Broken rocker arm, now what.
Broken rocker arm, now what. I just pulled a broken Summit rocker arm off of my 02 Z06. The car never made the power I though it should and I think I know why now. I found another cracked one that had not given way yet. I haven't even made it to the other side yet. These rocker arms only have 1,500 miles on them. What has me scared though is that there are groves cut into the rockers from my titanium retainers. The retainers are kind of beat up as well. When I put them on I rolled the motor and didn't notice any thing touching. But I guess at 6,800 rpm things can happen. Now here is the question. Should I disassemble the heads and check my bronze valve guides for wear? Do you guys think that I could have bent the valves? Can the valve seats be jacked? I think this binding issue was likely causing me power. The engine has also been useing oil. What do you all think?
Brett
Brett
Pull the springs on the worst one and install checking springs so you don't drop the valve. The wiggle back and forth, if the guide is "real" bad you will get motion. Look at the seals as well, they may have gotten beat up by the retainer. You could also do a compression or leak down test prior to taking on anything major.
When installing new rocker arms, best to go through a cycle and inspect the pushrod side and valve spring side closely for contact. You rockers may have been pushing on the retainer rather than the valve stem. Yella Terra is an excellent rocker, just installed a set in a friends 04 Vette. To get the wipe pattern correct, we needed the supplied shims and as a result had to get different pushrods. Car runs great though.
When installing new rocker arms, best to go through a cycle and inspect the pushrod side and valve spring side closely for contact. You rockers may have been pushing on the retainer rather than the valve stem. Yella Terra is an excellent rocker, just installed a set in a friends 04 Vette. To get the wipe pattern correct, we needed the supplied shims and as a result had to get different pushrods. Car runs great though.
