Friend of mine mis shifted his rsx last ight. 39K on the clock. When the car cranks, it sounds lke the head is full of loose **** rattling around. I believe he bent some valves pretty bad. The car will not stay running and the check engine light is on.

I told him he'll need to pull the head (obvious) to fix all the valves. The headgasket and new headstuds should be used as well.

What else should we look for?

Input?

 

Well, in this case the first thing I would do is pull the head. It won't idle, cel is on, and it sounds like loose **** is in the head. That is most likely the bent valves clanging. So, I wouldn't even bother with a leakdown, there is some damage.

Pull the head, strip it down, and take it to a machine shop to be inspected. Hopefully the chambers haven't suffered any severe damage as well as the pistons.

Once the head is off take a good look at the pistons and make sure there was no contact w/ the valves during the misshift.

Good luck hopefully the damage is only in the top end.