hi i just found out i have no compression at all. so it must be a valve problem. the book said i should tighten the valve rocker stud nuts to 20 ft lbs., but as i did this i noticed that both valves on each cylinder were opening. does any body know what the correct ft lb tightness should be?

thanx

is it a rocker arm assembly or individual rockers?

Not sure what that is referring to, but it sounds wrong. Valves should be set at 0 clearance. Bump the engine or hand crank it clockwise(from the front), watching the valves. When you see the intake valve close, go a little farther and you will be on the compression stroke for that cylinder. Adjust both valves for 0 lash, tighten until you can feel no slop in the rocker. Repeat times 8(each cylinder). Intake valves are in line with intake manifold ports, exhaust with exhaust manifold ports, more or less. There is a specific method to adjust the valves that saves some cranking, but I can't find it right now. This will work.

hi, i couldnt reach the crankshaft pulley to turn the engine, so i called the guy i bought the heads from and he said to bring the valves out a little, and turn it on, the while its running, i unscrew the nut on top of the first rocker and and wait till it starts tapping, then tighten it until it stops, then give it another quarter turn. all of that worked fine, so i did that to all of the other rockers, and it ran fine, so i put it all back together, and took it for a test drive. The d#%n thing had NO POWER. The engine sounded good, but the transmission was slipping and it was bad. Also the engine had overheated to 260 degrees in about 3-4 minutes. And the radiator sprung a leak. I could not belive my luck. So i ordered another radiator, and im just waitin for it to get here. Also im gonna rebuild the transmission. Ill keep yall posted on what happens.

That plan for adjusting valves will certainly work, but messy and with your overheating problem, could ruin the heads again. Bad engine, bad trans, etc, etc, horrible to think, but it sounds like junkyard time to me.

you'd be suprised how many times ive thought of that, but just to be clear, ive thought about that every freakin time i look at it. Either that or ill just trade the piece of crap in while it's still semi functional. Who knows? Its wierd though, both of my vehicles (the van and the 79 truck in my other post) have broken down at the same time after years of use. I dont know, but i think there's some divine intervention goin on here . thats the only explanation i can think of.

Just a thought. If it seemed to run OK but had no power, could be a bad cat, with all the other problems you have had.

yes it is a piece of crap. almost everything has gone wrong with it. im ready to buy a new car.

Hi its me again. Sorry for the long response ive been busy and havent paid too much attention to the van in a while. i bought a used 02 mitsubishi galant to replace the van. I miss the old van casue i cant fit nothin in this stupid car. It has a big tunk, but i cant haul lawnmowers or bikes or furniture .

Anyway, I installed the radiator and still no luck. Just a thought, I've heard that a cracked head or a blown gasket could cause the overheating, but what about a cracked cylinder. is that possible? Would that cause a lack of power. The engine sounds like its giving its all, meaning its not sputtering or anything like that. it kinda sounds like its stuck in first gear and it just revving. Its not actually stuck in first, im just givin an example of what it sounds like. Since the manifold and all the parts i took out when i replaced the heads were covered in a thick mess of caked up oil, could the rods, crankshaft, and all of the little what-cha-ma-call its be covered in this oil, and it not be getting any fresh oil causing it to overheat? almost like the layer of oil is preventing any oil from reaching the moving parts? could that be possible? just somethin ive been thinking about for a while to try and explain this whole mess. Thanx

Did you ever have the coolant sytem pressure tested at a radiator shop? This will determine if you have a leak either external or in the engine. Also there are specs for a flo test of water through the radiator which a good radiator shop can also do.
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