Chris, or any other MOD, this was posted in the ITR forum and has had almost no activity, and while it is a double its very very important for me so I hope you'll understand the reasoning behind the double post. Here I go...

I am sooo mad, confused, worried, etc. If anyone else read my previous thread, I just installed some Skunk2 Stage 1 cams in my B18C1. The Skunk2 Gears were at Intake -2 and Exhaust was -1 and I just drove it like that for one day because it was late when we finished and I was unsure how to adjust the gears/

Well, I find out how to adjust the gears, so I adjust both gears to 0,0 and start my car. It sounds fine, the idle is kinda rough, but nothing bad. I drive slowly around my neighborhood and then up to 40MPH, not going over 3000RPM's just to let my car warmup. So I take my car out onto a 50MPH road and rev to roughly 7000, so around 55MPH and suddenly my check engine light starts blinking and I can hear a ticking noise (MY VALVE(s) BENT I BELIVE). I'm at this point just thinking, ****!!! I get to the next light and my car just dies and my oil light goes on. Keep in mind I just barely changed my oil 5 minutes before I drove. I keep trying and trying to start it up and it won't start until at least 5 minutes later, but it's very loud and very rough. I end up driving it, with my check engine light blinking as well as my oil light on and on top of that everytime I had to slow down and when my RPM's dropped low my car would just die. Luckily I was only 2-3 minutes away from home. Also, tons of smoke was coming from my car this entire time. I finally got home and I'm just scared (yes, scared). I pulled the CEL codes and I got a 71, 72, and 67. Here are the CEL problems: Cylinder 1 & 2 Misfire or a Random Misfire a condition is present that is creating a cylinder misfire. I'm very worried and I don't know what to do? I checked the timing belt and it looks ok, there's no leaking from the valve cover and the gears are still at 0,0. What did I do wrong? What should I do now??? What can I check?? I know it's a lot of questions, but I can't handle this both because of time and money. Also, if I did bend the valves what can be done? What will a mechanic do, how long generally should it take and how much money?

Thanks....

 

sorry to hear that dude. those are the risks u take when doing an install by yourself.
id still say something was amiss after installation cus of ur idle problems.
since u did the install just go back and open it up and look at it.

 

This is with stage1 cams and your stock valvetrain?

 

if the cams are set at zero now i think i might know wat's wrong, it says zero but it may not be if when u installed the cams u didn't time it right. in other words, the two cams weren't pointing at each other or the motor wasnt at tdc. if it was then i'm clueless. i suggest taking it to a shop if u did the procedures ryte. u can call up my best friends, AAA, haha. feel sorry, getting me scared too, haha. best of luck and keep us up to date so we know wassup.

 

ok first, put ur car at TDC and and take off the valve cover. are the cams facing the opposite direction of eachother? facing at eachother? how much oil is in the car now? answer these questions and we can help ya out more.

edit: one more thing.....whats ur timing at?!


[Modified by MaliceGSR, 9:27 AM 9/12/2002]

 

i doubt he did that. no need to remove those unless ur rasing the redline a grip.

 

Ken, I'll hopefully be able to talk to you soon on AIM. BTW, I am running my stock valvetrain and when we installed the cams they were at TDC. Also, while checking doing a valve adjustment, we of course turned the crank pulley and the gears were lined up just right, it was just the cams that were retarded, -2,-1. Ken, I'll pull off the head and see...but what should I be looking for?

Thanks everyone for your concern/help

 

Indeed. Investigate, and give us more information here.

What color was the smoke? Is it from oil, or from unburned fuel?

Can you do a compression test?

Can you do a leak down test?

Take off the Valve Cover and tell us what you see.

Did you do a valve adjustment after installing the cams? Are all the little jam nuts still there?

Take a big breath, and take some logical steps in thinking through the problem. It's nothing that can't be fixed.

 

Hey i bent my exhaust valves awhile back with my stock valvetrain(misshifted).But yea those r the symptoms that i had, rough ride, little louder and when the rpms's got low it wanted to stall out.brought it to the shop ran the codes, cylinder 1, 2, 3 misfire.After getting into the head i found out that i had bent all my exhaust valves.Shitty huh?Well the only up side to this is that i got a rebuilt head, port and polished and ferrea valvetrain now. I had the head magnafluxed while it was at the machine shop to chekc for any major cracks to the head.. When i bent the valves i also cracked one of the valve guides, so i replaced those too. Just take it to any mechanic hell tell you what happened.Also sounds like you didnt install the cams right, positioning them at tdc. Well good luck next time.Im not sure if you need a stiffer valvetrain either, but just do a search.

RockDawg_GSR@hotmail.com
_______________________
97' GSR
Port n' polished
ferrea valvetrain
aem cai
jdm header\test pipe
apex ws exhaust
clutchmasters stage 1

 

im on my way to work now, so i'll be on around 12:10pst

 

That's definitely something I needed, thanks. I'm just very very scared right now. The smoke appeared to be white and it coming out profusely when the gas was pushed, but not while rolling. It was hard to tell because it was at 1AM. I'm going to open up my head, but unfortunately I can't/don't have the tools to do a leakdown test or a compression test. I'll open up the valve cover and see if I can see anything suspicious.

 

That's odd, cause when I bent valves, I never threw a CEL. And I bent all 8 exhausts... Hmmm... It might be worth your time to go down to Pep Boys or wherever and buy a cheap (or rent) a compression tester.

 

Alright, I just opened up the valve cover and from what I can see there isn't anything wrong. But, the cam plates/caps are still on. The gears definitely haven't moved, I'm just worried that I needed to adjust the distributor. My friends coming over to help me do a compression test and we'll see if valves are bent. Does anyone know what stock B18C1's should do? My car has 60K miles on it BTW.

Also, I think I know the problem. When I adjusted the cam gears, last night to 0,0 I forgot to put my car at TDC. I'm almost certain that's the problem....hopefully it isn't.....

Gosh, this sucks!!

I'll let everyone know how my compression test goes...

 

I never threw a CEL either but I dont know if I bent my valves or not, the head if off and really, I cant tell if the valves are bent or not. Should they look bent or is it only something you can see when they are open?

Also, another symptom of my car was the tach going crazy at high RPM's and a definate misfire and a backfire and then the car wont start for like an hour, with the tach going all crazy when it does start.

 

oh crap. I really hope you didn't bend the valves. I thought I bent a valve at first also because of the rough idle and low power, but luckily, after leaning out my bottom, its ok.

Keep us posted because you're getting me scared also, since you had the same symptoms as I did when I first got my Skunk2 Stage 1 cams installed...

 

Good numbers should be up around 200, 205...

Just make sure they're all close to each other. 200, 205, 195 200 is ok. but if you get like 205, 200, 120, 195, then something is wrong...

 

im guessing that you might have not did the install correctly and set everything to TDC properly. that will cost ya...

 

ya, I went over to Isaac's house to help him do the compression tester and left mine with him. We also took out the spark plugs & on #1 cyl, the spark plug electrode was pushed into the spark plug, and is completely smashed. And I didn't have time to run compression test on #1 since it took us 20 minutes to pull out that spark plug, I had to go to work. But so far, since i left:

#1 Spark plug smashed, didn't do compression test yet

#2 is fine, running VERY rich and burning oil. Compression Test Peak is at 110 PSI if I remember correctly

#3 I don't remember what this one looked like, but Compression Test peak was at 125 PSI

#4 haven't gotten to it when i left.

Isaac should be posting up results with pictures soon...

 

My car is gone. Gosh, I am so mad, worried....

I did a compression test on Cylinders #2,#3 because we had trouble getting the first spark plug out. #2: 110 #3: 125. I finally get the first spark plug out and the electrode is jammed into the spark plug. Meaning, a valve dropped and had to hit the electrode. The soonest I can get the car looked at is Tuesday, I don't know what I'm going to do.

Here's the pictures: And lastly, this is what I think of problems and modifying cars at the moment:


I would like to thank Brandon (Poison), MiGs, and MaliceGSR (All in order, but I'm evenly grateful) for taking time out of their busy days to go the extra mile to help me out and listen to me vent over the phone and in person.

It's hard to be happy, but overall it's just money and that's what I have to tell myself.


[Modified by Waxing "The Carrot", 2:44 PM 9/12/2002]


[Modified by Waxing "The Carrot", 2:45 PM 9/12/2002]

 

ouch

hey no problem helpin ya out man. hope ur friend can fix your head. lemme know what the piston looks like

 

DAMN that sucks. I know how you feel man. You just wanna screw everything and quit all this import modifying crap right? That's how I felt when I had idle problems and CEL lights poppin up.

At least you didn't break any valves, which would've costed you a fortune. Get some new Valves (Type-R's if you wanna boost a little bit of compression), and install the Cams correctly this time...

If you have the $ then there's no need to worry. If money is the problem, just leave the car in the garage until you can get some $$$ to fix it and build it stronger.

 

Sorry about your loss..... what would cause the piston to hit the spark plug? You didn't do internals any time recently did you? Your oil light coming on is odd also. I slightly bent all ex valves and had rough idle and a cel. I suppose the bright side (if there is one) is you can raise your comp since it looks as if your rings are gone. KEEP US POSTED and GOOD LUCK!!!

P.S. You may not be able to tell if your valves are bent by looking at them, mine were so slight that you could only tell by using precision tools.


[Modified by Comp97GSR, 4:39 PM 9/12/2002]

 

Skunk2nr, I did bend valves. The reason why my spark plug electrode is gone is because a valve dropped in my head and was being thrown around and knocked the electrode into the actual plug. It is going to be expensive as hell and I'm don't have tons of money. I'm just hoping my pistons are ok. If they aren't I'll be getting some B16 Pistons and I'll probably get all new ITR valves, hopefully nothing else needs to be changed/fixed. Unfortuantely the soonest I can get it into a shop will, or through a mechanic that I know will be Tuesday. I have school and work almost everyday so transportation is going to be a pain. I don't know what to expect or what to think....

 

Sorry bout all the crap your motor is going through right now man. But no need to worry, its only money and its very fixable. Think of it also as good learning experience. I wish you the best of luck on your motor.

 

happens. you shoulda been able to rev those skunk stage I cams on stock valve train to like 8500 no problem... i did it for like 6 months. But thats beside the point.

Im guessing install problem... the fact the car drives is a good attest to the botom end's integrity, but that spark plug tells me your head is most likely destroyed.