I have a lsvtec and am about 100% sure I have some bent intake valves. I had the intake cam way advanced (8 degrees) and I was getting some tapping. I took into vtec not nowing it was from the timing. The next day I found the timing was way off. Fixed it and it ran fine but with a weird idle. So somewhere I screwed up majorly and now when I disengage the clutch the RPM's drop and it almost stalls out. Ive been told if that happens then its a sure sign that the valves are shot. I checked compression and it was 240psi across the board. Then I did a leak down test and **** hit the fan. 1 pulled 12% leak down 2 pulled 100% 3 pulled 21% and 4 pulled 100%. Then to top it off I had air coming out of the number 3 cylinder from 4. So what the hell is going on? Was the air getting pressed thru the intake valves and getting pushed up and down into the number 3 cylinder? It still runs fine. Just sounds like a WRX on steroids. I have the car up for sale, I really hope I can fix it cheaply and quickly. So what would you do if you were in my shoes?

 

buy another head unless you can replace out valves yourself........not too hard of a job if you understand what you are doing..........cheap mans way (buy new valves and get the timing done right....)

 

O and the only other time i seen bent valves was when someones timing belt skipped......its been a while

 

i had my intake cam gear slipp all the way advanced, car still runs fine, but im not 100% sure if they got hit or not, still feels the same to me

 

the valves arent bent that i can see. i have oil coming from the intake runners though. so maybe ive had bad intake valve seals? why would that make my leak down test be 100% leak down on cylinder 2 and 4, and 21%, 12% in cylinders 1 and 3? the exhaust valves are open at tdc for each cylinder, right? yet im hearing air bleeding out of the intake on every cylinder. timing is right, no coolant bubbles. im completely confused. here are a couple pictures of what the valves look like with 600 miles on them. cars ran rich for the first couple hundred miles. cylinder 1 and 2 ran better than 3 and 4 from what i can see. what should i do?

 

Have you adjusted the valves? They could have been too tight, which would hold them open and produce your symptoms.

 

only adjusted two that were too loose. they all were gauged and had enough clearance. what would explain air getting into cylinder 3 from 4? i will check the clearance again. thanks tons.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1badteg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">only adjusted two that were too loose. they all were gauged and had enough clearance. what would explain air getting into cylinder 3 from 4? i will check the clearance again. thanks tons.</TD></TR></TABLE>

A bad head gasket could explain the linkage between cylinders. Check the head for warpage.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dogginator &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Check the head for warpage.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats what i was afraid of.

 

Inspect the head gasket closely. It could have been defective as well.

 

also is scoring in the cylinder ok as long as your nail doesnt catch? in the second picture there is a couple scratches.

 

wasnt bent valves. i found that all my exhaust valve guides were drenched in oil and a couple intake valve seals and all exhaust valve seals were torn. i also found dual valves on the exhaust side instead of the intake side. when the head was reassembled by a local machine shop they really messed up. thanks for all the help.

 

Better get that shitty shop to fix it for free.

Then when they fix it get it double checked.

for shoddy work!

 

went to that shop and since its a performance shop he doesnt warranty any of his work! im pissed. i thought about taking it to court but it does say on the reciept that i have that he doesnt warranty it. i got screwed.

 

http://www.bbb.org

or call your credit card company.