Help! 4.5 Guru, oil rail broke!!!
 

I found that through looking in the oil filler cap that the first lobe was getting no oil from the rail.
I posted the problem and was advised to just pull the oil rail right out to clean it, no screws or anything.
So I did so.
What happened Now is that the stupid plastic tabs that attatch the oil rail to the cam bearing towers all pretty much cracked when I removed the rail.!!!!!
I found the offending piece of debri but just shot it back into the rail with the cleaner. Given that the rail is probably useless now, can I get a new one?!?! I'll check Partshop
Can the other one be removed without destroying the tabs????
HELP?!?! PLEASE.
What did I do wrong?
Thanks

you did nothing wrong the plastic gets very brittle with age. You can buy new kits quite cheaply and they will work fine. Here is the part number they have them at fastlane: A6350-15446e

Thanks mhingram, I paniced and ran to my mechanic and found this out.
I should've known. I just envisioned new cam bearing tower set for some reason.
Panic mode over.

Joshhol:

They break every time -- in the future, get some before you attempt to remove the oil tube. Classic amatuer repair failure putting in a new cam is to break those little bits, and ruin a brand new cam in an hour or so.....

Peter

Peter, I'm not sure I understand how it ruins the cam.
Do you mean that they don't buy the NEW kit for the cheapo plastic tabs and try and stick that oil rail back in with cracked tabs??? :eek:

What do you do to get every little bit of shattered plastic out of the tower?
I'm contemplating running the engine for 5 or 6 seconds to blast that crap out Before reinstalling the oil rail.

What happens is when the connector ends break, the oiler tube has no oil pressure because the oil leaks out at the broken connector. No pressure means no oil coming out of the little holes and dribbling on the cam. After about an hour of running the cam dry, the lobes are toast.

And yes, Peter means that they try to reuse the tube and broken plastic bits.

You have probably figured out that you can take the caps off the ends of the rail and clean it out. It is just a hollow tube. If you turn the engine over for 30 secs with the starter with the coil wire disconnectd, you can verify that all the lobes are getting their oil through the little holes in the rail.

Kind of messy, but worth doing to check.

Thanks y'all, car is done.
the details are in Vintage forum if anyone wants to know.
:D