Broken Lifter? Bent pushrod - Solved, stuck closed valve

[4Gears4Tires]

1985 Westy, 1.9 wbx

Is this possible? A few days after the first maiden voyage in 25ish years, I went to start the van and it went CLANK and that was the end of that. I removed the pushrod, removed the rocker arms, and replaced the very bent pushrod. But now the curious thing, with the new push rod in, when I go to rotate the motor over, by hand, I get a spot where the motor still won't rotate. Why? If I remove the rocker arm, the engine rotates normally. Perhaps I didn't have the rocker arm seated properly?

I put a magnet down the push rod tube and the lifter seems very loose, it will slap back and forth. The lifter to the left of it makes very neat snicksnicksnick sounds. It makes sense to me if it is completely bled down, or broken. Do they break?

Could it be something else like a bent valve? How would I check that?

Unfortunately I can't get any good pictures of the lifter.

Tellingly though, the bent pushrod rocker arm did not have the same amount of oil as the non bent one.

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'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[dobryan]

Get a borescope and see what is in there, good for the cylinder too.

https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Lens-Adjustable-Waterp...3&th=1
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2010 Subaru EJ25 (Vanaru) and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[MarkWard]

To bend the pushrod, the valve would have had to been hit by the piston. So the valve could be bent and sticking open. However you say engine turns freely with the pushrod removed which indicates the valve isn’t interfering. I’d remove all the rocker shafts and do a cylinder leak down. Look at the valve stem lengths for comparison heights and roll the pushrods on a flat surface. Bummer. If leakage is good and pushrods are straight you are going to need to go further in.

I have read here that carbon deposits accumulate on the valve stem and when the engine has sat, the valves will stick in the guides. You may end up pulling the intakes and physically cleaning the valve stems. All the intake valve stems are likely carboned up.

Disclaimer, I’ve only read this. I’ve not actually have it happen to me.

[4Gears4Tires]

I very much doubt I will pull the head and clean the valves. I will most likely pull the motor and toss the wbx away. And the van will sit all summer while I'm down in VA. Major bummer.

A bent valve is definitely my biggest concern.

I pull all the rocker arms and push rods. There is one pushrod, which I stupidly forgot which place it came out of, I think 3rd (counting from rear forward) on the passenger side that is ever so slightly bent. If that is the place, it's the same place on the driver side that bent. I rotated all the pushrods against the new one I bought and I can see light in certain places when rotated. But you'd need the thinnest of feel guages to measure how out of round it is. I can't imagine that level of bent affects anything, but I had planned on replacing it anyway.
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'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[4Gears4Tires]

A bent valve doesn't seem likely, thankfully. But I am still not ruling it out.

Kind of blurry, this is the lifter. Doesn't look any different from the one next to it.

It does seem like there was some contact though. But maybe this is just where the flame front is burning off carbon?

At 20psi the leak down was in the green, but if I increased the pressure to 30psi, the gauge went past "Set" and into the white. This is tested with no rocker arms on. So the valves should be fully down and in place.

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'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[borninabus]

maybe a stuck valve? seized in the guide.
move the piston to BDC, take a soft implement and whack the offending valve stem.
what happens?

i drove around with a bent pushrod for so long that it eventually wore a hole in the tube, alerting me to the problem.
after checking that the valve was not still seized and not having any other option at the time, i straightened it, put in a collapsible tube and motored on.....for years
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88 Van WBX, A/T - 13 JSW TDI 6M/T - 2012 Touareg TDI Sport

[4Gears4Tires]

I will try tapping on it. My neighbor, a master mechanic now instructor, suggested getting a pry bar on it to verify if it moves as well.
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'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[MarkWard]

I wasn’t saying to pull the heads to clean the valve stems. You could do a decent job of cleaning through the intake ports. That’s assuming valves aren’t bent.

It’s not ideal situation but reasonable. With the rockers off, soak the valves with oven cleaner through the intake port. Let soak and then wash out with fresh water. Some shops have walnut blasters that make this job less messy. Intake still needs to come off for access.

[4Gears4Tires]

Thanks Mark, if I get up the energy to pull the intake, I will do that. Maybe I can run a can of Seafoam through the intake and it will help clean the valves.

[Xevin]

[jlrftype7]

[MarkWard]

Surprised to hear the valve was stuck closed enough that it bent the pushrod. Glad you got it figured out. Anything that might help top end lubrication in the fuel. Maybe some Marvel Mystery oil. There used to be a fuel additive we were adding during services at VW. I recall the name was Techron. It was supposed to fight carbon buildup on the intake valves.