Bad rocker arm Tips on 04 VT-365's

[Scott B]

I have posted before on this subject.Each time I have done branch tube Jobs on this eng.I have found Irregular wear n the rocker arm tips While not Inspecting all of the rockers.International said to just replace what I had apart.Now they have a SFN out on this.They are notifieing owners of certain 04 MY engines and have us replace all rockers,pushtubes and valve bridges.They are doing this as a Uptime proceedure.All new Headbolts are Included In the pParts package since you replace each assy one a a time.Just curious if Ford had implemented any `kind of a program for this

[Keith Browning]

Bite your tongue! Ford has several policies that include, "If it ain't broke, we ain't payin to fix it" and "hear no evil, see no evil and preemptively fix no evil." Let us not forget that Ford is probably still bleeding by the million$ if not billion$ and is not in any position to be replacing anything that "might" be going bad. All kidding aside, I am not aware of any program and like most dealers, our warranty claims are under heavy scrutiny with many parts being called back for inspection. If we replace any of these parts they had better be bad!

 

This is good to know stuff however so we should keep an eye open for this concern when we have one of these apart.

[DwayneGorniak]

One head bolt at a time? Is that areally acceptable? Ford says if one bolt is disturbed, you are doing tham all along with the head gasket.

[International Tech]

I remember my VT-365 traing classes and was told then if i remove one bolt the headgasket needs to be changed. Now they are telling us to do the exact opposite just to save some dough. On a side note its really not that bad of a job and alot easier than having to use the on-engine valve-spring compressor to get the rocker arms off. Ive done several and havent got one back yet.

[blown99]

I've done many of the valve train uptime kits, but only on UPS chassis. I havn't had any problems with headgasket failures afer replacing the center row of head bolts. Always funny how procedures that were not acceptable years ago are now ok when the dime is on them, stop leak to repair front cover leaks, 365 valve tain/head bolts, turbo recons, install plugs vs new block heaters, no more changing injectors for smoke and misfire conditions when cold.