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Bad Lifter

August 9th, 2005

I went out into the garage tonight to put a replacement for one of my deep drive sockets in it's proper place and to see if I could find the date code on my alternator. The socket part worked out just fine but the date code was a bust. While I was milling about, I decided to fiddle with the engine (I pulled it out on July 31st) a little to verify where the engine noise it was making before it quit altogether was coming from. I think this picture pretty well describes the problem:

What you're looking at is the intake valve on the #4 cylinder. In case you're wondering, the gap at the small point is .255 inches (this is a hydraulic lifter motor so lash should be zero). I'm going to guess that's the source of my engine noise. It never ceases to amaze me how messed up an engine can be and still run well. Prior to not being able to start it, it cranked a little slow but once started, it idled smoothly and had decent power.

Also, this engine has been apart before as evidenced by the Glyptol paint on the cylinder head (this paint is also on the back of the block where the transmission bolts up for some reason).

September 18th Update: The machine shop says that this cylinder has a bent pushrod and that the intake valves on all cylinders have hit the pistons. The friend I bought the car from denies any wrong doing but it was fun to harass him anyway.