would a bent valve be obvious when it comes to perfomance? I guess what i'm saying is if i had a bent valve would it be painfully obvious when it comes to the sound or performance of my engine? I've been trying to pass emissions, not throwing any codes, has new, o2 sensor, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, fresh oil change. my next thing is to check timing. i just need to pass these darn emissions.

 

I assume from your post that you failed echeck.

What were your readings, and what are the limits in your area ??

And what changes have you made since those readings ??

 

usually a bent valve would be noticeable, at least to me. I've never had a engine with a bent valve but had a few burnt valves and they tend to have a miss. A quick way to tell if a valve is burnt, bent or sticking is to hold a dollar bill up to the exhaust while the engine is running. It should blow the bill away but if it tries to suck it in then you have a valve problem of some sort. Its just a quick way to confirm or eliminate valves as a source of trouble.

 

use a vacuum gauge to see if a bent valve is the problem in the engine.

 

 

just do a compression test if you suspect a bad valve

 

a vacuum gauge can diagnose a number of problems including a bad valve.

it is a little easier than doing a compression test and will show thing wrong that a compression check will not.

look in any manual for how to read it or read the instructions that come with it.