And I haven't pulled the head yet, but I did remove the intake manifold and pop the valve cover off. Hopefully I will take the head off next Monday.

This is what I found.

82F3B4E8-0021-4453-97E1-0FABBD49A78F.jpg


The rocker arm had fallen off. It was a bit chewed up.


A48A1907-D187-4E34-9CB6-E79CB4C8532C.jpg

 

Put a straight edge on it.

 

Looks good very clean they must have used synthetic oil no sludge.

My guess valve froze and lifter snapped off

Could be bad luck or engine overheated or just simply a bad part failed.


Looks promising I wonder if just replacing the lifter would work depends on if the valve is stuck or not I guess.

Was their a valve spring in there? Looks like the valve keeper came off and spring flew off If I'm seeing things correct.

 

The valve appears to be stuck open (for various possible reasons, including a valve seat falling out), which would cause the rocker arm to flop around loose until it fell out.

And I've seen engines with well over 300k miles that NEVER used synthetic oil and they're just as clean inside. It's lots of short trips that make your engine all yucky inside.

 

Yeah, it did look pretty clean and sludge free. And the valve spring was still in place. Just the rocker arm was loose.

 

If the valve is ok you may have an easy fix check the hydraulic lifter be sure its ok.

 

I understand the basic principal of how the valves and lifters work, but I've never really worked on them before. I've only ever pulled heads and replaced them or had a professional shop do the valve job.

What should I be looking for?

I'm still guessing it does have a dropped valve seat as the mechanic at the dealership reported, but that would be cool if I didn't have to pull the whole front of the engine off and screw with the timing. Either way I'll be out of town for the next 4-5 days so It'll have to wait til then. I really appreciate the help though guys!

 

[QUOTE=TheNewbie;3167179]I understand the basic principal of how the valves and lifters work, but I've never really worked on them before. I've only ever pulled heads and replaced them or had a professional shop do the valve job.

What should I be looking for?[/URL QUOTE]

If the valve is hanging open that much, there's a good chance it contacted the piston and did a bunch more damage. The mechanic with the bore scope would have been able to see this, but that doesn't mean the seller would tell you about it.

 

 

Pull the head and see what damage there is.

The rest of the engine looks clean so far. Maybe you can get away with just the heads - time will tell.