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I was driving my car to work the other day and as I came to a stop at a traffic light I noticed a rough idle, loss of power and a flashing check engine light. I called a friend of mine who is a retired mechanic to look it over. He suspects I dropped/bent a valve, broke a rocker or worse. If the damage is confined to the top end it shouldn’t be too bad. Problem he is having is the valve cover does not want to come off. There are 14 bolts and 3 coil packs, all removed and the cover won’t budge. Does anyone know for certain if the spark plugs have to be removed to get the cover off? He has not removed those and I can’t find a straight yes or no answer on the internet. He’s given up for today because he’s reaching the annoyed, wrench throwing destroy things phase. I was just trying to get some suggestions for him. Thanks in advance.
Brian
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[quote=”B2k1977″ post=133340]I was driving my car to work the other day and as I came to a stop at a traffic light I noticed a rough idle, loss of power and a flashing check engine light. I called a friend of mine who is a retired mechanic to look it over. He suspects I dropped/bent a valve, broke a rocker or worse. If the damage is confined to the top end it shouldn’t be too bad. Problem he is having is the valve cover does not want to come off. There are 14 bolts and 3 coil packs, all removed and the cover won’t budge. Does anyone know for certain if the spark plugs have to be removed to get the cover off? He has not removed those and I can’t find a straight yes or no answer on the internet. He’s given up for today because he’s reaching the annoyed, wrench throwing destroy things phase. I was just trying to get some suggestions for him. Thanks in advance.
Brian[/quote]
Before you tear down for for a bent/valve theory. It could be other things. A compression
test would tell you if you have a bad valve. see if this link helps.http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-automotive-performance-issues
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-automotive-idle-problems
Better yet, a flashing check engine light is going to have stored codes. Get the codes read and it might very well help isolate an individual cylinder to diagnose.
when my friend came to look at it he forgot to bring his scan tool, I had the car towed to his house and he read the codes all the cylinders on the right side misfired – which is worrying us both. You can hear broken things rattling around in there, it definitely needs to come apart. So he was just exploring…and can’t get the valve cover off.
[quote=”barneyb” post=133433]Stymied by a valve cover? Are you sure you want your friend doing this job?[/quote]
He’s more than qualified. I’ve seen this first hand. all 14 bolts removed, cover won’t budge it’s like it’s glued or cemented. my ford shop book says it uses a sealant…could this be preventing it from coming off?
Brian
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