2002 Malibu under valve cover

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Trying to chase down misfire, took these pictures during the job.

Vehicle has ~96,000 miles on it, conventional only.

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As for the engine misfire, how many miles are on the fuel-filter?

Also, two cans of seafoam in a full tank of gas cleans up the engine fuel system well.

I recently started using RedLine SL-1 fuel system cleaner. Pep-Boys sell it. For the first use of it, you put one bottle in a full tank of gas. After that you put it in at a rate of one bottle to 100 gallons. Our Impala runs better and gets better gas millage with Redline SL-1. The savings with improved gas millage is more than the cost of the RedLine SL-1. And the improvement in the way the engine runs make the car more fun to drive.
 
Looks very clean. Any update regarding the no compression thread? Did compression test low in that cylinder before the valve cover removal, and is the intake rocker loose or not?
 
Thanks for the responses. Concerning the misfire, read on...

Originally Posted By: mechanicx
Looks very clean. Any update regarding the no compression thread? Did compression test low in that cylinder before the valve cover removal, and is the intake rocker loose or not?


Compression was low in that cylinder, about 30 psi compared to 180 in 2 others I checked. Pulled the rear valve cover and discovered that one of the cylinder 5 rocker arms was so loose it was actually jiggling around freely.

But, it didn't appear to be stripped, just very loose somehow, so I torqued it down properbly and checked the other 5 on that bank (which seemed fine).

Don't know why that one was so loose. I'm letting the RTV dry overnight so tomorrow morning will find out if that solves the problem, but I don't know why it wouldn't.
 
Hmm it seems like that could be the reason for the huge drop in compression. Hopefully the threads are fine and it will stay torqued now. Maybe it never got tightened and so worked itself lose. Hopefully, that wil fix the low compression and misfire.
 
One more question, if I'm looking at the picture right, was it the last rocker to the viewer's left in the top photo that was loose? I think that is the #5 intake. And there is another rocker to the left that is not visible in the photo right?

I think starting from cylinder 1 to the right EI EI IE.
 
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Originally Posted By: mechanicx
One more question, if I'm looking at the picture right, was it the last rocker to the viewer's left in the top photo that was loose? I think that is the #5 intake. And there is another rocker to the left that is not visible in the photo right?

I think starting from cylinder 1 to the right EI EI IE.


You are correct on it being the #5 intake from what I was looking at.

2 days ago pulled the front valve cover to check the torques on all of the front rocker arm bolts but none seemed loose to begin with.

Changed the oil out to get rid of the likely excess fuel/fuel damage, drained and filled the coolant since I had to take off the bypass pipe anyway. Nextgen 10w30 is in there now, replacing a short (2300 mile) run of PP.

Here are a few pictures of the front rocker arms.

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Valve cover was so clean I didn't even bother wiping it down...

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For a late model car, it's very simple and straightforward to work on. Very well designed and decent layout. I think I used the same socket for half the bolts on the car through this project. If my 1993 GM truck was this simple I wouldn't end up with a complete metric and SAE socket set out by the end of every task.
 
So I take it you got the misfire fixed
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. Those are some really good pics and one clean engine. And I agree with you, other than a few minor issues like the intake gaskets, it is a better engine than it often gets credit for being.
 
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Originally Posted By: Steve S
Just think about how clean it would be if you ran syn oil at your oil change interval.
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Maybe it was that first run ever of PP for 2300 miles. I'm sure it was full of varnish and sludge before that.
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I had the owner go speak with the mechanic who likely did not correctly tighten that rocker arm bolt but unfortunately she didn't get very far, as I figured would happen. They denied it was their fault and wouldn't even reimburse her for their $60 (compression test) diagnosis.

For the record, their conclusion was "start shopping for a new car, it's going to cost you $1500 or more to have this fixed".
 
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