jewh4

Alright after a search I am not getting the answers I need so I will ask. I am in Germany and last fall was exiting the autobahn and lost power and had a huge knocking noise. I took it to a mechanic here and he said it sounded like a rod. After tinkering all winter I finally pulled the valve cover today and found a rocker arm lying in the bottom of the head. I looked at the cam and rocker arm and see no damage, but I want to be sure. I know our motors are interference motors so I wanted some opinions. If the rocker arm fell off then the valve would not open and therefore could the piston make contact with the valve? Could I put the rocker arm back on and continue to drive it? Any suggestions?

jewh4

further investigation reveals a broke valve spring...

janine

The head has to come off. The valve more that likely has been damaged and has to be replaced. The piston needs to be inspected as well. Before you pull the head, pull the plug and put a scope into the cylinder. At best the top will be full of dings. At worse, it will be cracked. Then make a decision. You have your work cut out for you.

jewh4

I checked the vlave and it moves freely. Does not look like there is any damage to it. Also removed the plug and it looks perfectly fine. As far as checking the piston what would be a good way without removing the head to check it for damage? I do not want to remove the head if I do not have to. Its tuff to get parts here in Germany and I do not want to remove anything that does not need it. Could I buy a new vlave spring and put it back together and perform a compression check and tell what I need to?

janine

There is a scope the guys at the shop use to check pistons through the spark plug hole. It is call a bend-a-light. They snake it into the hole and can look at the chamber. I believe they purchased the light from either the Matco guy or the Snap-on dealer.