I was driving my car when all of a sudden I heard a noise from my engine. The car died and I pulled it over. I lifted up the hood and a cam gear had broke along with my timing belt. I had it towed home. I took the valve cover off and didn't see any damage in there. Could I have bent a valve? Is there a way to check if a valve is bent without taking off the head? Please give me any info you could. Thanks

 

Do a compression check.

 

Do you know how to do that? Could you tell me what I have to do? Thanks

 

You can get a kit at Discount for around $40 I think. Its pretty self explanitory from there. Just remember when you turn the motor over, that you have the throttle wide open.

 

Ok. Thanks for the info.

 

Throttle wide open? Never heard that....

The Compression checker screws into the Spark plug hole. Disconnect the distributor, and crank the motor over 5-6 times, and check the gauge. Then move to the next cylinder. Depending on the motor, you will get readings like this:
210-210-205-210

and if you have a bent valve, expect this:
210-180-205-210

and broken ring lands on pistons would more than likely look like this:
21-75-205-210

Those are just examples. This is a very easy test....and I still don't know why you would do it "FULL THROTTLE"....doesn't make since.

BTW: The idea is to NOT start the engine, just turn it over, which is why you would want to disconnect the distributor

 

A how to on compression.
Click here!