Topic

Engine had a vvc related incident which resulted in piston 2 and valves having a coming together.
Sourced a replacement of known vintage, good mileage and quiet mechanisms.
All assembled with top grade supplies and fired up on the button.
Truly quiet, nice but running wobbly with lots of petrol fumes.
Checked new plugs, 1-2 very sooty, 3-4 clean. Checked compressions all four the same.
Was running fine on donor vehicle and apart from an as yet uninspected failure on my engine was running fine. Can’t be a coil because it’s 1-2. Has compression so that’s ruled out and nothing has been stripped, valves can’t be stuck.
Any sensible or otherwise suggestion entertained, thanks Ian

Hi and welcome to the forum

Did you swap the inlet or use your old one?
I'm just wondering about the condition of the injectors.

James

Hi James, the original inlet with injectors was used. They were ok before the valve incident. I haven’t stripped the original head yet to find what caused the original problem except to say all belts were pristine. Car was running beautifully.

As an experiment , why not change 1&2 injectors with 3&4 and see if the sooty plugs swap over when you test run it . Either that or you need to have a diagnostic test for over fueling .
John

I have never worked on a VVC, but isnt the inlet camshaft split in two? Split between 1+2 and 3+4

Could there be a timing issue with one of the cams, or a VVC mechanism sticking?

Just an uneducated thought!