I just got my brand new motor started last week. I have put about 20 miles on it and it has ran like crap from the get go. Very hard to start and stubles horribly and wont stay running at idle when cold. So i changed out the opti and it still didnt help. So i thought maybe it was the 1.6 rr's i put on. I adjusted them according to the Haynes Manual. So i pull the driver side valve cover and what do i find??? I rocker arm thats not even connected to the push-rod. Thats right they were just laying there next to each other. It was the exhuast valve on the #1 cylinder. So i put it back on and tried starting it up. It acted like it wanted to start better but i noticed that the starter was sparking so i got down there to tighten one of the bolts. Well then a guy i know pulls up. This guy is a mechanic and owns his own shop. he pushes in on my push-rod and he can push it about 2cm. All but 2 on each side were like this. He said that i had bad lifters and that i need to go get some new ones under warranty. My actually question is how easy should the lifters push in with them being hydrolic? A total of 4 couldnt be pushed in and the other 12 could. Do i have bad lifters or are my rocker arms too tight or what? I really need some help quick on this. I apologize for it being soo long i just wanted to give you all the info i could. Thanks, Dustin.

 

I just adjusted my rocker arms the other day. As far as I could tell none of my lifters had any noticable give. 2 centimeters sounds like too much to me though even if they are bad.

You say "new motor". Like crate motor new? Sounds like Lucy might have some splaining to do!

Of course if you adjusted the rockers it sounds like you may have not adjusted the valves in correspondence with the crank position. Unfortuneatly that is what it sounds like to me. Explain the procedure u used to adjust the Rockers.

 

It is a rebuilt 95 357 lt1. I purchased it from the company named Recon. I adjusted them according to the Haynes Manual. it was a very confusing procedure. It said to bring the number 1 piston to DTC on the compression stroke which i am pretty sure i did. Then it said now adjust the blah blah blah blah intake valve and the blah blah blah blah exhuast valve. (i dont remember the numbers). then it said to turn the balancer one complete rotation and adjust the other half of the valves. It said to tighten them to zero lash and then another 3/4 of a turn. I am pretty sure i followed it exact. This is the best i can explain without the manual present. Dustin.

 

Are you sure you were at #1 TDC when you started? Sounds like you got messed up. I would back them all off and start over.

Same and other methods can be found here.

 

My mechanic said that 4 of the lifters were ok and the other 12 were not "pumping up". I was told it could be a oil pump problem but would 4 of them pump up if it was seeing they are all next to each other and i would think if 4 did then the others would too. Also i know oil is getting circulated because when i shut the car off i can hear oil pouring back down into the pan. So 12 of my lifters arent "pumping up". Anyone have any info??

 

I would have to agree that you likely need to readjust your rocker arms. If you did run it for a while with the rockers way out of adjustment you probably did screw up the lifters.

First things first. Read the instructions carefully as the arrow on the hub approaches the correct position you should be watching your valves on #1 cyl.. Do this a couple of times (rotations). You'll know for sure that your in the right spot by doing this. Then do your adjusting.

Just my .02 with out looking at the car.

best of luck

 

I am going to let my warrenty take care of this one.