Re: 87 5kTQ Valve Tap

[zm@mhcnet.att.com (Zafer Mehmood [209])]

> I lost grip of the screwdriver and dropped it, but the cam did not spin at all
> even with 59 ft/lbs of torque on it.  Which means I was acutally levering
> someting inside the motor against something else, I'm thinking I ramed a valve
> into a piston head.  Anyhow, I rotated the crank a little and could then spin
> the cam just fine, I lined up the timing marks and everything so I thought
> nothing more of it.  Until I started it.  Is it possible to screw up a valve in
> this manner?  This is a 10v motor mind you, I didn't think you could make the
> vavles hit a piston head. 

Mike,
	A 10v 5 cyl (2.2l) turbo engine is not freewheeling, i.e., the
pistons can hit the valves. We've debated this many times on this list;
now you've just proved it! I doubt that you've bent a valve - someone
more knowledgeable than me on 10v hydraulic heads can advise you better -
but I think you may have just damaged one hydraulic lifter. I'm basing
this on the assumption that the lifter is probably the weekest of the
components in the piston-valve-lifter-cam chain. The only way to know
*positively* what is damaged is to take off the head. I suggest you
try a simpler solution first. Using a mechanic's stethoscope (or a length
of garden hose or something similar), try to isolate which valve is
making the noise and change the lifter on that one and see if the noise
disappears. Good luck.

Don't let this mishap dampen your enthusiasm for working on your cars.
We all goof up sometimes (at least I do). The rewards are greater than
the hassles we have to contend with sometimes. Otherwise, how else would
we learn from our own and other people's mistakes? :-)

Zafer
'87 5000CS TQ