[brotharon]

Ok, I am driving my car home when there is this tapping sound that starts up in the front of the car. I was only a little ways from home, so I drove it straight home and popped the hood to see if there was anything odd going on. COuldnt see anything, so I turned it back on to see where the noise is coming from. It is coming from something under the valve cover. I take the valve cover off, and discover that all bu two of the bolts are sheared off of the valve cover (they just pulled out without having to be loosened). I thought that may have been what was making the noise, but I was wrong, I started the car again, and again the noise. I took the valve cover off again and stared at the valvetrain for about 20 minutes, then I got out my haynes manual. I decided (because I am a super idiot) that the valves may need adjusted, so I got right to work on that. I set the engine at TDC as per the haynes manual, and proceeded to adjust the valve clearances until they met with the listed tolerances. No dice, car still runs like ass. At this point I am like screw it, so I pull the rocker arm assembly off the top and have a good look at the camshaft. Nada, nothing wrong with the camshaft, all the valve springs and retainers appear to be in good order, everything on the assembly that I removed seems to be fine as well. I put it all back together and get it all tightened down, and lo and behold now the son of a bitch won't start. I need help because this is my daily driver, and I have to go to work tomorrow. I can have my GF take me to work for a few days, but she will get real sick of waking up at the asscrack of dawn with me real quick.

Please Help Me, if you live near Everett Washington and know your ass from a hole in the ground about D16's (unlike me) I would be most greatful if you could take some time to help a brotha out.

 

[MyblkVTEC]

bump for some help!!

 

[SOHC_Rules]

is everything tightened down properly? timing marks lined up correctly? spark plugs tightened down correctly?

put engine at tdc, then take off the dizzy cap and see which cylinder the rotor is pointing towards..

btw ur probably low on oil

 

[brotharon]

bump for some help!!

Thank you!

is everything tightened down properly? timing marks lined up correctly? spark plugs tightened down correctly?

put engine at tdc, then take off the dizzy cap and see which cylinder the rotor is pointing towards..

btw ur probably low on oil

I believe that everything is tightened down properly, I even double checked.

What do you mean by "timing marks lined up correctly"? I did not mess with the timing at all. I have not ever adjusted the timing on a car, and I don't have a timing light.

The spark plugs are tightened down.

Unfortunately, after doing all of those things it is way too dark for me to continue, even though I have a garage I do not have a shop light. I will talk to my boss and try to get Friday off so I can work on my car. I will try out the thing with the distributor, and see where it is firing. You are probably right, I probably knocked the ignition timing off somehow. I do not see how it got like that while I was driving home though. I have never had the ignition timing on a vehicle just up and change for tha hell of it before.

Thank you. I will go back to the drawing board as soon as possible, unfortunately I have a company sponsored event tomorrow that I cannot miss due to various circumstances surrounding the event and the drama contained therein. Thanks for all of the great advise.

 

[brotharon]

Bump for more ideas on what is wrong with my car. I am taking tomorrow off of work, and I really want to get this thing fixed and be back on the road.