After my Levin finally passed inspection, and the issue with the leaking clutch was fixed, a friend an I went on a drive to Yokosuka, to eat some American burritos and enjoy the seaside. The 86 ran well, and we had no problems at all. On the way home, I noticed some slight smell of burned oil, but not severe. The car wasn’t even smoking, so I thought this may be the exhaust warming up for the first time in a long time. I drove home, parked the car, and went to bed.
The next day, I wanted to start the car, but it failed. The starter was just cranking. After lots of cranking, it briefly ran, but only on two cylinders, and died almost immediately.
I first checked the fuel supply and ignition, which were OK. When I span the engine over by hand, I noticed that it turned over surprisingly easy. I therefore got a compression meter:
Cylinder 1: 13 bar, cylinder 2: 13 bar, cylinder 3: 0 bar, cylinder 4: 11 bar.
What a bummer. The reason was found after opening the valve covers.
A valve shim on the intake valve had disintegrated.
The cam is junk:
And the cylinder head is likely junk, too.
because of the damage in the cylinder head, the valve is stuck in the open position. Compared to the second intake valve, the lifter is way too low. The lifter is stuck in this position.
I still need to disassemble the cylinder head and check the condition of the pistons, which will decide if I need a new engine or a if a new head is sufficient.
That is pretty frustrating.
