Valve Problems
 

I have a 2004 SC Monte SS with about 44,500 miles on it. The Other day i was driving home from work when as i pulled away from a stop light the car started running very rough and almost scary. Instantly the check engine light started blinking so i limped the car home where me and my father proceeded to check the code. It came up with the code for misfire in cylinder 2. The next morning i took it over to the dealer and their conclusion was that when they checked the spark plug there was absolutely no gap on the plug so they did a compression test on the cylinder and found it was hardly holding any pressure. So in that case i would it is a valve issue which they are replacing. From what i have been told by others and have read on here, the L67 is a bulletproof engine, any clues on why this would happen? Also is there other problems that i should look out for while they are doing the repairs?

I was never told and they are not sure on what hit the plug to close the gap and for right now that is my biggest curiosity.

Thanks in advance

-Andy

RE: Valve Problems
 

Wow that is bizarre. Generally when things are rattling around inside a cylinder, it ain't a good thing. I guess they will find out when they pull the head off.
A friend of mine had the end of a sparkplug break off in his 4 year old Solara. Not knowing what was wrong, he limped it into the dealer. He left in a new Matrix. Hope things work out better for you. Let us know what happens.

RE: Valve Problems
 

if the valve fell into the engine, that whole engine will have to be replaced.... but if it had, i would think you may have noticed all of the smoke in your mirror as your drove home. i do'nt know... pretty bizarre if you ask me as well. do you drive hte living piss out of hte engine.. do you fire it up and floor it out of your driveway without letting the engine warm up properly? that does sound very odd, especiallly with such low miles.

RE: Valve Problems
 

Rarely ever do i drive it without letting it warm up a bit, i would not say it is driven hard, yea i punched it a few times but not very often. There was absolutely no smoke or anything just started misfiring like crazy.

I will keep you guys up to date on what happens, i took it back to the dealership last night, they are working on it today and tomorrow.

RE: Valve Problems
 

I got word from the dealership this morning that after pulling everything off they found that the piston was broken off. They did not tell me if it was the connecting rod or where it was broken but just that it was broken. So that is another week at the shop then i might just get my car back.

RE: Valve Problems
 

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully you have the extended warrenty. If not I'm sure one of the members on here can hook you up with the number to call and plead your case. Either way I would go down to the dealer and have them show me the piston. I don't think they are trying to screw you but I would want to know exactly what happened and why. Very unusual parts failure for a car with only 44500 easy miles.

RE: Valve Problems
 

I got 2 things going for me with this one.

the first is that the car is still covered under New York's lemon law warranty that covers the power train and the other is that the service writer at the dealership is one of my relatives. According to him there was no gouges in the cylinder and next time i get a chance im heading over there to check it out. They were having problems finding the piston locally so they had to order it, so that pushes it out another week.