Date:         Sat, 2 Aug 2003 10:18:26 -0700
Reply-To:     jon <jon@KENNEKE.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         jon <jon@KENNEKE.COM>
Subject:      Cause of broken valve?
In-Reply-To:  <000c01c35917$a834ac50$6400a8c0@masterpc>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

My Type IV has an apparently broken valve on cylinder 1. The valve spring
is all the way against the rocker arm. So, that leads me to beleive the
valve stem is broken somewhere, and the piston just shoves the valve back
down. (So, I am hoping there is no further damage).

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Advice? Prayers? :-) What is the number
one cause of broken valves on a Type IV? You'd think it would be rare,
with hydrualic lifters and all that.

It's not a real big deal, since I got this westy for essentially nothing.
If I have to put some $$ into the engine, so be it. But, I'd rather have
it be a simple, cheap problem.

I am going to drain the oil in a bit to check and see if there are any
metal particles in the oil. Of course, I hope not. Compression on the
other 3 cylinders is a bit above 120, which I understand is good. The
engine is pretty clean, and when I removed the cylinder head covers, the
heads look pretty darn good. So, I hope this engine is savable without a
rebuild.

Jon