Hi, So I drove to my folks place today knowing that once I arrived I'd need to get under Bertie and check things out....probably valve adjustment....maybe worse....as I had been hearing a tapppety tapping when under load for a few miles. So I pulled the rocker cover and saw that the head nut and washer had come off completely! just sitting in there. So I put it back on, torqued to 23 ft-lbs. Then took him for a spin. Tappety taps had disappeared but now the bus felt very lumpy and had no power. So when I got back I had a check and cylinders 3 and 4 just weren't doing anything (thats the side the nut had fallen off). When I pulled the leads for this side....no change. just a lumping idle. So I had a play with the leads just to make sure all was in order....found TDC, checked the order of the leads...etc etc. Anyway, decided to let him cool down and set about doing a valve adjustment anyway. When I got to cylinder 3 (inlet valve), I saw the spring was still compressed and the pushrod had fallen out of the cup of the rocker arm. The valve is still stuck in. Oh dear. Anything I can do to get driving tomorrow? I'm near Havant/Portsmouth and need to get to Dorset tomorrow! Is Bertie grounded? Do I need to find another way of getting going tomorrow or does someone have a tremendous idea to fix things? @davidoft - you've come to my rescue before in this neck of the woods.....any superhero advice? what can I do???! Cheers all.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news , engine out , whip off head , sort out bent valve/dropped seat and you`ll be on your way ... Could easily be done in a day IF you had a spare head to slip on , otherwise ..... It`s the train i`m afraid ....
Hi David! Erm....I assume you mean a tow? I haven't tried starting the bus since I saw this issue but I'm not sure that I could with the valve stuck in like that. The answer is - potentially. I'm currently in Westbourne.
Legend. I'll whatsapp you. (and update everyone here once we solve this!....can't leave it without closure for others!)
Ok. Here's the update. David kindly said he'd pop over tomorrow morning to see if he could help. When I went out to clear up I sent him an image of the stuck valve anyway and he gave me some great tips on what I could try myself.....to cut a long story short, the subtle use of a broom handle and a mallet and it looks like it may well all be fixed! Let's see what happens tomorrow! I'll set off....but will I get there?! Cheers David.
Did your head night tighten up ok? Nuts dropping off <innuendo here> may be a sign of stripped threads in the case.
They seemed to tighten up to 23 ft lbs (31ish NM) pretty well.....although I had to use a VERY dodgy way to measure the torque (think suitcase scales and notches in wrenches!). The main point here is that I obviously couldn't get to the upper nuts for the head adjustment, meaning I couldn't do it in the proper order. I'll want to sort that as soon as I can....but in my view better to tighten the lower ones up anyway. Especially if otherwise they end up pinging about in the rocker box !!
If its a loose valve seat and youve managed to get itvto pop back in then you should note that it will fall out again!
