, I’m not sure if you can see this from push rod hole or turn it over slowly by hand and see what it looks like
You may need to,remove head to check properly
Also check the threads not gone on bolt or hole but if you remove that could drop the guide and then it’s a head off job
Trump or Biden for president ?

steve2286w said:

View attachment 222593 Welcome Nic
The wiring of the bolt is insecure as it looks just hooked on, rather than the wire binding it securely, they should have some thread sealant on otherwise, when I rebuilt my engine I used dowty washers that have an integral rubber seal that would stop,the oil leak
It does look quite wobbly and I wonder if it’s actually engaging in the hole in the tappet slider as it looks like should be nipping up by then
You might get an idea if it’s securing the guide by taking the push rod out, on this 200tdi you can see the bolt showing, I’m not sure if you can see this from push rod hole or turn it over slowly by hand and see what it looks like
You may need to,remove head to check properly
Also check the threads not gone on bolt or hole but if you remove that could drop the guide and then it’s a head off job
Trump or Biden for president ?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. The wire is all secure. I’m reluctant to just try tightening the bolt so have it booked into the shop. They can remove the head and hopefully figure out what is going on. Will also need engine flushed to remove the metal particles.
Trump or Biden? I’m a Brit (resident but not a citizen, so can’t vote), so you can’t blame any of this on me Although it seems like we may have jumped out of the frying pan into the fire!

The non ferrous bits are likely a crumbling brass slider, I’ve read cheapie ones and disintegrate quite quickly
But all the bits should fall into sump and may drain out when you change oil
Keep us updated on how it goes in the garage hope it’s not too expensive
Enjoy the spectacle over there too must be a weird looking on being a Brit

Update: So I removed the valve cover today. Well... I found that most, if not all the pushrods seem to be bent! Not sure why this has happened. The distributor was a bit loose. There is old petrol in tank which may cause sticking valves? Next job is to remove head and see what is going on. Hopefully camshaft will be ok.

The weak link is the pushrods so it sounds like the valve timing was a bit out and valves hitting pistons bending the pushrods, I would check valve timing with head on first just to confirm then head off and timing case off see what it looks like in there

Long time since I had a 21/4 Petrol head off can the pistons actually hit the valves on that engine?
Just looked at pic on this ebay advert valve location is recessed on head engine side.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LAND-ROV...564131?hash=item1aa497d723:g:jN0AAOSw8A1ff3mH

Blackburn said:

Long time since I had a 21/4 Petrol head off can the pistons actually hit the valves on that engine?

Click to expand...

no

Perhaps turn it over with rocker cover off and see if all valves moving ok
If the pistons can’t hit valves stuck valves, note which rods bent and what valves ,move

Soo...I am enclosing some very puzzling photos! I expected to see the end of the rods sitting in a brass tappet slide in a guide! But as in the enclosed photos it looks odd - to looks like the end of the rod is sitting on the cam? Is that even possible or is this normal.
All the the rods are loose and seem to be bent but the valves all seem to move.

Nicsrover said:

Soo...I am enclosing some very puzzling photos! I expected to see the end of the rods sitting in a brass tappet slide in a guide! But as in the enclosed photos it looks odd - to looks like the end of the rod is sitting on the cam? Is that even possible or is this normal.
All the the rods are loose and seem to be bent but the valves all seem to move. View attachment 223124View attachment 223125View attachment 223126View attachment 223127View attachment 223128

Click to expand...

if guide moved upwards roller could fall out into cam gallery

That’s an OH **** moment
So no brass sliders in any hole, underneath the brass sliders should be the rollers are the guides in even ?
Who rebuilt the engine, either they did not fit the brass sliders and poss rolllers or they have disintegrated and you have a sump full of bits
All valves moving is good
If rod was on the cam directly I don’t think they would be long enough to move the valve so they must be on the roller
Need head off now to investigate the rods can bend as they get jammed so may not be too bad