Please help the new guy! lol

[sekse]

I retorqued the head bolts as soon as I heard the correct specs, did not solve the problem. BTW, I torqued them them the final 90 with a torque wrench and came to about 90 foot pounds, so I wasn't that far off. I put a 1/16" thick washer under each rocker stud and it runs great now. And yes, I do have the heads listed in the top pic. But regardless, problem is solved, everything is tightened to proper spec, woo hoo go me, lol. Thank you all so much for your help.

[tractorman]

Good luck and gawdspeed.

Did your engine have roller-rockers? Or ball and socket rockers?

A 1996 engine SHOULD have roller rockers... but something could've been swapped at some point.

[3100 MPFI]

First of all, do your rockers look like THESE?



A simple YES or NO will do.

If they do NOT, then I think you have either the WRONG HEADS, or your engine was replaced with an OLDER ONE.

[SappySE107]

96 without rollers is like 99 3100 with large port. I wouldn't say with certainty that the heads aren't stock.

You can't put a washer under those pedestals:P

[3100 MPFI]

those large port 1999's are pretty uncommon, but I got one, so I know about weird stuff.

[TazMan]

Congratulations. I'm glad to hear your up and running again. Good luck with it.

[super40962]

new heads

I am currently in a similar dilemma, I had heads done on a 92 3.1. The machine shop did a valve job and resurfaced the head. The problem is when these are done it changes the geometry of the valve train and you will lose compression, you must change the rockers to adjustable ones. This is what the GM service manual says to do once you have a valve job done. This can be done by just replacing the studs and the nuts to the adjustable set up, you can reuse the rockers. The machinist that did my heads said it was the lifters, but they are pumped all the way up. Also you can do this job with out removing the heads. I too was pulling my hair out.

[SappySE107]

No way. You can tip the valves to make up for the valve job if you take that much off the seats. What do you mean your lifters are pumped all the way up? If they are solid, it will keep the valves open and you lose compression (all of it). I will have to look at the GM service manuals again, because I do not recall it saying to replace the valvetrain with an adjustable setup, ever.

[super40962]

valves

The procedure is listed under valve lash adjustment in my 92 cutlass factory service manual . After installing the heads , The car ran like crap, skipping loss of power , stalling especially when it got warm (no lifter noise). I also took a 30 minute ride thinking the IAC valve relearn had somthing to do with it. I finally did a compression test and got 165-175 on all the cylinders but 1 was zedro and 6 was 65. The machinist suggested a lifter problem and told me to turn motor over so that the cam was pushing up on 6 and to loosen and tighten that rocker to bleed those lifters. When I loosend that rocker, the stud loosened as well. So since I did not torque the rocker studs when putting it together, I didn't realize if the shop had loosened them either so I proceded to torque the and now had no compression on 6. I checked # 4 and they loosened as well, so I torqued them... now no compression. I do have correct pushrods on intake and exhaust, I triple checked them.

[SappySE107]

The problem is the lifters, not the rocker arm setup. Your lifters are seized internally, making them solid instead of hydraulic. This is why the valves are hanging open. Take the lifters out and tear them apart.

[super40962]

What would seize the lifters, this car ran fine till I had an over heating issue and blown head gasket.

[super40962]

I retorqued the head bolts as soon as I heard the correct specs, did not solve the problem. BTW, I torqued them them the final 90 with a torque wrench and came to about 90 foot pounds, so I wasn't that far off. I put a 1/16" thick washer under each rocker stud and it runs great now. And yes, I do have the heads listed in the top pic. But regardless, problem is solved, everything is tightened to proper spec, woo hoo go me, lol. Thank you all so much for your help.

He appears to have the same problem with rebuilt heads ond solved it with a washer...which I would never do.

[SappySE107]

Coolant in the oil can cause it. That thickness of washer would almost negate the preload, which is probably why it ran.

[super40962]

No coolant in the oil,head gasket was creating pressure in the cooling system. I tested it using a burp funnel. So far I retorqued 2 ,4, and 6, now have no compression in those cylinders. I know that grinding the tips of the valves to compensate for the valve job but did he compensate for the resurface as well?

[60dgrzbelow0]

Lol, the push rods ARE in the right place! I know enough to make sure of that, lol. The intake valves on the new heads just were a bit longer than supposed to be i guess. The car runs great now. Again, the push rods ARE in the right places, I just needed to back the intake rockers off 1 full turn and everything seals and runs great. I had a friend who put them in backwards on a firebird, and yeah that almost made me cry, so I know to put them in right. Will have to give the place I bought the heads from a piece of my mind, though

Based upon your foray into doing this head swap... and your interesting, ad hoc methods of arriving at the solutions... such as finding out the torque limits required AFTER doing the job... and performing unconventional and counter-intuitive actions that might just junk your motor for good, most of us would counsel you against contacting the machine shop and ..."Giving them a Piece of My Mind"... because the final results and outcome of this fix are not in yet. And should it unfortunately come to pass that it all turns to sh*t ... you are going to need every "piece" of it yourself... to re-group and get back to doing the right things first and at the outset... to solve your problems.

Here is a Nickel's Worth of Free Advice...

Nobody visiting here ever gets chastised for making mistakes... we all make them...all the time... but willful ignorance is a self-punishing process that always has really bad outcomes... so what you will sense from the more experienced and seasoned members is their frustration at not being able to stop someone from deliberately becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy; destroying their work and throwing away good money after bad (... and yes... sometimes even whole motors) to solve their dilemmas.

So if you start feeling any "Flames"... the heat will be coming from the brush fires you yourself have started... if you wind up ignoring the hints to look at their sage advice that will serve as the buckets of sand and bottles of CO2 that can keep you from fanning little "flames" of problems with your engine... into runaway Forest Fires. If you are not a Noob... then you don't get a pass for acting like one.

So please come back soon with anything you have in mind to do... hopefully...before you actually do it... and the many worthy and experienced minds waiting here to help will gladly advise you about almost anything you are thinking of tackling... before it tackles you...