Hey guys...
Background...
A few weeks ago I went to leave work for the day and started my car. I put it in 1st and started to pull away from the side of the road. Before I could even shift into 2nd the car made a really sudden and abrupt thud and completely shut off. Everything felt normal, seemed to have full power and then boom. I have never felt anything like it before and actually said outloud to myself - wtf that was wierd. So I contemplated whether I should try to start it or not and tried a few times. It wouldn't turn over... Luckily there were still some people around so I got it pushed into the shop. Our lead tech tinkered with it a bit and ended up pulling the distributor because the rotor wasn't turning... Eventually he got it to run and it would barely idle and it was knocking pretty badly. We reset the timing and took it for a road test. Although the car sounded like crap, it didn't seem to be losing power. I drove the car home (less than 10kms) and let it sit until I could get a chance to do an engine flush. The engine flush didn't do a thing to quiet the ticking noise. Fast forward to yesterday..... Get the car into the shop. Pulled off the intake and passenger side valve cover as that's where most of the noise was coming from. At first glance one of the lifters was stuck and looked to be the simple solution. Then we pulled off the rocker and quickly discovered that almost all of the push rods were visibly bent! It was late and we didn't have time to check the timing chain so....
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO MY CAR?????
I'm thinking there could be an issue with the rocker/push rod combo - can they warp over time? Perhaps the timing chain jumped? I've had the car for over 7 years and never over-revved it when racing or otherwise????? Car has about 250 000 kms. Crane 1.7 roller rockers, I am unsure at this point if the rods are the original stock ones. Block has never been touched. Pretty recent oil pump, timing chain, water pump, etc due to a small coolant leak that I wanted to prevent from getting worse. Installed a new clutch, machined fly wheel and new starter (within last 30 000 kms or so).
I did a search in the forums but I would really, really appreciate your thoughts and educated opinions/experiences specific to my situation... This is my first time having my own motor apart. In the past I had friends do the work for me and I'd like to know what I am getting myself into before I get too deep.
Background...
A few weeks ago I went to leave work for the day and started my car. I put it in 1st and started to pull away from the side of the road. Before I could even shift into 2nd the car made a really sudden and abrupt thud and completely shut off. Everything felt normal, seemed to have full power and then boom. I have never felt anything like it before and actually said outloud to myself - wtf that was wierd. So I contemplated whether I should try to start it or not and tried a few times. It wouldn't turn over... Luckily there were still some people around so I got it pushed into the shop. Our lead tech tinkered with it a bit and ended up pulling the distributor because the rotor wasn't turning... Eventually he got it to run and it would barely idle and it was knocking pretty badly. We reset the timing and took it for a road test. Although the car sounded like crap, it didn't seem to be losing power. I drove the car home (less than 10kms) and let it sit until I could get a chance to do an engine flush. The engine flush didn't do a thing to quiet the ticking noise. Fast forward to yesterday..... Get the car into the shop. Pulled off the intake and passenger side valve cover as that's where most of the noise was coming from. At first glance one of the lifters was stuck and looked to be the simple solution. Then we pulled off the rocker and quickly discovered that almost all of the push rods were visibly bent! It was late and we didn't have time to check the timing chain so....
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO MY CAR?????
I'm thinking there could be an issue with the rocker/push rod combo - can they warp over time? Perhaps the timing chain jumped? I've had the car for over 7 years and never over-revved it when racing or otherwise????? Car has about 250 000 kms. Crane 1.7 roller rockers, I am unsure at this point if the rods are the original stock ones. Block has never been touched. Pretty recent oil pump, timing chain, water pump, etc due to a small coolant leak that I wanted to prevent from getting worse. Installed a new clutch, machined fly wheel and new starter (within last 30 000 kms or so).
I did a search in the forums but I would really, really appreciate your thoughts and educated opinions/experiences specific to my situation... This is my first time having my own motor apart. In the past I had friends do the work for me and I'd like to know what I am getting myself into before I get too deep.