Number 4 was probably the plug and wire. Dont get me wrong the dealer was right about the plugs and wires. Cause when i pulled on two of the wires they broke fairly easy. and the plugs hardly had any of the electrode left. So it was due. The car has approx. 120,000 on it. looked like the plugs had never been changed. got the repair dvd today. now its time to pop the valve covers for a visual inspection.

 

Ok bro's. I suddenly have this sick feeling in my stomach and my wallet! Check out what I found when I removed the valve cover. The rod bend and blew out the hole in the head. the end of the rod was broken off! What are my options now? Do I need a new head? Possible damage to the piston. New motor?

PLEASE HELP

 

My diagnosis,.....
Lifter got weak, collapsed, the push rod was no longer in tight, got sloppy and broke.
Other possible cause with same result, broken valve spring. Although a broken spring can, more times than not, drop the valve enough to collide with the piston, I seriously doubt that this is the case. I'm 99.99% convinced it's the lifter that caused this.
The head could be just fine, looks like it to me. I'd pull that head and take a look in the cyl. to verify the head, piston, and block condition.

BTW, when you pull the intake manifold to get that head off, look in the valley of the block and really check the cam a lifters over. Look for any damage to the block in this area. If the block is alright, cool, figure on replacing the cam, lifters, and bushings in your rebuild.

I'd sure like to see some more pics as you move along, it would be a big help to those just starting out in doing their own work.

 

While further inspection I found another rod on number six cylinder doing the same thing to its rod hole. i havent pulled it yet but im suspecting it is bent also because of the way it has distorted the hole its sits in. rocker arm is not loose on that one though. Also I cannot locate the broken end of the push rod anywhere in the upper part of the cylinder head. I assume it is somewhere inside. anyone have an image of the inner cavity. where would the broken piece have ended up? one more thing, in my manual it didnt say anything about draining fluids for cylinder head removal. I think it would be a good idea to check the driver side head as well since im doing all this. all of this should be able to be down without removing the engine right?

Ive read that bent rods are common place on these vettes. any suggestions for a strong replacement rods?

Thanks again guys for the help!

 

Drain the water and oil. The water so ya don't make a mess, and the oil 'cause it's full of small metal shards from the broken pushrods.

Now go ahead and pull the intake and exhaust manifolds, and then the heads.
Actually, you can almost completely strip the block with it in the car, 'cept for the crank.

I'll wager that the broken piece fell through to the valley between the heads or on down in the oil pan.

 

ok, i removed the rocker arm and was able to stick a magnetic wand down the push rod bore. the magnet grabbed the rest of that broken push rod. moved the rod around inside the head to see if any other pieces were there. i was able to look down into the head with a small light and everything appears to be ok. going to get a new push rod and see if that fixes it. since ive done this, what are your opinion about going through with removing everything like we talked about before seeing how i was able to get the other piece? what are the chances of anything else being wrong?

 

Ya, go ahead and open the engine up, pop the intake and heads, an' get 'er set up to pull.
You mentioned a possible prob with #6 too? See, that's the issue, you just don't know what all is wrong right now. Don't try and piece it back together, it's time. Do a complete rebuild now and you can forget about it and have a nice cruiser.

 

Ok, I found another bent rod on number 6. Went to the dealer and bought 3 rods and two valve cover gaskets. Bought an extra rod just in case one is bent on the left bank side. Replace the two rods on the cylinders 4 and 6. They may have been bent already when i bought it and when i reved it up it finished the job. replaced everything and torqued the bolts to proper specs. cranked it up and cleared the codes. Runs fine and strong. No Codes!!! Drove it for about 30 miles around town with no problems. I havent check the left side for any bent rods. probably do it tomorrow just to make sure. By the way, the dealer gave me all the parts at shop cost because I only had the car a month. All together the cost for plugs, wires, rods, tools, gaskets, towing, dealer diagnostic and any other thing i had to buy came up less than the cost the dealer wanted for the original tune up. $550.

Thanks guys for all your help!!

My dream car is back on the road

 

Cool, hope she holds together for ya.

 

Great news!