Engine Rough Idle and Stall, Blue Smoke

GripGreg · Post by **GripGreg** » Fri May 17, 2013 11:54 am

OOPS! Thanx for correcting me, Mike.

I knew that if I mis-spoke, someone would jump in.

Guess I'm still not perfect, huh?

Matthew A. · Post by **Matthew A.** » Mon May 20, 2013 2:03 pm

Progress has been stalled lately, namely due to the weather, but partially due to the nut that won't come off the front of the cylinder head.

In other news I'm shopping about for a Valve Spring Compression Tool. Any recommendations?

GripGreg · Post by **GripGreg** » Mon May 20, 2013 7:34 pm

Maybe NAPA? Sears? Sears has the lifetime guarantee!! No questions asked!
As long it the tool is Craftsman!
The truck that sells tools to mechanics has it, but, it's a lil too pricey.
Good luck,,,,Greg

Matthew A. · Post by **Matthew A.** » Mon May 20, 2013 8:02 pm

GripGreg wrote:Maybe NAPA? Sears? Sears has the lifetime guarantee!! No questions asked!
As long it the tool is Craftsman!
The truck that sells tools to mechanics has it, but, it's a lil too pricey.
Good luck,,,,Greg

I was actually thinking of type. There are some variations on design so I was wondering more what type I should be looking at getting.

GripGreg · Post by **GripGreg** » Mon May 20, 2013 8:07 pm

OHH! I pass!

Mike W. · Post by **Mike W.** » Mon May 20, 2013 10:48 pm

Matthew A. wrote:Progress has been stalled lately, namely due to the weather, but partially due to the nut that won't come off the front of the cylinder head.

What nut on the front of the head? There's 8 bolts but no nuts but they're only 6MM. You aren't talking about the nut on the front of the cam are you? That can stay right where it is, unbolt the sprocket with the 4 10MM head bolts.

Matthew A. · Post by **Matthew A.** » Mon May 20, 2013 11:17 pm

Mike W. wrote:
Matthew A. wrote:Progress has been stalled lately, namely due to the weather, but partially due to the nut that won't come off the front of the cylinder head.
What nut on the front of the head? There's 8 bolts but no nuts but they're only 6MM. You aren't talking about the nut on the front of the cam are you? That can stay right where it is, unbolt the sprocket with the 4 10MM head bolts.

It's the large nut that secures the camshaft on one end and is on the same end that connects to the timing gear. You have to flatten a large retaining washer to remove it. It's about 46mm. I'll get a picture tomorrow if it helps.

And recommendations on valve spring compression tools while I'm picking your brain?

EDIT: Found one that should do the job, and ordered it. With any luck I may not need to pull the camshaft to get to the valves.

Mike W. · Post by **Mike W.** » Tue May 21, 2013 9:29 pm

Matthew A. wrote:
Mike W. wrote:
Matthew A. wrote:Progress has been stalled lately, namely due to the weather, but partially due to the nut that won't come off the front of the cylinder head.
What nut on the front of the head? There's 8 bolts but no nuts but they're only 6MM. You aren't talking about the nut on the front of the cam are you? That can stay right where it is, unbolt the sprocket with the 4 10MM head bolts.
It's the large nut that secures the camshaft on one end and is on the same end that connects to the timing gear. You have to flatten a large retaining washer to remove it. It's about 46mm. I'll get a picture tomorrow if it helps.

And recommendations on valve spring compression tools while I'm picking your brain?

EDIT: Found one that should do the job, and ordered it. With any luck I may not need to pull the camshaft to get to the valves.

You do not have to remove that nut to remove the cam. It's held in by the flange held by two 10MM head bolts. You will have to remove the rocker shafts to get to the valves. Removing the big 46MM nut will do nothing besides allow you to replace the flange the sprocket bolt to.

Matthew A. · Post by **Matthew A.** » Sun Jun 02, 2013 3:01 pm

Don't worry, I didn't die or fall off the planet. I've just been busy lately.

Progress was slow for a bit because of weather and waiting for my valve spring compressor to come in. I appreciate the tip on removing the cam shaft, much easier than doing it the way the book laid it out. I think they wanted it done that way to make it easier to pull the side bars (sorry, proper names are failing me at the moment), but it honestly wasn't a problem to do it with the front of the shaft still on.

So I've finally got the head pulled apart and have some new pictures for you guys. Here's the old valve seals:

As you can see, they were a right mess. They actually broke when I went to remove them and had to be wrenched off with pliers. The head gasket kit I bought has replacements in it already so I don't have to worry about that thankfully.

The exhaust valves look like this:

And the intake valves look like this:

So, dirty as hell, but otherwise in good shape.

GripGreg · Post by **GripGreg** » Sun Jun 02, 2013 3:44 pm

I know you said the oil was like mud, but, a picture is worth a thousand words!!
WOW!
The previous owner didn't care at all about this E12!!

You just may need to do the bottom end too. It's really bad!

Matthew A. · Post by **Matthew A.** » Sun Jun 02, 2013 3:58 pm

GripGreg wrote:I know you said the oil was like mud, but, a picture is worth a thousand words!!
WOW!
The previous owner didn't care at all about this E12!!
You just may need to do the bottom end too. It's really bad!

Sadly I can't afford to the the bottom end unless I have to do the bottom end at the moment. Plus that requires stuff I don't have access to right now to pull the engine out.

I'm going to go with replacing things, scrubbing out as much carbon as I can and trying to make all the joining surfaces nice and shiny before it all goes back together in hopes that it does the trick.

Thinking of cleaning the carbon, would chlorinated or non-chlorinated carbon remover be better when dealing with internal components on the engine?

GripGreg · Post by **GripGreg** » Sun Jun 02, 2013 5:16 pm

I totally understand the money issues! You've already done wonders.

Matthew A. · Post by **Matthew A.** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 12:18 pm

So I'm not dead, but I'm certainly not in a great mood right now.

I'm finally getting Sam put back together and more trouble arises. I've got the head reassembled, and mounted properly but it seems I just can't win as the sprocket for the timing chain doesn't want to reattach. I can get 1 bolt in (even partially) but if I try to put another into any of the other 3 holes it doesn't line up. I know the danged thing had 4 bolts in it and I know it came off just fine before so this has me a bit frustrated.

Of course the fun doesn't stop there. While trying to figure out the problem I lost a bolt. I'm pretty sure it fell into the timing below but I can't see it with a flash light, nor has probing with one of those retractable magnetic wands paid off.

Mike W. · Post by **Mike W.** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 10:38 pm

You do have the tensioner piston removed, correct? You may have to move the cam or crank just a touch to get things to line up, but it shouldn't be much. Keep the dowel in mind too.

Matthew A. · Post by **Matthew A.** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 12:13 am

Mike W. wrote:You do have the tensioner piston removed, correct? You may have to move the cam or crank just a touch to get things to line up, but it shouldn't be much. Keep the dowel in mind too.

Tensioner spring is out and the dowel lines up with its hole, but the sprocket seems to not line up properly once I get the first bolt in. And thanks to the awkward position I can't visually check the alignment. I'm working on the problem though.