Author Topic: did a rather stupid thing...... (Read 3210 times)

chrissev · « **on:** March 05, 2006, 05:52:00 pm »

So last night on the way home from my girlfriend's house, the head gasket on the jetta blew. Cooling system pressurized, rad burst at the right side, expansion tank burst around the seam, and I lost most of the coolant on the road up to my house. Did get the car back to my driveway however (spewing coolant everywhere). So I decided that it might be a good time to put on my rebuilt 1.9 cylinder head. So I did that today. But I made a really stupid mistake. When I put the head on the block, the cam wasn't at TDC and an exhaust valve was down about an inch. So not thinking about it, I torqued the head down, then I looked and saw the cam was out of line and realized what I had done. The valve that was down about an inch was torqued down onto a piston that was at its highest travel. So I have pushed an exhaust valve up about an inch into the head by torquing the head down onto the block. So I am wondering, what have I broken and how do I fix it? It is a hydraulic head. I am assuming I will need to take that valve apart and replace whatever has been bent or warped by what happened. I am hoping I can do this without having to take the head off again, cause that'll cost me another gasket and ten head bolts. Anyone know what I've broken?

Thanks,

Chris

Dr. Diesel · « **Reply #1 on:** March 05, 2006, 08:30:29 pm »

maybe if you're lucky, you'll have only wrecked a lifter and bent a valve stem. pull it apart and have a looksee.

dieselweasel · « **Reply #2 on:** March 05, 2006, 09:17:11 pm »

You're definitely going to have to pull the head, because that valve will be bent.

chrissev · « **Reply #3 on:** March 06, 2006, 03:50:09 am »

Quote from: "dieselweasel"

You're definitely going to have to pull the head, because that valve will be bent.

I was thinking about this last night. I wonder if the valve didn't just push the piston down? The crank was floating free and there wasn't any compression. Might just start it and see if it runs funny or not. I might have gotten away with this.

wyldman · « **Reply #4 on:** March 06, 2006, 06:15:37 am »

You could pull the cam and inspect the lifter.If the lifter is damaged,then I would pull the head to check for further damage.If it looks OK,then try starting it.

Dr. Diesel · « **Reply #5 on:** March 06, 2006, 02:10:11 pm »

Quote from: "chrissev"

I wonder if the valve didn't just push the piston down?

if the crank was at TDC or within a couple degrees of there, I don't think it would have moved. If it was off TDC a ways, you may be right!
good luck!

hillfolk'r · « **Reply #6 on:** March 06, 2006, 08:40:13 pm »

make sure you can turn the crankabout 90 from tdc,,this will place all the pistons about 1/2 way,,spin cam over w/a wrench and watch the valve action,,if it looks funny on that suspect valve,then yank the cam,,,,sometimes as a quick checker,i take a long piece of stanless safety wire thru the injector hole,,try to get it to gointothe bore,,then you can get close to locating where the piston is, soits downa ways before turning the cam,,,,,ive had moments where ive had timing belts off of old engines,,but ya need to get somethin figured out,so whenever rotating the crank,doit slow,and STOP if it binds up,,it may just be a valve touching a piston,,,ya may have gotten lucky,i would thin k it woulda been funny feeling when torqueing it down,,or it woulda pushed a piston down,,happy hunting,,check those things out before yanking the head back off,,,,,,,,,,

chrissev · « **Reply #7 on:** March 07, 2006, 05:08:58 am »

Quote from: "hillfolk'r"

make sure you can turn the crankabout 90 from tdc,,this will place all the pistons about 1/2 way,,spin cam over w/a wrench and watch the valve action,,if it looks funny on that suspect valve,then yank the cam,,,,sometimes as a quick checker,i take a long piece of stanless safety wire thru the injector hole,,try to get it to gointothe bore,,then you can get close to locating where the piston is, soits downa ways before turning the cam,,,,,ive had moments where ive had timing belts off of old engines,,but ya need to get somethin figured out,so whenever rotating the crank,doit slow,and STOP if it binds up,,it may just be a valve touching a piston,,,ya may have gotten lucky,i would thin k it woulda been funny feeling when torqueing it down,,or it woulda pushed a piston down,,happy hunting,,check those things out before yanking the head back off,,,,,,,,,,

I put my finger through the exhaust port at the back and felt the suspect valve while turning the crank. It moves up and down. Moves quite a bit actually. If I have crushed the lifter, how do I take it out? I don't think the valve will have bent because the head was torqued down straight onto the piston and the valve was only out a very small amount, just enough to contact the piston once the head gasket started getting crushed.

wyldman · « **Reply #8 on:** March 07, 2006, 07:11:30 am »

Pull the cam,and the lifter will come straight up and out.If the lifter was crushed,it may be stuck in the bore,and you may see some damage.

Lifters are dirt cheap,if you get it out,just replace it.If the others aren't new,replace them all.I always put all new lifters in when doing a head.