Hello
My granddaughter brought home a 1997 Pontiac Sunfire 3 months ago it is becoming somewhat of a pain in the A$$ wallet. First thing I did was replaced oil and filter. Spark plugs and wires. This made it easy to pass smog. Then the fun started. Spent three days to over come the pass lock 1 when she somehow tripped it. once I installed a bypass and relay I have not had a problem since. Then we replaced the 7 year old battery. Then she blew the head. Crack between number two and three cylinder. I bought a new head from King cylinder heads. I had the car taken to a mechanic that was recommended to me. He replaced the head and gasket along with a new water pump and thermostat However he had a problem with the rockers making noise A lot of noise He asked me to come over to listen to the sound. To me they were pretty loud. He asked if i would drive it for a few days to see if the lifters would quiet down Now after driving it for about 150 miles it dropped a cylinder. I pulled the valve cover and 1 rocker over number 3 exhaust was broken and the push rods were up thru both rockers on number two. I am not a mechanic but I have worked on cars for many years. I have never seen hydraulic lifters do this They were so loose when he installed them and then to go the extreme opposite.
Once this all went down I asked him the following
Did he mark the lifters and push rods so they would go back in the same place NO
Did he torque the rockers with the piston ATDC YES
I have read many posts here about engine problems but not one about this. I read I should have replaced the lifters and some even said lifters and cam. I really don't want to pull this engine for the cam But is there anything else that could be causing this? Should I replace the lifters and try it? Last, i read some engines have different length push rods intake verses exhaust is this true for a 97 sunfire 2.2 engine?
Thank you for your reply's
Fred
I guess I will keep adding information maybe someone will see something I don't I called the company I bought the head from We went over all the specs I told him what had happened He said he has never heard or seen anything like I was describing So i sent him a picture of it I am attaching it to this message I don't know if it will show up
Thanks
FS
- Attachments
- Rocker.JPG (553k)
Still trying to come up with an answer. No bent push rods Looks like I'm going to pull the head today Made quit a few phone calls yesterday
Well for anyone that is interested I have found the problem or I should say WE found the problem My coach (GM mechanic) told me to pull the head and I did. We put the heads side by side. Now in his defense he did not see theses side by side. I pulled the old head and he didn't see the car until I started having the problem. He took one look at them and said your problem is the wrong valves in the new head. He took a straight edge along the top where the valve cover gasket is and measured the stem of the exhaust valve on the old head and did the same on the new head there was almost 1/8" difference. I called the guy I bought the head from and explained the situation His reply was that's impossible. But he would check it out and call me back. He called about 20 min.'s later saying that according to his sources there was a transition between 96 and 97 of the valves used and they have been using the shorter ones since. I figure this can be confirmed or denied It doesn't matter. We came to the conclusion if he sends me another head I have about an 80% chance of receiving the head with the wrong valves again. My guy is going to take the old valves out of the head and lap them into the new head and the guy I bought the head from is going to pay for his time. So what it came down to is a rookie mistake by me But in my defense the casting numbers matched I was sent the right head and I think if anyone would have received the new one they wouldn't question the valve length and installed it just like I did. I still have to put it back together to make sure this is going to work But I don't think it's going to be a problem anymore
Glad it got figured out and sorry it was a pain in the ass for you. But a good mechanic would have measured them to original and reseted the valves. But that depends on what you were willing to pay for. Hope all goes well in future.
