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Broken rocker arm roller; I have had tapping noise coming from my head and now a broken Rocker arm roller
Topic Started: Feb 25 2010, 02:13 AM (2,894 Views)
Jnord
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Fresh Fish
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Hi everybody. This is my first post on this site. I wish I knew about this place a lot sooner for other questions I've had.
I have a 1997 Geo Metro Lsi with a 1.3 liter 4 cylinder engine, single overhead cam. 116,100 miles. It was a rental car up until ~80,000 miles when I got it. Put new plugs and wires in it when I got it. Regular oil changes never veered too far from 3000 miles each time. As far as I know the timing belt and oil pump have never been replaced.

In March of 2009 the car was taken on a 200 mile trip. Halfway through it I began noticing tapping sounds coming from the engine as I was driving down the road. Pulled over when I could and checked the oil, it was desperately low so I got to the gas station and filled her up with 5W30. The oil pan drain bolt was loose and for some reason the Oil Light never came on. After filling 3 quarts the tapping sound went away after being driven 20 or so miles. I realize now that the sound was coming from the Hydraulic Valve Lash Adjusters. Anyway, a couple of months after that during a time of very wet weather and not running the engine for 5 or so days the sound was back and its been back. There are also times when, if the car has been sitting for a few days in wet weather it would idle rough no matter how long i let it warm up so then i would drive down hill and it would clear itself up after a minute.

A couple of days ago after 50 miles of interstate travel it really began to misfire and then I had a huge loss of power. Ironically it was just as I was getting onto the offramp into the city where I could park it. Had it towed.

I've looked at it now and have taken off the valve cover and have discovered that the rocker arm for the #2 exhaust valve has failed. Specifically the roller that keeps in contact with the cam has cracked off. Luckily there does not appear to be any oil leakage or burning because I've checked the oil multiple times and the oil level is full and it still looks clean, about 150 miles since last oil change with 10W30. I have searched this site for similar problems. I have gained really good information, but I have not seen any definitive answers as to how to prevent this from happening again. I want to check the exhaust valve to make sure it is in good shape still before I replace the rocker arm because I don't want this to happen again anytime soon. Is there a best way to check the valve?
Here is a link to pictures of this problem. Click on the Flickr text to see all of them.

Posted Image
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flickr

I've gathered that partsdinosaur.com is the place to get a new rocker arm.

Thank You,
Jordan

Edited by Jnord, Feb 25 2010, 08:03 PM.
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idmetro
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Jnord welcome to the forum. Not sure there is an easy way to check the exhaust valve in its current state. At minimum what I would suggest is replacing the rocker arm and running a compression test, that will tell the story. If you want to go the extra mile pull the lifters, disassemble and clean then reinstall them prior to the rocker arm replacement.

If you have the proper sized adapter and an air compressor you could hook it up to that cylinder, make sure the valves are closed and look/listen for air leaks.

How many miles on your engine? Do you have oil leaks? Running the engine low on oil is definitely not a good thing for engine health.
Edited by idmetro, Feb 25 2010, 07:00 AM.
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bogs
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Duct tape heals all wounds

:+1 on id metros post.
For your signature, you might want to try setting that picture like this:
1.) Strip out all the html around that pic - parts shown in red

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/33339355@N05/3161176239/" title="IMG_7253_19_1 by jordannordstrom, on Flickr"><img src="
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3115/3161176239_26c1f91117.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_7253_19_1" /></a>


2.) put up some img blocks where the red parts are -
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3115/3161176239_26c1f91117.jpg[/img]

3.) wind up with this instead -
Posted Image

4.) for a signature pic, you may wind up having to do some creative cropping or scaling, as that is a tad largish :)
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Jnord
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Fresh Fish
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thanks bogs yeah it needs to be much smaller. ^o)
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mwebb
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FOG

it is likely that crap oil caused your problem

you will have better results if you use "good" oil
you should not use anything but 5w30 or 0w40 mobil one

the specification should be a MINIMUM of
ACEA A3 B3 - B4

any VW Audi or BMW or Mercedes Benz OEM oil for gasoline engine cars later than 2000 will do and will meet or exceed the specifications above

if you have a mind to and want to understand why
navigate to "bobistheoilguy" and study and learn

also navigate to "ZDDP engine failure " or something similar
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Bad Bent
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Facetious Educated Donkey

Welcome to the forum, Jnord! :coffee

Yea, bogs is correct.

For my own knowledge and future reference.... I have a two button mouse and I right clicked on the image in Flickr and clicked "Copy Image Location" then in posting I clicked on the Image button and pasted in the http:// address. This is what I got;

Posted Image
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Murf 59
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Welcome to the forum Jnord
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Murf 59
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bogs
Feb 25 2010, 11:26 AM
:+1 on id metros post.
For your signature, you might want to try setting that picture like this:
1.) Strip out all the html around that pic - parts shown in red

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/33339355@N05/3161176239/" title="IMG_7253_19_1 by jordannordstrom, on Flickr"><img src="
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3115/3161176239_26c1f91117.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_7253_19_1" /></a>


2.) put up some img blocks where the red parts are -
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3115/3161176239_26c1f91117.jpg[/img]

3.) wind up with this instead -
Posted Image

4.) for a signature pic, you may wind up having to do some creative cropping or scaling, as that is a tad largish :)
Bogs where is that pic taken. Looks like maybe the Grand Canyon.
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bogs
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Duct tape heals all wounds

It is gorgeous, but for location you'd have to ask Jnord, its the picture he tried linking in his siggy :dunno
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