Sup ppl
I was racing a friend of mine who has a 91 Toyota Celica GT-S (with a 3SGTE for all you hybrid lovers). Anyhow I was about to shift into 3rd when all of a sudden the rpms sorta "bounced" back from around 8k (maybe a bit higher) to around 5k...I was freaked out and shut it down right away....is there a chance that I may have bent my valves? Are there any tell tail signs of bent valves....also could I have messed anything up internally aside from my valve train?

Right now I feel like puking with all this stress.

Any help here would be appreciated

 

Sounds like you hit the rev limiter... if your valves are bent the engine'll basically run like crap, far as I know. You probably actually floated a valve, where the valve didn't get a chance to close completely before the cylinder started on the next stroke... what I'd do is just pull the valvecover and see if you can see any scoring on the cam lobes, or any broken bits of springs lying around or something... remember you'll probably need to replace the valvecover gasket when you pull it. HTH... good luck with this!

 

do a compression test.. that will alert you of bent valves.. a compression tester is $30 bucks.. and labor is free.. my gsr saw about 10 grand one day, and lived to tell about it.. i had some valves tap but didnt affect the car much afterwards, actually it still ran like a champ.. get the valves adjusted if you think you tapped em..

 

Thanks for all the info guys!...I'll get a compression check done ASAP....but for now the car runs normally...no odd idle or strange sounds...well I just turned it on and crossed my fingers...I didn't run it on the street. Does hitting the rev limiter guarantee bent or floated valves? Could someone please explain how I would go about doing a compression test? I'm gonna buy the tester this weekend...the car will be parked until then. Also which valve cover gasket should I be getting for my JDM B16A? (94 del sol??)

Thanks once again guys!




[Modified by spdster, 10:18 PM 5/14/2001]

 

Whoa, tons of questions .

OK, 1) hitting the rev limiter doesn't guarantee a broken engine, it just puts a lot of stress on it. Like elusive said, you can go waaay over it and still make it through, but you could also hit 8200 and blow it all to hell

2) I've never done a compression test, but this is what I hear you do... disconnect the power to the fuel pump (pull the fuse from the box). Disconnect the ground strap to the distributor (so that there's no spark). Now, go to each cylinder, one at a time, remove the spark plug, screw in the little gauge thingie, and then crank the engine over 10 times or so. Then you just read the numbers. You're looking more for consistency between the numbers than really high numbers (though getting 180s across the board would be very good!).

3) '94+ Del Sol VTEC works fine. However, it's got an extra little rubber strip on it that you should pull off (it's part of the upper timing belt cover). You'll see what I mean when you get it in hand.

HTH!

 

raenshadow-Thanks for all your help man!

Gonna buy a Compression tester this weekend and give it a shot.

 

if your car runs fine then you don't have any bent valves... your fine, don't worry about it.

 

gambit023- Yeah I probably just freaked out ...The car run just as it did b4 I hit the rev limiter...but I'm gonna do a compression test and take the valve cover off just to be safe...but for the most part your probably right.

 

the easy compression steps are
1. disconnect the plug wires at the plug end, just hang em in your engine bay.
2. take out all the plugs
3: thread the compression tester into whichever cylinder you want to check first, don't tighten too much, enough to make a good seal(also dont do this test if the engine is very hot, either do it in the morning after letting the car run for about 1.5 mins, or wait 30 mins after you've driven some.)
4: hop in the car and put the gas pedal to the floor (full throttle is a must) and crank the engine (try to start it) for about 7 seconds.
5: take the reading, write it down, release the pressure, and move to the next cylinder and repeat till finished.
6: replace the spark plugs, replace the plug wires.. and then go grab a slurpee at 7-11

keep in mind that the plug wires will have voltage comin through them, so dont touch them, and might be a good idea to wrap a rag around them also to avoid them sparking on anything in the engine bay. and dont let them spark eachother..
your compression test should be in the 170-190 range depending on mileage.. let us know how it reads.. if your numbers are unusually low check the rubber gasket that seals the tester to the head and make sure its not cracked etc..

 

trust me.. if you bent valves, you'd know it. And I mean you would KNOW it.