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Okay so first off, yea this is my first posting... I've been doing work to a 99 LX Civic that was overheating and blew a head gasket. Well I did a timing belt, head gasket, rod bearings and ect job and accomplished everything very well. I work on motorcycles mostly so some good engine knowledge is here. Anyway I got the car put back together and she ran better than ever. Car went 120 miles and broke a camshaft somehow, machine shop was surprised it happen also. So I got a new camshaft and installed it, quick inspection and put everything back together.

Ran the car again and developed a knock, I was presuming rod knock due to what just accrued, so I pulled the oil pan off and ect and did my plastigage testing and came out alright, still looks like new bearings. So at this point I am not sure what the knock is.

I took the head back into the shop and had the valve job done, nothing was wrong with my valves, so they cleaned and installed new valve seals. So I am still trying to figure out where the knock is coming from. Well I got it back and put the cam back in and put on rockers and torque down correctly by service manual while the head is out of car and when I go to turn the cam its very tough and springy to rotate around for adjusting valves. (This is my first time adjusting valves out of car)

Is it normal for it to be this hard to turn a camshaft around on the head while its off the block? I would imagine a mild force but with smooth transitioning. Right now if the cam is #1 TDC and I turn counter-clockwise it kinda hard like compression stroke and then it springs fast to #3 TDC and so on for every 90 degree turn.

But I am starting to think maybe it was a spark knock.. I am hate my self if it turns out to be.

Let me know if that is normal to be so tough to turn, so i may continue my learning curve.

Any other positive and helpful comments please feel free to share.

 
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you sure you got the right camshaft for it?

 
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Yeah positive, came out the same engine.

 
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not sure of the causes, but no, it's not normal to have that much resistance as you described. (beyond that, hard to tell) - wait fer more to butt in maybe someone else had similar experiences.

PS: nice profile pic... illustrates very well yer not joking about the demise of previous camshaft... would it be possible something else was damaged during the farewell of the camshaft?

 
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Yeah, I am wondering if the machine shop might have install the valves wrong maybe. But Thanks sdaidoji for your input.


Hahaha yes it was a epic break... I can't see anything visually wrong but my rockers arm ***. isn't and hasn't been that easy to line up and settle in properly. Maybe the rocker assembly is toast too??

 
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The camwheel will hard to turn, especially while not bolted down to the block, the springiness you feel is normal as each cam lobe "breaks over center".. clamp it to your work bench real good & rotate it that way.
Gives you an idea of how stout those timing belts are.

 
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I will not clamp my interference engine head to a work bench. The weight of the head is bad enough...

 
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mine was slightly easier to rotate than yours. remove the rocker arms and inspect? as said, it could have been damaged during the unfortunate incident (or even the cause...) - could even be the where you clamp the cams, also...

 
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Yeah, I have a used but newer rocker arm assembly replacing the one during the incident thinking the same thing. It's kinda odd if you ask me. The new assembly is shown in video if anyone was wondering....

 
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Talked to the pros and its 100% normal and in excellent condition. I was worried about nothing, better than being cocky that's for sure. Wasted enough money and time for this car.

But Thank You Everyone!

 
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So, are you still hearing the knocking noise or no?

 
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hope all is well. Mine did not take that much efforts to move, but it could be related to different engines, so. hope all is well now fer ya

 
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So what happened?!!! I'm dying to know what it was. I've got a similar situation as you had. Question: How easily is the rocker arm assembly damaged?