[67drake]

I heard a metallic sound under the hood yesterday on My GTO. Seemed to be coming from the drivers side valve cover, but it would only do it every once in a while, and didn’t sound like a rocker arm noise.
Pulled the valve cover today and on one of the baffles the spot weld had broke loose on one side and then broke off on the other.
So question is-is it OK to run like this without the middle piece? Or replace the whole baffle assembly?
Thanks

[PunchT37]

Or, run it without.

[Gach]

Get rid of the whole baffle you don’t need them. Pontiac eventually stop using them altogether.

[67drake]

Originally Posted by PunchT37

Or, run it without.

That’s what I meant, just run without that piece that broke off.

[PunchT37]

Originally Posted by 67drake

That’s what I meant, just run without that piece that broke off.

No. Take the whole damn thing off.

You`re better and safer to get rid of the part instead of running a damaged/weakened part.

[67drake]

Originally Posted by PunchT37

No. Take the whole damn thing off.

You`re better and safer to get rid of the part instead of running a damaged/weakened part.

Ah, gotcha.
Now can I just take those two cylinder head bolts out to get the baffle off, then retorque them. Or do I have to loosen them all and retorque in sequence.

[PunchT37]

Originally Posted by 67drake

Ah, gotcha.
Now can I just take those two cylinder head bolts out to get the baffle off, then retorque them. Or do I have to loosen them all and retorque in sequence.

Yeah. Just take those bolts out. Then, re torque those. Then, check all the rest while you`re there.

[67drake]

My bad anyway, those two are bolts with studs on top, no need to retorque

[Gach]

While your at it take ones off the other side of the motor to prevent issues later down road.

[PunchT37]

Originally Posted by Gach

While your at it take ones off the other side of the motor to prevent issues later down road.

Yep. Then, you`re good to go.

[67drake]

Originally Posted by Gach

While your at it take ones off the other side of the motor to prevent issues later down road.

For sure.
Kinda surprised my engine guy would have put them back in there then. I know the oil drippers get ditched, didn’t know about the baffles.
Anyway, one side done, on to the PIA side with the A/C compressor in the way. Ugh.

[b-man]

Well…..after the factory eliminated those baffles they went to a different valve cover with sheet metal drippers spot welded to the covers to aid rocker lubrication.

So saying the factory eliminated those baffles that were there to collect oil to drip down on the rockers isn’t completely accurate.

If you’re running anything non-stock like polylocks or aftermarket roller rockers the baffles won’t fit. If you do have a stock valvetrain it might be wise to repair or replace the baffles.

Even the RAII and RAIV engine had a little sheet metal oil dripper attached to the stop of the studs.

Don’t be so quick to trash those pieces, Pontiac spent money designing and manufacturing those for some good reason I’m thinking. I just don’t get why people are so quick to think that removing something the engineers put there for a reason is the wise thing to do.

Seriously, it’s not difficult to repair that baffle with a few spots of weld using a MIG welder, clean it up and fix it.

[67drake]

I have a Crower 60242 and adjustable valve train. Looks like these baffles weren’t quite making the cut. I’m really surprised this situation didn’t get uglier. This engine was assembled in ‘08 and this is the first time it’s ever made any “noise”.

[b-man]

Well when there’s no room for them you have to take them off.

They must have been making a little noise and of course putting a little metal in the oil before the failure.

Your builder messed up. He should have pretty easily noticed the interference when he first started fitting the baffles.before he even put a hold down nut on.

[Schurkey]

Curious--does that baffle also keep oil out of the PCV system? Or is the PCV valve in the valley cover?

[67drake]

Originally Posted by Schurkey

Curious--does that baffle also keep oil out of the PCV system? Or is the PCV valve in the valley cover?

In my case it’s the stock setup PCV in the valley pan.

[lust4speed]

I'd say that Pontiac was thinking of police cars and taxi cabs that spent much of the day idling for hours. As long as you drive it like you stole it the baffles are only taking up space.

[Half-Inch Stud]

I thought those baffles were pretty cool, and real cool when i sold em. You could repair by drill and bolt, then do what makes best cents.

[Cliff R]

Couple of things to keep in mind here.

The design of the valve train requires metered oil to travel up the pushrods to a small hole in the pushrod cup in the rocker arm. It flows from there to the pivot ball where it is engaged with the rocker body. There is a tremendous amount of load applied to those parts. The factory used SOLID rocker balls so the oil would "pool" on top of them and fill that portion of the rocker arm then drain out to the rocker arm tips.

At the rocker tips which are moving many times per second it is splashed and atomized to provide lubrication and cooling for the springs, valves, etc.

Installing a grooved rocker ball, which is common any many aftermarket roller tipped rockers DECREASES bearing area and allow much of the oil to drain stright down the studs. Neither of these two things are good for the system and almost 100 percent of the aftermarket roller tipped rockers I've removed from engines brought here were gaulded and worn in those areas. None had completely failed but at least 80 if not 90 percent of them have turned blue or even black where they are gaulding in the rocker bodies.

I've NEVER once seen this with a factory stamped steel rocker using solid rocker balls under it. I'd also add that with more oil running down the studs instead of "pooling" and running down over the rocker tips to get thrown all over the place the engine gets LESS lubrication and cooling to vital parts under the valve covers.

This information is not meant to bad mouth certain parts, just an observation made from working on these engines coming up on 50 years.........

[dataway]

If running OEM stamped rockers there is no way I wouldn't use the drippers. I've never seen the "blue balls" on an engine with OEM rockers and the drippers installed.