Replaced headgaskets in an XT6 and a couple of the rocker arms fell off after a few minutes of running. No noises or indication it just quit running and starting....What could cause this?

 

Poor HLA's seems a likely guess but i've had a bunch of XT6 engines apart and the HLA's making terrible racket for awhile before they're fully pumped up (suggesting they were seriously far from primed) and this never happened before.

 

Someone else (Woodswagon/91 Loyale) mentioned in another thread that old/bad gas can cause this - creating varnish and sticking the valves open from sitting? Guess I'll try to see if I can tell if they're sticking by rotating it by hand?

 

Trying to avoid going through this all over again with the same end results - it's the drivers side of course which is much more annoying. LOL

 

I have a couple new HLA's on order to go ahead and replace them all while it's apart.

Edited May 31, 201213 yr by grossgary

I know this won't help a lot but I have seen this more than once over the years on various different vehicles without explanation. Sometimes a valve gets tagged too:confused: