Got my fingers crossed (again) that you don't have to strip this engine down much further, jinstv. Here's my hopes the cylinder walls/pistons look good.

John B.

That?s crap, you should insert the damaged cam into the mechanics sphincter.

I don't know about the rest of you but 2 men 1 camshaft is NOT a video I'll be clicking in the near or distant future.

How does a leanin' lifter even happen in the first place? Did he just dump parts in there from a Yahtzee cup and tighten bolts?

Here's hoping the rest comes together smoothly now!

I had the same thing happen when I had my heads off to replace the valve stem seals back in 2005 - everything went together fine but after starting it up it was missing on one cylinder. I eventually found the exact same issue - my #4 cylinder intake rocker arm had somehow tilted off the pivot. I ended up replacing the intake cam and rocker arm and its been fine ever since.

I'm not entirely sure how the rocker came off, but it was actually jammed into the side of the cylinder head. I had to use a screwdriver to pry it loose, and you can see where the rocker had embedded itself in the head. Would explain some of the noise I heard, but not the engine stalling after a few seconds. Does the ECU kill the engine if it detects too much knock from the knock sensor?

I don't think it does - usually the ECU will just retard the timing until the knock disappears.

Have you checked your catalytic converter? A clogged converter could explain the engine's running for only a short period of time.

And a valve not doing its job could explain a clogged converter... but I've never seen a cat THAT clogged that it would make the engine shut off <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />

I experienced it once on an old Dakota that I had. Suspected the cat was bad after I had a valve job done. While it was running I smacked the cat with a hammer to break up the junk, and it clogged so bad that it killed the engine. But it has a very distinct sound. Since it passed emissions not 15 minutes before it died on me, I'm inclined to think it is ok, but I haven't had it running long enough to make that determination.

Looking up some parts just a new cam is $264 shipped from mitsubishiparts.net. Yikes. I'd be better off getting a Clearwater head in that case. Unless someone knows of or has a driver side intake cam they are willing to part with.

what about that one in my garage?

Forgot about Lloyd's old engine. Can't hurt to pull the valve cover off and see what kind of shape it is in. I'm with the kids this weekend, but maybe I can check it out next week sometime once I get deeper into this engine.