Anyone else ever seen this before?   1.6L 16v Stuck intake valves.  Run then lose compression over night.  Then run then lose compression 5 hrs later?   


I towed my Junk 500 miles round trip to the Zu event and back this weekend. 

..........                My 4-dr Kick never ran.... 

This was the first run for my lifted 4-dr after sitting up for 18 months, while I played with the new Rock buggy.  The fuel in the tank had fouled and killed the pump.   After installing a new fuel pump the truck fired right up and ran well.  I washed it up and loaded it on the trailer for my trip. Apparently the gremlins attacked it full force on Thursday while I was at work and by Friday morning it had mysteriously lost all compression while sitting on the trailer.    WTF  (Never seen that before) ~ I had just driven it on the trailer with no issue two days before.

  Wrenching last minute Friday morning in shear panic I checked the timing belt, cam timing and other obvious stuff.  Thinking it was fouled fuel related (Weeping injectors / stuck rings) I oiled the cylinders with marvel mystery oil and magically got it running again with good compression numbers 175 x4 .  I then let it run for 2 hrs and shut down / restart Ok.   Finished packing and left for the ZU around 2pm. 
 
      At Wal-Mart in Troy 200 miles from home and 10 miles from the event.  I tried to start the Kick but again no compression.  Strange being I just had it running 5 hrs earlier 

So I stopped by Advance auto in Troy for more Marvel Mystery oil and some sea foam fuel treatment.  Saturday morning I oiled the cylinders and played with it for 2+ hrs before removing the valve cover and finding 5 stuck intake valves.  I oiled the valves with Marvel Mystery oil and later with Kroil (Better than WD-40).  Then I proceeded to tap them with a hammer and screwdriver ( just a shock vibration to loosen them up).  I was able to free up a few and restore compression back to cylinder #1.  Eventually I goofed up and knocked a spring retainer clip / keeper loose on #2.  I ended up partially dropping an intake valve / releasing a spring.  Working to reset it with a rope in the cylinder would hold the valve up but compressing the spring and reseting the clips under the cam was not gonna happen with out removing the cam & maybe the head too.   

   So while I still had 1/2 of sat left I reassembled, re trailered and focused on spending time with the family around the camp.   The Friends Dinner & Camping were great and my family had a good time anyway. 

Hopefully I'll get it back up and running again soon.
   

That is news to me, I have never ever heard of anything like that before

Sounds like there was some water or moisture in the valve cover which caused the valve stems to corrode while it was sitting.

I have not found any moisture or milky oil.  But seems like the valves that sat closed have the issue.

I'm wondering if the fouled varnished (Pine tar like) fuel could have gumed them up that quick. 


I'm gona attempt to remove the cam and make repairs with the head on.  If I pull the head I'll check it out and rebuild it. 

I have not found any moisture or milky oil.

It does not have to be that wet. But if the engine sat long enough for the oil to drain/evaporate from the valve stems any moisture present would attach itself to any oil free surface.

I'm wondering if the fouled varnished (Pine tar like) fuel could have gumed them up that quick.

I don't think this could be the problem, Fuel which has sat to long usually causes problems in the fuel system not the combustion chamber.

It could be that the oil on the valve stems dried out. If the esters in the oil evaporate what you are left with is a sticky mess which could cause this problem also.

One word: Stabil.

Stale,old fuel can do this. All manufactureers use an additive called olefin.Olefin is a wax substance for lubrication.When you combine the other additives in the old, stale fuel,the"wax"will not disapate. When your engine warms up the wax starts to stick to the stems. When you shut the engine off the wax sticks to the hot stem and coaks it,therefore sticking the valve in the position it's in. This happens all the time in OHC &OHV lawnmower engines. Hope this helps.

if u are gonna put the retainer back in and dont want to take off the head just go to a autoparts store and pick up a air chuck for a compressor that threads into the spark plug hole

I've got the air line from snap-on to make that happen (From back in my wrenching for a living days).

Currently it is held up with 1/4" nylon rope piled up in the cylinder with th episton raised up to TDC.

Upon further discussion I believe it is fould fuel (that Okezuki mentioned)  AS I understand the fuel has coated the intake valve stems and coaked / varnished, causing them to stick.   

Speaking to a few people in the know (2) shop owner & (1) salvage yard Mgr.  They all agree this is a common occurance with old fuel and all vehicles are succeptable.  Each shared their similar horror story (Stuck valves / bent pushrods) 50's ford / big block 460, to running junker take out fuel in the shop roll back.

If my issue were moisture related I should have exhaust valve issues too.

Stale,old fuel can do this. All manufactureers use an additive called olefin.Olefin is a wax substance for lubrication.When you combine the other additives in the old, stale fuel,the"wax"will not disapate. When your engine warms up the wax starts to stick to the stems. When you shut the engine off the wax sticks to the hot stem and coaks it,therefore sticking the valve in the position it's in. This happens all the time in OHC &OHV lawnmower engines. Hope this helps.

This is the first time I have heard an explanation of why old gas is bad news.  Short of diluting it with good gas, is there something practical that you can do to old gas to make it usable?  Throwing it out is like throwing out gold nowadays.

mixing stabil helps ...