Valve clearances = no cylinder power?

[TurboRA28]

Hi all, this is a non toyota engine problem but really stuck at the moment and need some help.

My mate has a newish Pajero with the 3.5ltr quad cam v6 engine. Anyhows it overheated and cracked a head. He was desperate to get it back on the road so purchased a wrecker engine with 200,000km on it.

Upon receiving the engine we noticed it looks like the head gaskets have been done very recently. Anyway didn't think too much about it.

So we've all busted our guts and swapped the engine over in the last 2 nights as we Really needed the car for the weekend camping trip. Fired it up tonight and two problems.. It is making a loud tapping/ticking noise from one of the heads. The other problem is there is NO power, rough as guts, etc.

There seems to only be 4 cylinders making any power.

So the head making the ticking noise, if we pull a hitension lead off 2 of the 3 cylinders, there is no difference in the running of the engine. Though we have confirmed that there is spark and injector on these cylinders.

A compression test indicates that the cylinders are ok also.

My only guess here is... Could it be possible that the tapping noise is too much valve clearance, and its not opening the valves enough for those cylinders to make any power? Is that a possibility? I am wondering if the wreckers knew it had blown head gaskets and they have replaced them and the engine has never been tested since, maybe not assembled correctly or something.

Pretty pissed off though at the moment that we've all put huge hours into it trying to get it done for the weekend and now its back to square one. Such an aweful engine to pull in and out also.

Thanks
Joel

[brett_celicacoupe]

if tappets are too small or 2 big then you will experience a power loss.

to small of a gap and a valves may never close (no comp).

too big a of a gap and the valves may not open at all.

its probably got ghey hydraulic lifters.

id pull the rocker covers off if its easy enough. though vaguely knowing mitsu, its probably a engine out job

[The Real Roadrunner]

have you checked cam timing? they may have Fd up when putting it back together and a cam or two may be out? i know that wont be the problem with the 2 cylinders not firing but it still could be one problem.

if the cylinders have comp+spark+fuel then they will fire, sure the leads are in the right place?

broken camshaft maybe? (yes i have seen it done b4)

pajeros suck teh balls to work on but you can get rocker covers off.

cheers
linden

[abently]

Yep, the Hydraulic lifters really need to bleed out all the air via Oil pressure before it will run just fine. Idle the car for a while and see if that clears it up.

Also, do not pull the Engine out, you dont need to.

[Mr DOHC]

the lifters in the quad cam pajeros suck balls, they have a constant problem, they tick like bitches, if u still have the old ones and they didnt rick, then swap them over, or spend the $100-150 and get new ones

[FASTFOO]

Call the wrecker that you got it from and let them sort it out.
If any engine I sold had a problem like this I would want to know before you started pulling it apart. And if they sold you a dud get them to fix it!!

MATT.