oh dear!
Turbo Mini Forums

driving along a dual carriage way just now erm... testing it :) an when i came off the dual carriage way i noticed a massive lack of power and sounding like its running on 3 cylinders... one by one i took the plugs out and cylinder 3 was wet and the others fine, sparking ok tho and a new plug did nothing. i took the rocker cover off and turned the engine by hand and i could not believe the size of the gap on the exhaust valve tappet! it was like half an inch!!! the push rod rattles around like something silly..but if i keep turning the engine by hand it shows that the push rod does move up and down fine, so the cams still there, and turning this particular one, it just seems to go down way too far, the lock nut on the rocker was very tight so its not that. i had a go at tightening it up and you can do it to the right clearance.. but then turn the engine by hand and you notice it wont because it tries to compress the valve spring way too much.. does anyone have any ideas? i think its strange because it did make the same noise for about 5 minutes last week and then stopped all together and then came back for a whole few seconds some time during the week when i went round a corner a bit hard, and then the 1 cylinder running noise stopped very quickly and drove normal, i guess it was the same problem, but whats peoples ideas? pushrod or followers?
the most upsetting thing will be paying for ANOTHER head gasket if i have to take the rockers off!! the third one this month!!

thanks for any help/ input!

Dan

Are sure that the valve is not stuck open? That would explain the large clearance and the valve spring coils binding!!!!

Edited by mikemph on 8th Jun, 2007.

omg mike!!!! yes, just looked at the picture i have taken on my phone, and it shows that the valve is actually openwith the pushrod a whole half inch above it!! thank you! so i guess the head has to come off again to investiget this, its only just been off 2 weeks ago! will report back.

thanks!!! Dan

well you could try give giving the top of the valve a tap with a hammer and see what happens. It would be better to take the head off and take the valve out and check the stem and guide. Make sure the stem is not bent or scored and check guide for any scoring.

Might have just picked up a little bit. I would guess it has got hot being an exhaust valve and just picked up a little.

Do you have stem seal on exhaust valves? I would say to leave them off the exhausts for extra lubrication on the stems.

yep i reckon try tap it clear with the hammer or gently prise it. Otherwise use my invention for taking the valve springs off without taking the head off lol!!

dont take the head off yet again its only been on the road a few months :(:(

Ill help you if you cant do it

Previous Engine: 1040cc Morespeed engine, 1275 turbo head T2 Turbo Mirage Manifolds Megajolt
Previous engine: STD metro turbo, megajolt
Drives: 399bananahp (flywheel) Honda Civic Vtec b18c4 T28 Turbo 1968 Mini

Megajolt maps to download: http://www.jamesfawcett.co.uk/cms/index.ph...&gid=3&Itemid=3

If its picked up in a guide it will do so again unless you remove valves and ream the guides. The head needs to come off.

toms right

i bet you have bronze guides fitted in and these have not been reamed after pressing in

Also it could have pushed the guide further into the head.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."