flanders

Background info: For some unknown reason my cam gears where switched (intake on exhaust and vice versa) so I'm in the process of putting them on correctly.
Cam caps where removed very carefully and this is what I found



Fourth one looked worst




Third




Second




There are some marks in the cams as well


Fourth was the worst here as well


Third


Didn't take any pictures on the carriers but they looked pretty much as bad as the cam caps.
This engine is suppose to have run less than 40k miles and the only reason I removed these things were to fix my cam gears, it's been running great before and I haven't noticed anything weird at all.
What do you guys think I should do?
I got a dyno tune booked in for the next weekend, was really looking forward to get my ITB's running but now I'm not sure I dare to put this back together again

V6 Donut

I would look for new cam caps and cams.

I would like to know what all causes this. ive seen this a couple times.

Billman250

Looks like the top end is starving for oil.

The cams themselves can likely be polished, as they are much hard than the caps and what you see on them is on top of the surface.

You will need a 10pc (this means upper and lower) matched set of caps.

flanders

Damn, thanks for quick response though.
Oil starvation doesn't sound good, I wonder if there is more damage somewhere else.
There is no possibility that incorrect installation could have caused this?
I'm thinking if the cam gears were swapped anything is possible.

jr94513

Hey billman, do you think he would be able to do just the top caps or is it necessary to do the bottom as well.

Slowcrash_101

The people that put the cam gears in backwards probably didn't follow the tightening pattern when re-installing the cam caps, probably overtightened the ones that were terribly worn. There's a reason the manual only specifies 16 ft/lbs, the tighter you make it the more you force the cam caps to the carrier. Eventually you can strangle the cams with the caps. Was it hard to remove the cam caps?

Billman250

Check the numbers on the lower and upper caps, be sure they are/were in order.

The 10 cams are a 10 piece, line bored, matched set.

Slowcrash_101

Getting the order wrong would be a pretty boneheaded move as they're numbered, so unless these people can't count, which is possible, I doubt they got that wrong.

flanders

Upper caps were in order and I checked the lower ones now and they were also correct.
I did notice that some of the bolts felt a lot tighter than the others, unfortunately I can't remember which ones they were though.
That could very well be an explanation.

Billman250

Since the cam gears were mixed up, it's very possible there are other mixups.

You bought this car new/never opened up?