The wear is as if you put ther face of the lifter on a grinding wheel at about a 25 degree angle. A side view would reveal normal heigth on one side and wear of about 1/16" to 1/8" (enough to wear thru it in the middle)on the other. Will try to post a picture later

 

When the lifter is worn you will have to change the cam, too... as said above, the cam will destroy the next lifter as well.

Cam and lifters are less than $200, it's quiet a bit of work but at least it's not too expensive. I'd get a two piece timing chain cover to make the install easier... drop the oil pan and install the one-piece FelPro gasket, that way you shouldn't have to worry about leaks.

My engine leaks since I replaced my cam - I did not drop the oil pan and re-used the stock timing chain cover.... then I had to use 2 lbs Permatex to stop the leak

 

Why does the cam destroy the new lifter?

 

the cam and the lifter have to break in together so that the lifter learns to spin.....i guess there thought is if the old lifter wasn't spinning then the cam is worn in a way that will not promote the spinning of the new lifter..... the lifter has to spin or it will wipe the cam lobe....

 

Your having some bad luck there 2th Farmer. 2 head gaskets and now this.

 

Both of them could have been a lot worse. The head gaskets are under warranty (I hope) the lifter went bad about 4 miles from my house. At least I wasn't walking! Thanks for caring man!

 

Don't try to patch with a new lifter. The cam lobe is bad. Could have been caused by a bad lifter, but the cam is history.

Been there! Done that!

 

Did your motor overheat recently?
I had a lifter and lobe go out on me when my engine overheated .
It would be nice if you could just stick in a new lifter but my guess is the lobe is toast!
Get a new cam and lifters ,break it in correctly.

 

I tried all kinds of tricks with a dial indicator to measure lobe lift with a hyd lifter. From this experience don't waste ur time - get a solid lifter or take 2 hyd and gut 1 to turn insides upside down then locktite together with another hyd to make a very tall solid lifter - much easier to measure with. Now wiped lopes will also show an increase in compression and u can compare to other cyls though u may not want to try it urself unless u have done so before.

But really if ur missing metal from that lifter surface that cam lobe will be shot and ur wasting time not to replace the cam. And many say the engine life will already be reduced due to all the metal circulating in the oil so far - some guys would just dissemble the engine now and hot tank block & heads then reassemble with new cam.

Sorry if that's bad news but to say that cam is ok would be lying to you. But on the other hand when i removed my old cam it had a wiped exh lobe on #4 and it had continued to run with a miss only noticible at idle. So u could still sell car as is and maybe not even be noticed by new owner. Ok that's not nice but just an example.

Many things can cause a lobe to wipe and especially at break-in. I think a lot of people forget engine break-in lube on the cam and end up fighting too much with the timing to get it to run/idle before run at 2,000rpm for 20min.

Well don't feel bad, i've been through the ringer with bad rocker self-locking nuts (brand new Comp Cams) then noisy lifters (Crane Cams) clacking - brand new lifters too. Brand new, brand name parts that let me down. So hang in there Doc.

cardo0