I bought some new tires and hit the old two lane highways to rack up some miles for the break in. Smiling from ear to ear. Guy in an older 3 series BMW got behind me and heard the sound. We pull into a quick shop and I shut it down talked for a few minutes got back on the road and realized I had a dead skip. Pull over again raised the hood and clackaty clack valve sound. Slowly limped back home to do a hot valve adjustment. Pulled the cover and found a lash pad off #3 intake valve spring. Can I take that rocker arm off and put it back on? The lock nut was tight as I had done a cold adjustment when I put the motor together. Don't understand how it happened but I want to fix it ASAP. Only got 53 miles out of my scenic break in. Also the valve didn't fall as my Dad scared the crap out of me with that, maybe a Chevy does that or something.

It's the exhaust valve on #3 not intake. It's thickness is .162 on my old calipers, it's hard to tell from the flash.

I found some info http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread45677.html. Sorry I freaked out.

It's possible that you weren't completely on the base circle when you set the lash and it was larger than you measured. When you put it back on, remeasure and see where it was before it fell off. Open and close that valve and make sure it isn't sticking.

I had one come off my race car 4 hours into a 14 hour race and it turned out to be a weak spring. I was still using the original springs and they didn't like high RPM operation.

Edited August 11, 201212 yr by Jeff G 78

Lash pads can kick out from over revving, poor valve adjustment, weak spring causing valve float, or because its Tuesday. Loosen the rocker arm, reinstall the lash pad, and adjust the valves.

The valve can't fall down unless the collets/keepers are removed.

I'm gonna quote from Grant, "I love you guys but not like that". Thanks so much for your experience.

Ours fell out on Friday (maybe that's an east coast thing) while on the dyno at 7000rpm and wonder be told didn't destroy the cam or other moving bits and pieces in the head. Cam tower spacing was off. Our bad.

Hope you recover from this event. It was quite a shock to have happen and depressing until we found out it was okay.

These L engines are pretty tough.

When ours fell off in the race, we stayed on the track for another 2 hours before we pitted to diagnose and fix the tick. we lost only a handful of laps pulling the valve cover, finding the problem an fixing it. There was no damage from the mishap. Once it's off, it simply lays in the head.

Edited August 12, 201212 yr by Jeff G 78

Thank you John Coffey, you got my arse off the floor. Jeff I'm so glad you race because you've given me insight I wouldn't have otherwise. That lash pad replacement was 1 of the easiest things I've done so far, thank you also Gnosez for the re-asurrence. It is purring like a souped up wildcat now.

l'll keep my rpm's low for awhile since I'm still unsure about stuck valves. Olzed your a treasure of information, thanks for all your post. Thank you all again, I'll sleep good tonight

Edited August 12, 201212 yr by siteunseen

A lash pad came off on my '71 240Z today.  I had never heard of that happening so I searched and found this thread.  Valve adjustment nuts were tight and valves were adjusted a few months ago so I'm not sure why it came off.  Fortunately, it happened in the garage while I was working on it (trying to get the float height set correctly) so I was able to shut it down quickly, pull the valve cover and locate the problem.  Thankfully the lash pad was just sitting there right next to the valve it came off.

One member had a valve seat drop out of the head. This caused the loose lash pad.