doood

iTrader: (1)

the setup:

stock bottom end k20z1 with 150k miles
supertech steel retainers, springs, valve seals, keepers
svm 212 cams
bolt on's
roughly 20k miles on this setup and not one issue till tonight

here's the story: went to the track tonight to get some runs in after finally pulling the slicks out of storage.

literally just as i cross the line right before 9k rpm in 4th the car just shuts off and all the cluster lights come on. fearing the worst, i jump out and immediately look under the car, to my surprise theres no massive oil leak. pop the hood and not a drop of oil anywhere. try to start the car and it turns over once then stops, like something is stuck. i also notice my temp gauge is sitting around 225*.

only after sitting for a few minutes do i notice an oil puddle forming in front of the drivers tire right under where the filter sits but nowhere else. there's a little oil near the slave cylinder and a little smoke is coming out of the intake pipe and around the oil cap. no milky substance in the oil or radiator either. pulled the intake elbow and there's oil in the tb and manifold.

turned the engine over by hand and again, it gets stuck at i believe #3 at TDC according to the cam gears. pulled the valve cover at this point and find the exhaust retainer on #1 pictured below. the rest looked fine. tried to pull the spark plug in that cylinder and it wouldnt come out. just kept spinning, with quite a bit of resistance. all the other plugs came out easy. any ideas on what might have happened? i'm thinking it dropped a valve?



on a side note, i did set a new personal best

m_shake

Weak man

Spawne32

iTrader: (3)

Who recommended you run steel retainers on a car that rev's over 9k with aftermarket cams?

EG1834

Bottom right corner, looks kinda like your springs don't clear that casting.

Spawne32

iTrader: (3)

It looks like the retainer is sunken into the spring, hard to say from the picture, but that could be pushing the spring out close to the casting.

DazeMS

who says thats even his problem? Looks like an issue with the springs, not the retainer..

Spawne32

iTrader: (3)

Care to elaborate on what his problem is?

DazeMS

no.. because I dont like guessing. but I do know the retainers arent the problem. I have my "ideas", but clearly, your hung up on something else.. lol

Spawne32

iTrader: (3)

I suppose you are right, the retainer is supposed to look like that. lol

Rocket

Two possible scenarios here.

Step up with the right answer(s) and collect yo prize of fame and gloreee.

98vtec

take the intake and exhaust manifolds off. Should be clear which valve is "open".

I've only seen one reason why the retainer gets beat up like that though. And its from the vtec rocker....from what I've seen on H series at least. And it happens with ours because of using large lift cams with too high of a vtec engagement. The LMA could not properly control the "loose" vtec rocker

im not that familiar with K series so Im not sure of the relation.

DDTECH

I'm at work, so i can't see pics, they are blocked. But from the sound of what everyone is saying, sounds like a binding issue.

Bserious

Dropped valve like you said. Spring looks decompressed compared the one next to it. Were all sure it shouldn't be position were it is. Damage could have likely happened after the fact. It's a guess until you pull it further apart.

98vtec

^^ true. I didnt even notice the height. With that said, if the valve head dropped, loosen the lash all the way and see if you can move the spring assembly.

Rocket

Rocket

There's another clue in what the OP described that supports a dropped-valve theory.

doood

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the suggestions guys. We didn't do a very thorough inspection last night since we were running out of daylight and I was waiting for the tow truck all night. Will take it apart after work.

Edit: the retainer pictured is on the intake side not exhaust

Spawne32

iTrader: (3)

Were you using supertech valves or oem valves, and you said supertech keepers, which part#?

doood

iTrader: (1)

Oem valves. Will have to dig up the old invoice for that part number. Gimme a minute.

edit: dont have part numbers for the keepers but they are the 7* keepers. springs are part #SPR-H1020D

DazeMS

yea, and the spring is supposed to look the way it does? smh.. the damage to the retainer is after the fact. Depending on the profile of these cams and the springs rates, im leaning towards dropped/bent valves via float. But this is mere speculation at this point as i do not have the car in-front of me..

Spawne32

iTrader: (3)

I never said the spring is "supposed" to look like that, the spring looks like ****. Part #'s on all of the aftermarket components would help greatly, supertech makes alot of different spring combinations for the K series. I would assume that the camshaft manufacturer had recommended a set to use for these specific cams.

DazeMS

Dude, you acted like I thought the retainer is "supposed to look like that" as if by saying the retainers are not the problem. facepalm.. relax.

Hope your head isnt F@%$ed OP.. good luck dude.

doood

iTrader: (1)

The springs were included with the cams at the time of purchase. part #SPR-H1020D

DazeMS

Outer Srping
O.D: 30mm
I.D: 21.8mm

Inner Srping
O.D: 21.3mm
I.D: 15.5mm

Pressure
Seat: 100@40.4
Open: 268@12
Max lift: 14.4mm
bs/mm: 13.2mm

whats the cam?

EG1834

I'm no psychic, but I see this getting ugly lol.