Hello,

So, I decided to take off the valve cover in order to see the state of, well what is under it.

No problems doing that (much thanks to this forum) but when I undid the bolts for the PCV/CVV intake/outtake(?) I noticed that the rear one (when facing front of car) had a pretty banged up metal triangle sitting there. It wis completely crinkled and bent, full of junk and such. Did a clean of it all, but is still wondering about ehat caused it to get so bent out of shape?

I have been having a lifter tick in that area, could it be related? All the bolts, around valve cover as well as inside, was very, very loose.

Thanks,
McHank

edit. Also, some (2) of the rocker arms are pretty dried up, all the rest have plenty of oil in them – could this be a sign of a sticking lifter or is it just a coincident?

 

Pics? Sounds like the ports in those pushrods may be clogged.

 

Hi, I wish I took some pics earlier, can get them tomorrow (it's 1 at night here and pretty cold out there ). Is it possible to clean the ports w/o taking off the head?

 

Yeah the pushrods go up through the head to the valve train. They push the valves. Just pull the suspect rocker arms off and on one end is the valve and the other is the pushrod. Pull out the pushrod (they just pull out) and try to blow through them. If they are clogged you might as well replace it. A pushrod shouldn't be expensive.

 

Alright, I'll do that first thing tomorrow and post some pics. Thank you for the help!

Do you have any idea about the bent and wrinkled triangle thing? Is it safe to move the good front one to the back and let the bad on sit at the air intake?

 

Indeed!

 

$1.75 : D

 

The plate may have been bent down too far and tangled with a rocker. Remove it, tap it flat, and reinstall it bending it up as close to the valve cover as you can.

 

So, took the hammer to the bent triangle thing and changed it to sit at the pcv-tube up front, re-sealed it with some green loctite (think it was 573 but not sure). Put the new gasket on and started it up – seems to run as usual – no better, no worse – minus the leak I had.

Noticed 2 new leaks – one at the oil filter housing (up top at a black gasket, after the bend), anyone know what to do about this?

Also one or more leaks from the vacuum heater valve close to the firewall – it burns coolant at a pretty steady pace – urgent? This might be related to my "smoke" thread a week back – Now I know what burning coolant smells like...

Will post some pics later tonite.

Cheers,
McHank

 

Oil filter adapter seals can be replaced.

Get rid of that heater control valve by replacing it or eliminating it before it self destructs leaving you stranded.

 

Ok, a bit delayed, but here are the pics of the bent triangle, the seal, the valve thing in the back and the oil filter leak:

http://imgur.com/a/HBWhx#5

Let me know what you think, I was a bit worried about dropping the push rods so I let them sit and put a thin metal wire down the hole and rinsed – went smoothly (maybe a big no no but it was getting late and I had to leave my friend's house today).

The oil filter housing is still leaking a bit but the heater control valve has dried up and is not smoking any longer, why I don't know – didn't touch it today.

When starting it up (after an oil change) it knocked pretty badly, sounded like a diesel... But this morning it was a lot more quite, I have a slight tick but the weird thing is that it is very intermittent, it might be there at start and it might not be... It also idles lower now. (went from 10w-40 to 5w-40)

The enginge "flutters" under load but is completely quite when in park (was not like that before, it would tick and knock all the time).

I believe it is a busted manifold or manifold gasket that is the culprit, but not sure – if so, would it be ticking/fluttering only when in drive?

 

Bump, anyone know about this?

The enginge "flutters" under load but is completely quite when in park (was not like that before, it would tick and knock all the time).

I believe it is a busted manifold or manifold gasket that is the culprit, but not sure – if so, would it be ticking/fluttering only when in drive?

 

Do not ignore the heater valve. It will let go on you when you least need that crap.

What brand of oil filter are you using?

 

Hi,

I won't, trying to see where they sell them here so I can avoid fees and toll. Otherwise, I guess it's autozone or rockauto for me.

I'm using a cheap swedish generic filter, not the best – how big of a difference does that make? Is it possible to change it w/o draining all the oil (just spent 150 bucks on new oil)?

 

You could just eliminate the valve with pieces of tubing. That valve shuts off the flow of coolant to the heater core when the air conditioning is on. It's NOT there to allow flow when you need heat. Eliminating it wll have no ill effects at all.

Some filters in the USA have been known to cause problems. The Swedish ones I don't know about. Is the filter orange in color? You would lose less tha a quart of oil.