rocker arm broke time to pull the head

[Th3Jesus]

Pulling the head for the 2nd time in 2 months. Because my friend in his e30 who did a top speed run broke his rocker arm told me about it and i made fun of him, he ended up spending 1100 bucks to replace it... so 4 weeks later i do a top speed run. first time taking the car past 4k rpm. so i did my run... next day got in the car saw black smoke and felt a loss of power and a different noise... said shit and now here i am waiting for my gaskets to come in (over night early morning shiping). imma take some fun picks of the arm.

cost of a broken rocker arm

E30- $1100 parts and labor oceanside autosport

2002- $65- gasket set w/ shipping. free rocker arm from La Jolla indie misc. parts $20. oil $25, coolent $15 total $125

Know what I am doing just asking for some tips about the head assembly for the rocker arm. 1975 2002

[SteveJ]

When this happens, take a look at the lower timing gear. Just to make sure there is no wear on the teeth. Poor condition on the gear can cause a timing chain to slip.

[c.d.iesel]

...... yea - $65 is your starting point . . . . . . . . .

rockers "just" don't break

some other influence - like poor assembly,

missing parts, piston smacking valve, loose nut

inside combustion chamber, broken spark plug bits

in combustion chamber ? . . . . . . . . .

so when you have the head off - inspect the timing chain

and the chain rails, tensioner, other rocker arms, proper

placement of rocker/shaft/spacers/springs/lube tube function

oil pressure/piston tops/ broken con rods ? . . . . . . . . . . . .

[TobyB]

or much more likely, loose adjuster, very weak (or wrong) valve springs

or missing rocker retaining springs.

or maybe missing timing chain tensioner bits.

I run mine right out to 7500 (better springs, is all)

and it typically gets a couple of seasons out of a set of rockers-

and when one fails, it is ALWAYS, and i do repeat ALWAYS the case

that I measure the spring under it and find it to be weak. Did I say ALWAYS

enough?

But if the valve adjuster backs off, that can do it at about 4500 or so-

the slapping is just too much for them.

th3 t