SR20DET Rocker Arms and Valve problems....
 

Just to keep this short and sweet, I miss shifted to a lower gear and red line the piss out of my SR. continued to drive fine. the next time I drove it I made it about 2 miles normal calm driving and tossed all the Rocker Arms from the exhaust side only, and breaking the cylinder 4 rocker arm.

Now I replaced that rocker arm and went to start the motor and I broke the same position (cylinder 4) rocker arm again. The engine did not get a chance to start as well. After cylinder 4 rocker arm broke for the 2nd time the valve to the rear on the exhaust side was jacked up, the retainers were not seated properly, and the valve spring assembly was sitting higher than the adjacent valves. I reseated the valve clips springs ect. now that 1 valve is sitting higher than all the rest in my head.

My questions;

Has this happen to any one else?
What ended up being the problem?

http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/o...Attachment.jpg


I feel like I broke part of the valve off and it is now going up further. I just don't know. Would be soo nice to have a small inspection camera.

i'd say you won't get out of this without taking the head off....

your luck continues i see. well, if it makes you feel better, you re making my own car problems seem tiny.

i agree with aga, remove the head, and inspect it.
GOOD LUCK

Shouldn't there be a shim and guide sitting on top of the retainers, or did you remove them for the pic?

The shim and guide were removed for the picture. Tear down will have to wait till I close and move into the new house.

I am strongly debating on doing a monster rebuild, or parting the motor set out and dropping in a motor with more cylinders.

mo cylinders, mo money. even if its not the engine that's expensive, its the whole conversion that is...

Did the guide and shims stay in place or something magical happen to where the guides and shims matched back up to their original location?

Remove the exhaust manifold, get your valve spring compressor, compress the spring and valve see if you notice anything. I agree the head has to come off!
You should probably examine the turbine wheel for damage, if you think something broke off.

I feel your pain.

Just put a VE head on and the necessary pieces for it and call it a day. More power every where at lower pressures.

Dude- please tell me that wasn't taken immediately after pulling the valve cover off :coolugh:

Spoken like a true baller my friend~

Yeah, that was the unpleasant sight he found once the VC was removed, but wait there's more. Tom show the man what is behind door number 4.

Far from it these days, just a squirrel trying to get a nut... In all honesty though, if he wants to go "all out" it's as simple as a head swap. No need to add more weight or cylinders in the engine bay.

Cylinder #4 piston

i would just throw the towel and get my coat.

:-/ahhhh damn!

I would say time for a a tear down, bore the cylinders, sleeve the cylinders, and completely redo the bottom end.

As for me I am going to go ahead and rebuild the whole engine. After giving it more thought, I am not going to do any thing crazy big, just an OEM refresh. I am buying a house in the next week; I know I will want to dump money into it to set the house up the way I want it. Including my new small garage.

HAHA yep, oem refresh is good!

Damn man... Sucks!

I hate threads that leave you hanging when searching for an answer to a problem. so in case some one is searching and they find this thread.

I took the engine apart and was able to identify what happened. From me miss-shifting into a lower gear instead of the intended gear I rev'ed higher than you ever want to go with a stock head. I ended up putting ALL my valves into my pistons enough to put a slight bend in them, and break one.

As for what I am doing to fix this, I am installing Eagle rods, CP pistons, Total Seal rings, Seal power main, rod, thrust bearings, for the bottom end internals. Tomei cams, Tomei Head gasket, ARP head studs, BC valve springs, ect, ect.

Check out this thread for for more info as to how every thing turns out.
#/f/showthread.php?t=474939

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/...1D189B04C1.jpg

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/...3EB25E2F61.jpg

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/...A36DEA7A03.jpg

I had a feeling this was part of the cause. Bent valves bind in the guides preventing them from returning "level" with the other valve or at all. Then the destruction occurs.

Good luck on the rebuild, take my previous suggestion into account.

I'm sorry this happened to you! I really am!

But hey, now you can do VET head(BALLER status) lol, jk.
Or build it, with aftermarket goodies.
Don't forget to hit up our good friends from MaZworx so they can do the dual rocker arm guide conversion!

dude i didnt know that. i'm gonna switch heads soon in mine so that's useful to know!