Z28Venom

iTrader: (13)

Alright..

Here's the situation. I installed H/C.. I went to the track and sorta mis-shifted 1-2-3- 2... I caught it pretty quickly though. Got a blinking SES...

Pulled the plugs and only the #5 plug was bad. I changed the plugs. The SES light seems to only blink very seldomly and only at idle for 5 flashes and then it's just steady like it normally is.

I told the guy that was gonna tune my car about the #5 fouled plug, and he said that I may have damaged the valve seal or something on that cylinder.

Anyone else have a similar problem to this. Could a bent rod cause this also?

Thanks..

Z28Venom

iTrader: (13)

Any help?

wildchevy

IF your heads are ported ...It could be that you need to put lock-tite on the threads of the intake rocker bolt. Often times they will suck oil if not sealed.

35th SS

iTrader: (2)

gotta remember that when I install mine.thanks.

Z28Venom

iTrader: (13)

Alright..

I went down.. Pulled all of my pushrods to see if I bent any. None were bent (shrewwwww) thank goodness.

However, I changed my plugs on Sunday.. It is now Wed. and the same #5 plug is completely covered with some kind of soot. Not oil or gas, kinda like a thick black powder. I only start the car to let it idle and I took a 20 min drive on Mon.

I'm totally lost. Also the SES light only blinks at idle.

Could it be that my car just needs a tune. I've installed LT's, removed the cats, and done a h/c swap. I'm hoping that this is all that it is, but it just seems weird that it's only fouling one plug.

I also tried the feeling the header from that cylinder on startup to see if it was firing, and yes. It got hot quick as hell..

Any more ideas?

Z28Venom

iTrader: (13)

I'm posting pics of the plug.

93octane

Black soot means you are running rich...but only that one cyl? Hmm.

badboy4life

Might be a ring if it is only one.

2xLS1

iTrader: (25)

Run a compression test on that cylinder and compare it to a couple of good cylinders for starters. Did you put in hardened push rods with the H/C swap? If so, you may have slightly bent a valve on that cylinder when you did the misshift.

Z28Venom

iTrader: (13)

When I did the swap, I used new stock pushrods. I knew that I would eventually screw up and shift. And it would be alot easier to change pushrods than valves.

Just a quick question? Can you bend valves and not bend a pushrod?

Mark Campbell

Could be a slight leak in an injector. Those are tight tolerance pieces and a little leak could cause a problem at idle and still not cause a problem above idle!

AsianIce25

iTrader: (2)

Agreed, could be an injector, but i doubt it. They dont go bad very often, but they can. Did you ever do the pcv mod? Make sure all the wires are on all the way, and those gaps looked really big. whats your gap at? I think stock on mine was .065 or .055, but theyre at .034 right now. What kind of plugs? a colder plug will take longer to reach self-cleaning temperature than a stock plug. but that looks like oil to me...

Z28Venom

iTrader: (13)

I haven't done the PCV mod. The plugs were gapped at .060. They were NGK TR6's. I'm doing a compression check tomorrow afternoon. Maybe that'll help single the problem out. I'll switch the injectors also.

Z28Venom

iTrader: (13)

After my h/c swap, I just continued to use my Mobil 1 synthetic oil. Could this have caused the valves seals or something to not settle properly. I'm just thinking of a lot of crap. The compression check is getting done tomorrow morning.

Still tryin to get this question answered. Can you bend a valve on a bad shift and not bend a pushrod.

Also how accurate is the rolling the pushrod on glass to verify whether or not it's bent?

Thanks

blkbeaZ28

iTrader: (4)

So you used stock push rods instead of hardened ones?

Z28Venom

iTrader: (13)

I was told that the pushrods were the weak link. And if I miss shifted like I've done, then the rods would bend and not the valves. The last thing I want to do is to remove the heads to replace valves. So I used new stock pushrods on the new heads.

AsianIce25

iTrader: (2)

The pushrods are the weak link, but that doesnt necessarily mean that they will ALWAYS bend before the valves, it just means most of the time they will. Anyways, id tighten the gap on your plugs to at least .050 if I were you. Then pull the intake bellow, maf, and lid off so you can get direct access to your throttle body. open the plate up and take a look inside with a flashlight. Id take a look and see if theres any oil inside. If there appears to be a lot id do the pcv mod and get a 2002 Z06 PCV valve from a dealer, usually like 3 bucks. if you look at the new pcv valve, theres no valve at all, just a lil (~1-2mm) hole in the end of it. it reacts a lot faster. keep the oil out of your car. then maybe run some top end cleaner though that bitcH. Why are you running tr6's? for juice? if so, gap them real small, like i said, mine are at .034.

Z28Venom

iTrader: (13)

I was running TR6's because I was getting ready for the juice. Now I'm gonna have to run NGK TR5's until the TR55's that I ordered get here.

So this is what I need to do this afternoon.

1)Run Compression Check on #5 Cylinder
2)Check PCV Valve
3)Move #5 injector to #3 Injector

What do you think the chances are that I have a shot ring or damage piston on that cylinder? If that's the case, how hard is it to pull a piston?

AsianIce25

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like a good idea. If your getting ready for the juice, id stick with the tr6's. If you plan on running say...a 100-150 shot id gap them around .035 somewhere. you wont have any problems. obviously, changing the plugs isnt very fun, so you dont want to do it all the time. And don't just check the pcv valve, id replace it in any case with a 2002 Z06 pcv. There was actually a recall on all the truck motors for this exact thing, but they never reacalled our cars, so just spend the 3 bucks and do it yourself. also, id call a couple dealers to see how much it is, cause not every dealer sells parts at retail, some mark them up even more. So check the intake for oil, i think youll be surprised. if its full of oil, make sure you do the pcv mod. use either a catch can or a line dryer from an air compressor. i did the latter of the two cause I couldnt find a catch can when i did it. works great, looks ok, but as long as she runs like a champ... Switching the injectors is a good idea, but i doubt thats the problem, but its possible. Im betting on the pcv system suckin in oil. my car sucks up 1/2 a cup of crap every 5-6k miles. maybe thats bad, but it runs hard, so im not going to complain. after you fix the pcv, might want to run some gm top end cleaner through it. might help a lot. clean all the carbon out of it. just dont get any on your maf when you spray it in(if you ever do this, they make spray in and pour in, so get the spray in kind ...its easier). the car should run w/o the maf, so id just take it off. good luck...

jyeager

I would rule out PCV-based oil consumption or all plugs would be fouled. We know the cylinder is firing, so there is either oil being sucked down the valve guide, or through bad rings, or the injector is stuck open.
Compression test will tell you if there is a problem with rings or valve. Switching injectors will tell you if it's the injector. If neither of those 2 tests shed any light I'd settle on the valve seal.
To answer your question you can bend a valve without bending a push rod. In fact, I don't think you can bend a pushrod without bending a valve IF THE PISTON CONTACTED THE VALVE. Most of the time you bend a pushrod it's from simple valve float. The pushrod comes off the lifter or the lifter comes off the cam and when they meet up again, the lifter is coming up while the rod is coming down and you bend your pushrod...this is NOT due to valve hitting the piston or you WOULD see a bent valve also.
Good luck figuring out your problem.