Broken valve spring.....again

blonds-run-amuck · Post by **blonds-run-amuck** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:40 pm

I took my buggy in for a general check up and on the way to the shop, I thought i heard an unusaul "rattle". I just

got a call from the mechanic who said I had a broken valve spring and how lucky it was that

I brought it in..,.blah, blah, blah,....my question, it that unusual? It is the 2nd broken spring in less than 2 years. What is the cause? Is there a "fix"?

Tom-Kathleen · Post by **Tom-Kathleen** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 10:40 pm

We have had this issue also, but ours was a little more "painful". Do you have single springs? Do you have a cam larger than an Engle 110 in your engine? How many miles since the last spring break? The answers to these questions may help you get more information. Tom

blonds-run-amuck · Post by **blonds-run-amuck** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 3:27 am

Just picked up the buggy from the mechanic (same mechanic that did the rebuild 18 months ago) The new motor probably has 1500 miles on it. It has single valve springs and the mechanic couldn't remember the cam size but assured me it was small and sized correctly for the motor (1776). He check all the springs and said they look good. He will replace them all with heavy duty springs after the Mammoth run.

Ed-Chenal · Post by **Ed-Chenal** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 4:29 am

If you had a high performance engine and you drove your Buggy like you hated it, one could understand the results. Since you don't, the integrity of your mechanic's work is suspect.

Tom-Kathleen · Post by **Tom-Kathleen** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 12:35 pm

We were told (after the fact) that we should have had double valve springs for our application. Also, that they only last @ 20,000 miles. The engine had @ 21,000 miles on it. It had a valve job @ 1,000 miles before the spring broke. The shop that did the valve job said the springs were OK. This was on our trip to Big Bear in 2007, where we broke down in New Mexico and had to U-Haul the car home. Hence, the "painful" part. Tom

manxdavid · Post by **manxdavid** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 3:58 pm

I'd be wary of any mechanic who can state that all the rest of the springs are OK just by looking at them. I'd replace them all as soon as possible, if the springs used have tighter coils at one end they should go to the head. Single stronger springs should be fine with anything other than a really wild cam, as long as the valve geometry is set OK and decent chrome-moly cut-to-length pushrods are used (cut to the correct length of course).

Tom-Kathleen · Post by **Tom-Kathleen** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 5:03 pm

Our springs were supposedly checked during the valve job by doing a compression check on each spring. The heads were CB Performance 044 big valve heads. I am sure there are other better single springs, but we were later told (not by C B Performance) that those springs only last @ 20,000 miles. I guess our "unofficial" warranty was up. Tom