rocker shaft retaining pin, should I be concerned?

[downforce22]

My m20 had a single clicking last time I drove it before I turned it off so I decided to check underneath the valve cover. I may need to do a valve adjustment, but I noticed the retaining pin on the front of the head was not sitting correctly. It seems to be wedged sideways.

Should I be concerned about this coming out and screwing up my intake valves? I tapped on it with a hammer but it seems to be wedged in there pretty good. What do you think?











If the pin were to come out, the shafts could rotate which could lead to the retaining pins hitting something, right?

[spdracrm3]

yea definitely something not right there it should be flush and move easily ,looks like the intake shaft has moved (twisted and possibly fore/aft) ,and you need to take the retainer out and check the slots in the shaft . you definitely want that flush with head for VC install

might be a sign of a rocker seizing ?

[Ether-D]

Yep, you should be able to twist the rocker shaft (carefully) until the slot lines up with the locking thingamabob. It needs to be clocked correctly for enough oil to make it to the rockers. Also, it is very likely the major cause of your valve cover hemorrhaging oil. Good luck.

[downforce22]

Thanks guys. Turns out the rockers put a moment onthe shaft when the cam is engaged so I had to pull the front of the engine apart and basically just turned the engine over until number 6 intake and number 3 I believe was not on cam. Then I moved both intake and exhaust rockers over the the exhaust cam. This allowed me to turn the engine over so intake 6 was on full cam which meant the other four intake valves were not engaged and I was able to rotate the shaft and put the pin back in the correct spot.

I guess replacing cylinder number 1 intake rocker arm with the head still on the car prepares you for this type of work. Maybe I should make a write up for others?

We will see if it fixed the ticking I was hearing on the way back home last week.