hit rev limiter going downhill

[Nic01101011]

possibly, has had a CEL forever(lambda code) but ran great, so i assumed it was a bad sensor and left it alone.

[kamotors]

do you know if the car is running rich or lean?

[Nic01101011]

not a broken rocker arm..... valvetrain looked fine

the car drives normally, its just down on power... it could be a coincidence that this happened a few days after a slight overrev. any other ideas what it could be? c

[Alkasquawlik]

Nick if you need an extra hand, you can give me a call and I'll help out if I have time.

[Nic01101011]

i do drive the car quite hard.. redlined several times a day. the other weekend the car bounced off the rev limiter for seconds at a time at the autox. maybe this was the straw that broke the camels back. well see, hopefully ill be able to take off the valve cover tommorow

[Spinning Tires]

My M20's lived on the rev limiter and i never broke a rocker. Just lucky it seems

[dashboardmonkey]

What, you dont have spare rocker arms lying around?
I thought that was a necessity of owning an E30?

Haha, I know I have like 20 of them, pfft hint hint

[Fidhle007]

If your motor is old enough to break a rocker you really should pull the head and redo it with new stuff all around. We just had a customer with a broken rocker and when we pulled the head we found the cam was completely worn out. This motor had supposedly been rebuilt 60k miles ago, but probably with the old parts. Suck it up and do the work properly, even though it will be expensive. At least you'll have a fresh head and it's a good opportunity to upgrade while you're in there.

[nando]

if it's an intake rocker, you can still drive it (assuming you've removed all the broken peices), but not if it's an exhaust rocker. you can unplug the injector going to that cylinder so it's not wasting fuel until you have a chance to change the rocker. you can also replace it without removing the head, it's tricky but not impossible.

[scabzzzz]

What, you dont have spare rocker arms lying around?
I thought that was a necessity of owning an E30?

[Nic01101011]

assuming it is a rocker arm..

is that an easy fix, do i have to pull the head?

also, is it a bad idea to be driving around?

[acefreely02]

its a broken rocker arm, ive done 3 already, first was was kinda a little ruff soun ding the other 2 didnt sound bad just down on power, they broke but letf enough to open the valve a small amount.. i can almost guarrenty its a broken rocker arm, most likely and intake one

[Nic01101011]

wouldnt a broken rocker arm make a lot of noise and run really roughly?

[dude8383]

don't know till you pop of that valve cover and have a looksy!

[Nic01101011]

update on symptoms

the car drives smoothly, but is down on power. it sounds fine, i really don't think anything mechanical broke.