Oil tube in top of valvetrain broke off

#1

The long thin metal oil tube that runs across the top of the valve train: I removed the valve cover to adjust valves today and found it had broken off near both ends just before it does the 90degree bend down into the head. I found 3 bent up pieces of tube laying in the bottom of the head. Total length of bent pieces was about 11". Length of missing tube is about 18". Aside from replacing the tube, how worried should I be? Where did the remaining pieces go?

Engine has about 185k on it. At least 8 track weekends (HPDE) since I replaced the head with a reman after breaking the timing belt. So there is a max. of “a lot of track time” potentially with this problem. I am assuming the remaining pieces fell down through the oil galley into the pan. Never noticed any big chunks of metal with previous oil changes but i’ll look when I change the oil next. No oiling issues or funny sounds from the engine that I can tell.

How critical is this part to the oiling of the valve train? I didn’t see any abnormal wear on the camshaft.

#2

Who was the last person under the rocker cover? Hard to understand how it could have broken on it’s own.

Hard to say how bad it is. The cam’s lobes don’t need a constant oil source like bearings. Look over the leading edges of the cam lobes carefully. Run your fingernails along the surfaces. Get a feel for if the oiling problem caused premature cam wear.

If lady luck is shining the tube busted recently and enough oil was splashing out of the cam journals that the cam stayed wet. If luck not shining then cam and rockers are ruined. The metal bits prob aren’t a crisis.