Just Bent my valves!!!!

[1990HybridCB7]

As the title says, I was coming home and pushing the car, mishifted into 2nd gear by accident and revved waaayy past 8 grand.

Now my question you guys is this, any tips to help make this process any easier? I know you've done this sevral times already CPmike so your words of wisdom would defintely help. Also, any thing else to look for while im in there the quite possibly might have been damaged?

Thanks to any responses in advance, I really need help right now cause this is my ONLY car and need it to get to class and my two jobs.

[NAiL05]

Well obviously your going to have to pull the head if you are sure you bent some valves. What motor did you do this on?

[1990HybridCB7]

H22

[cp[mike]]

sucky man. like you said, i definitely know how it feels.

ill tell you right now, dont expect to drive your car anytime soon.

when you try starting the car, does it sputter and start up? or just spin? i wonder how badly they are actually bent.

you have two options - pull the head off, bring it to a shop, and let them do their thing. they will vacuum test each valve to see which ones have been affected, then you can replace them from there - but its not cheap. its usually the exhaust valves, so however much it costs for 8 valves plus labor..

option two, is to just get a new head. you might be able to find a used one for less than you would pay for new valves in your old head.


either way, the head needs to come off, and you need to replace the headgasket, as well as the cam seals. and anything else along the way, though it doesnt usually break anything besides just bending the valves.

[wed3k]

sucky man. like you said, i definitely know how it feels.

ill tell you right now, dont expect to drive your car anytime soon.

when you try starting the car, does it sputter and start up? or just spin? i wonder how badly they are actually bent.

you have two options - pull the head off, bring it to a shop, and let them do their thing. they will vacuum test each valve to see which ones have been affected, then you can replace them from there - but its not cheap. its usually the exhaust valves, so however much it costs for 8 valves plus labor..

option two, is to just get a new head. you might be able to find a used one for less than you would pay for new valves in your old head.


either way, the head needs to come off, and you need to replace the headgasket, as well as the cam seals. and anything else along the way, though it doesnt usually break anything besides just bending the valves.

just replace the valve, i tihnk they need to pull the valves in order to pressure test the head.

it was how i was taught anyways :o
valve stem seals = 20 bucks
that valve should be 10 bucks
surface head = 45
pressure test = 45

[1990HybridCB7]

sucky man. like you said, i definitely know how it feels.

ill tell you right now, dont expect to drive your car anytime soon.

when you try starting the car, does it sputter and start up? or just spin? i wonder how badly they are actually bent.

you have two options - pull the head off, bring it to a shop, and let them do their thing. they will vacuum test each valve to see which ones have been affected, then you can replace them from there - but its not cheap. its usually the exhaust valves, so however much it costs for 8 valves plus labor..

option two, is to just get a new head. you might be able to find a used one for less than you would pay for new valves in your old head.


either way, the head needs to come off, and you need to replace the headgasket, as well as the cam seals. and anything else along the way, though it doesnt usually break anything besides just bending the valves.

Thanks for the input, yea I feel like such a dipshit right now . Can't dwell(SP) now though, just gotta sucvk it up and fix it. Now for these options. I think I'll go with option two cause I know for a fact that before I did this the head itself was in perfect working order and I dont want to risk my chances with another head.

The only problem I see with taking it to a shop is that I don't know of a reputable shop to take it to. I guess I'll have to ask around.

So did you run into any obstacles that slowed you down along the way that I should look out for?

BTW, when I go to start it, it does sputter for alittle than turn over

[cp[mike]]

well i brought my head to the shop, and he tried creating a vacuum on the combustion chambers themselves, each valve individually, as well as the intake and exhaust ports individually. narrowed it down to all 8 exhaust valves being bent.

Thanks for the input, yea I feel like such a dipshit right now . Can't dwell(SP) now though, just gotta sucvk it up and fix it. Now for these options. I think I'll go with option two cause I know for a fact that before I did this the head itself was in perfect working order and I dont want to risk my chances with another head.

The only problem I see with taking it to a shop is that I don't know of a reputable shop to take it to. I guess I'll have to ask around.

So did you run into any obstacles that slowed you down along the way that I should look out for?

no obstacles directly related to the bent valves, no.

i had other issues. the first time i fixed the valves, i completely redid the engine bay. and im still putting it back together after bending them the second time, with various setbacks along the way.


youve got a good outlook - crying about it wont fix it, at this point, all you can do is suck it up and deal with it, do what ya gotta do. just remember things will never go as planned, and will always cost more than planned.

but if youre willing to take on the project, good luck

edit: the fact that it starts and manages to stay running is a good sign that tho bent, they arent bent very bad, and you still have sufficient compression. in my case, the starter would just spin the motor freely, and it wouldnt even sputter or begin to start :P you probably dont have any problems other than bent valves.

[1990HybridCB7]

well i brought my head to the shop, and he tried creating a vacuum on the combustion chambers themselves, each valve individually, as well as the intake and exhaust ports individually. narrowed it down to all 8 exhaust valves being bent.


no obstacles directly related to the bent valves, no.

i had other issues. the first time i fixed the valves, i completely redid the engine bay. and im still putting it back together after bending them the second time, with various setbacks along the way.


youve got a good outlook - crying about it wont fix it, at this point, all you can do is suck it up and deal with it, do what ya gotta do. just remember things will never go as planned, and will always cost more than planned.

but if youre willing to take on the project, good luck

edit: the fact that it starts and manages to stay running is a good sign that tho bent, they arent bent very bad, and you still have sufficient compression. in my case, the starter would just spin the motor freely, and it wouldnt even sputter or begin to start :P you probably dont have any problems other than bent valves.

Thanks for the words of encouragement I'm looking at the service manual right now and it seems alittle intimidating with all these steps you gotta take and what not. So once I take the head off, the shop can pretty much do the rest as far as finding the bent valve and replacing it? Just gotta bring them the parts (Valves) and they can reassemble it so its just ready to be slaped back ontomy block?

I'm alittle iffy with my confidence in removing the head ( but I think i'll be alright), but I DO NOT want to touch any of the valvetrain components as of yet, I'd rather leave that to a shop if at all possible.

[cp[mike]]

well... you wont have to worry about touching the rocker arms or valves, but to take the head off, you need to remove the cam caps, cams, as well as the timing belt...

if youre capable/able to do that, and you can get the head off, yes a shop can do everything as far as diagnosing the bent valves and replacing them.

one key piece of advice: FOLLOW THE MANUAL. step by step. "tight enough" doesnt count, anything related to the head and its internal need to be torqued in proper sequence, to proper torque specs. you WILL need a torque wrench. its just much more precise work than working on the rest of the car... as long as you have patience to sit and do it bolt by bolt properly, youll be fine... if you get rushed/careless and skip steps or dont pay attention to the manual's suggestions and warnings, youll have problems. if youre not scared to work on the car and feel capable of learning how to do new things, head work isnt very hard, its just precision work.

the only reason i know how to do any of this is because i picked up my shop manual, and learned.

[1990HybridCB7]

Yea, im using Honda's service manual (took it from my job). I got all the torque specs right here and theres alot to follow when your torquing everything back down, thats not to big of a concern for me, I got plenty of patience for this kind of stuff.

I just hope everything works like it was before when the car is running again. Didn't you find that you were having oil starvation issues when you bent your valves for the second time?

Was that related to when you first replaced the valves or caused by something else all togther?

[wed3k]

the valves just go into a drill press and we polish the valve stems, if they wobble a lot...then ou know the rest.

[NAiL05]

Hasha makes me want to tear apart my head because of my mis shift (9200 ish rpm as read on my vafc) but engine still starts up fine and such no noises. So so far its been running decently well.

[1990HybridCB7]

Hasha makes me want to tear apart my head because of my mis shift (9200 ish rpm as read on my vafc) but engine still starts up fine and such no noises. So so far its been running decently well.

Wow, 9200? thats crazy. When i missed my shift I was already slightly bouncing off the limiter so when I shifted into 2nd I didn't have any kind of room for error and she flew WAY past 8 grand.

Im still undecided if im gonna go ahead and just rebuild the head with better parts or just replace the bent valves. Since money is tight I think for now im gonna have to stick to changing the valves.

[Rosko]

another good easy way to check bent valves on the bench is by flipping the head upside down and filling the combustion chambers with windshield washer fluid. the fluid is thin and has alcohol in it so it dries/cleans up fast. if you notice it seeping into the ports, then you've got something bent.

[1990HybridCB7]

^^^^^
I'll have to try that when I get the head off.

Well I just started working on the car and taking everything apart. Would I be able to get away with just unbolting the IM from the head and just letting it sit there or would I have to remove the manifold all togther?

I was JW because there alot to unplug or remove from the IM itself and would save alot of time if I could just slide it back W/O having to remove the actual manifold itself.
Also, this may be a solly question but, when I drain the coolant from the radiator, should I also drain it from the block?