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Pulled the valve cover on my recently rebuilt 235 only to discover that the rocker assembly is as dry as a bone. Rockers even have surface rust, so I think that the oil has never gotten up there.

I thought things sounded a little clickety-clackety but thought maybe the valves needed adjusting after a couple hundred miles of break in.

I have plenty of oil pressure 40 - 50 lbs., and dipstick shows full.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Didja put the flat sided head bolt in the right spot? It goes in the middle on the lifter cover side. The oil to the rockers has to travel through that passage to the head and the bolt needs either a drilled passage or a flat spot to get through.

The oil line inside the lifter cover may be plugged.

What year 235? The oil line inside the lifter cover was only used on the '53-'55 1st series 235s. The later 55-62 engines lubed through the lifter bosses.

On a 55-62, the oil flows from the rear cam bearing, around the lifter bodies, then up the passage in the center of the lifter galley to the deck surface. There it passes through the head gasket and feeds the rocker feedpipe in the center of the rocker arm assy.

I think only the 261s used the special head bolt to pass oil. Somebody double check!

Pull your lifter (side) cover on the passanger's side of the engine and check the following:

53-55 235s used the oil line to carry oil from the rear cam bearing to the lifter galley. Make sure its connected and not plugged up.

55-62 235s must use the valve lifters with a chamfer in the body so the oil can pass around them. Make sure your motor has these if its a 55-62!

55-62 engines have a pipe plug screwed into the center oil passage in the block where the line used to be on the 53-55 engines. If the plug is missing, all the rocker arm oil will blow down into the pushrod/lifter cover.

Check for clogged passages in rocker assembly.

If the rear cam bearing was installed wrong, your lifters will starve for oil too. Check to make sure that oil is getting to the lifters.

You may want to disassemble your rocker assembly and check for damage. Couple hunderd miles with no oil has probably burned up your pushrods and adjuster balls. If your lucky, you haven't ruined your valves and guides. See, the oil to the top end lubes and cools your valves and guides. No oil = galled guides and valvestems.

If a shop did the work, bring it to them and insist they check the above items. Look over their sholder and ask for all old parts back.

Good luck

Chip

Thanks guys. I'm on it. Well, my mechanic is. I'll let ya know what happens.

This is exactly the problem I was having a while back that caused a series of posts about 235 differences. My motor is a '60 and it had an outside oil line running around the back of the motor when I bought it. No oil filter and we couldn't figure out why. When all was said and done, I found I was getting no oil to the rockers after putting it all back together and priming the oil pump. I ended up tearing it all the way down, including removing the cam and crank shafts. I found that the 2 intermediate cam bearings were burned from not getting oil. The rear oil gallery was blocked and not getting oil to the cam and, therefore, not to the rockers. I had removed the lifters before and put compressed air from the rocker feedpipe hole down through the center gallery that Chip mentioned. I had good air coming out to the lifters that way. That's not where the blockage was. I know this is getting long, but I'd bet this is the problem you're having. I tore the engine all the way down to a bare block and then tried compressed air through the oil pump outlet to the main oil gallery. Guess what? I had blockage at the rear main and oil couldn't go beyond that point to the crank or to the cam shaft and beyond. I then had a machine shop boil the block and we cleaned out the oil galleries. Put it all back together with a new cam since oil starvation had ruined the old one. Earlier this week, I primed the oil pump and am getting good oil to the rockers. You could try blowing air down to the lifter gallery, but I'd bet you have blockage down below and if you don't get it cleared, you will damage the cam shaft and probably more. Also, I was told that cam bearings have been known to turn to where the hole that allows oil through doesn't line up with the gallery (galley?). Mine wasn't turned, but that could also be the problem. Either way, you won't know until you get it torn down. I am very glad I went to the trouble and it was very satisfying doing the work myself. Pretty easy following the shop manual. Also, I found alot of sludge and rust dust in my water passages, so boiling helped that alot too. GOOD LUCK!

No flat sided headbolt on my 59 and 62 261's or on the 59 235, maybe earlier engines have them. You can pull the head bolt next to the rocker oil feed and jam a rod in the hole or compressed air, carb cleaner etc. The oil on later engine comes up through the block, like mentioned above ,through a dedicated hole in head,then around around the upper end of the head bolt and again through a passage to the rocker oil feed pipe.Pull the distributer, turn the oil pump with a drill while doing this rodding or spraying cleaner into the hole you see when the head bolt is removed. Protect Your Eyes!! Sometimes the crud blows out sometimes not.And as the other posts say you may have a serious internal blockage that may require disassembly.

Same with my '60 235. The head bolt is exactly like the others with no flat spot or hole. In fact, if you have no blockage from the head down to the lifters, you can hit the rocker oiler hole with air and feel it come out at the lifters (if they are removed) whether the head bolt is in or not. The oil galley comes up behind the head bolt.