[Jdogg]

Not sure if anyone else has had this happen...

The rockers in these motors are a little different than normal k20 vtec rockers, they are aluminum and i broke one...

Notice the spring laying in the head

in the next pic notice the pin hanging out the side of the rocker, hitting the cam cap on the right.

Turns out there is a c-clip inside the pin bore that holds everything together. They are not closed off solid like the older steel rockers.

here the c-clip came out, the washer, spring, and small vtec pin came out. the long pin you see there is the middle pin that normally sits in the middle vtec rocker.

i noticed something wrong b/c I had a slight missfire at idle and every now and then i'd get a hard misfire (i guess the pin was catching the head and popping the intake valve open) the missfire at idle was due to the right rocker and the vtec rocker being stuck together, so that one of the valves on that cylinder was always in vtec.

Of course honda wont warranty it due to there being an intake on it..

New rocker will be here tomorrow, and I put some supertech springs and retainers in it today.

Good news is that standard k20 springs, retainers and spring seats work just fine.

 

[SignalCorpsFLNG]

How did this end up happening ?

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[DOHCtor]

I'm pretty sure they have to repair your car as a broken Rocker Arm does not have nothing to do with a simple air intake... check out the Magnusson-Moss law that you have in the US of A!

They have to PROVE that the air intake caused the mess and in no way a simple air intake would break a rocker Arm... Maybe a miss-shift or a Reflash with more RPM's but an intake... lol! Call a lawyer!

Marko!

 

[SB2012SI]

I'm pretty sure they have to repair your car as a broken Rocker Arm does not have nothing to do with a simple air intake... check out the Magnusson-Moss law that you have in the US of A!

They have to PROVE that the air intake caused the mess and in no way a simple air intake would break a rocker Arm... Maybe a miss-shift or a Reflash with more RPM's but an intake... lol! Call a lawyer!

Marko!

This is correct. I work for Honda and a simple intake will not cause that to happen therefore still allowing your warranty to cover the defective product.

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[japspecjohn]

exactly my thoughts

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[Jdogg]

trust me i know the rules.... im a tech at a dealer.

bottom line is i could have fought and won, but on the interest of i want my car drivable now, fixing it myself is the best option.

they wrote it up as customer states there is a misfire.. with the stock program in the ecu the fuel trims are all over the place and beyond hondas limits. with the fuel trims out of wack they cant officially rule that out as the cause of the misfire and due to all that warranty wont let them pull the valve cover. they wont replace rockers because i walk up and say they are broken.

 

[DOHCtor]

I'm sure if you show 'em some pics, they will say ''Oh shit!'' and repair the car. On the other hand, repair it yourself and you won't be unsure if the job was done right!

Marko!

 

[Jdogg]

I finally got it all back together and damn these aluminum rockers are a PAIN!

I'll post pics tomorrow to better explain, but these have a big dish in the retainer due to the thickness of the aluminum rocker..

With the standard k20 springs/retainers in there, the new retainers hit the bottom of the rockers on both the intake and exhaust sides. After a 1/2 day of grinding it all fits!

The car runs better than it ever has, I almost think my rocker was messed up from the day I got the car.

 

[SICoupe]

^ glad everything went good and fixed now

 

[carking10]

It happended to me when my Si had 1200 miles on it. They kept asking me if I was revving it up at the time. I was just driving slow at like 35mph and lost power.

 

[Roadcourse2]

Magnuson-Moss act. They're trying to hose you. This is a black and white case of "they're wrong".

 

[Jdogg]

Magnuson-Moss act. They're trying to hose you. This is a black and white case of "they're wrong".

smh... i know and i dont care.. im happy with what i did. they wouldnt have put aftermarket springs and retainers for me lol

 

[immajackuup]

op over rev?

 

[Jdogg]

no over rev... but an over rev wouldnt cause the failure i had. ill get pics of the pieces tomorrow

 

[fistpoint]

smh... i know and i dont care.. im happy with what i did. they wouldnt have put aftermarket springs and retainers for me lol

Just on principle you should fight them after the fact. At least get the money for the parts refunded. Can you imagine the hassle any one of us non-mechanics would to go through? Kicking them in the balls makes them less likely to try it again on the next guy.

Principle!

 

[JamesB1985]

Where them pictures at J dogg!?

 

[Jdogg]

These are the pieces that were laying in the head.. the c-clip is what holds it all together. That came out of the groove in the rocker and allowed the other pieces to come out.

Here you can see the pin was all smashed up and deformed.

And here you can see where the things were bashing the side of the rocker trying to get out. The hole there is where all this stuff goes.

 

[9GenSi]

All due to one .29 cent "C-clip".

 

[Jdogg]

I I kind of think its more due to assembly error than an actual part failure. I put the clip back in and there is plenty of tension to keep it in place

 

[jtsi2012]

Impressive fix Jdogg! Thanks for the pics.