Broken Camshaft

Thanks David. I will not be able to get photos for a couple of days, but happy to do so.

Here are a few photos of the head and broken cam shaft. It is a clean break adjacent the journal.

Russell can see no obvious evidence of anything other than metal failure due to manufacturing fault or being dropped.:nonod:

Over the years I've seen people drop camshafts...inspect them with a red face and fit them to a engine only to have it fail when the load hits it in the engine....new cams have been delivered regularly by couriers and on opening the wrapper were broke...in a engine I once built the cams can be cast or forged ....the cast ones when dropped to the floor will break in to 2 or 3 pieces...start to worry if they have been dropped not broken and are destined for a engine.....the forged ones will bounce off concrete no matter how hard they were chucked.....some cummins camshafts marked has genuine and underwritten made in China were sent back...They went into the engine ok...tolerances fine...untill the thrust plate was fitted then it was a no go..also there was a batch of new cams spapping after a short period....we no longer fit camshafts unless they are new and delivered in a solid wooden crate....preferably without made in China written on them.chucking of camshafts to gain the knoledge of them breaking was done with scrap cams only......honest

Thanks for your responses. I guess it is a new motor for me.

It might be worth checking the head straightness! Not necessarily the combustion face side but the cam side.
If the head has warped severely due to overheating and then refaced you still have the problem of the cam journals / bearings being out of alignment. This means that the cam when fitted is distorted. Running the engine then causes the cam to rapidly fatigue and fail as is the photo.

Found out after I checked a failed Hillman Imp race engine that had recently had a mega bucks build by a "reputable" well known builder!

Ian S3 wrote: It might be worth checking the head straightness! Not necessarily the combustion face side but the cam side.
If the head has warped severely due to overheating and then refaced you still have the problem of the cam journals / bearings being out of alignment. This means that the cam when fitted is distorted. Running the engine then causes the cam to rapidly fatigue and fail as is the photo.

Found out after I checked a failed Hillman Imp race engine that had recently had a mega bucks build by a "reputable" well known builder!

Thanks Ian S3. The head is almost brand new from Rimmers. I suspect that the cam has been dropped at some stage, either during the last head rebuild or previously when HG was replaced. Of course, nobody will ever own up to having dropped it.

NigelOBB wrote:

Sunlover wrote: Has anyone experienced a broken inlet camshaft on a non VVC MGF? Camshaft is physically broken adjacent one of the journals, with subsequent damage to valves, pistons and who knows what. The motor had recently had crankshaft oil seal replaced, and has had a new head, timing belt, tensioner, etc fitted in recent months.

I am interested if this is a known issue, a one off, or a workshop error.

It’s possible the cam sprocket bolts been over torqued when fitted.

The inlet Cam was cracked on my MGTF 115. It looked like the last Garage who did the head couldn’t get the sprocket to fit so forced it on with a windy gun.. then glued the bolt in.. they also fitted cam seals the wrong way round.


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well who ever did that was shouldn't be working on anything mechanical . glue bolt in never heard of such Bodgery .

Incorrect tightening sequence can cause this as well .

jaybe64 wrote:

NigelOBB wrote:

Sunlover wrote: Has anyone experienced a broken inlet camshaft on a non VVC MGF? Camshaft is physically broken adjacent one of the journals, with subsequent damage to valves, pistons and who knows what. The motor had recently had crankshaft oil seal replaced, and has had a new head, timing belt, tensioner, etc fitted in recent months.

I am interested if this is a known issue, a one off, or a workshop error.

It’s possible the cam sprocket bolts been over torqued when fitted.

The inlet Cam was cracked on my MGTF 115. It looked like the last Garage who did the head couldn’t get the sprocket to fit so forced it on with a windy gun.. then glued the bolt in.. they also fitted cam seals the wrong way round.


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well who ever did that was shouldn't be working on anything mechanical . glue bolt in never heard of such Bodgery .

Totally agree, wish I had photographed the damage caused. If was done in 2011 long before a got the car by a Peugeot main dealership in Glasgow


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