'86 Sundancer 30'
New member
I would really appreciate some advice....I had a small clanking sound in my port engine. Over 30-45 minutes of running it got worse. There was no backfiring or other problems. Power remained "normal" as far as I could tell. Compression was checked and Cylinder 5 had "slightly low" compression and a noise was noticed in Cylinder 2. It was decided to remove the heads and see what was going on. (No leak test, no checking under the valve covers first.?) Manifolds were removed, valve covers were removed. Rocker Arms were almost all removed when a bent push rod was found at cylinder 2. So, what to do then?? Given the possible new issues with removing the heads, cracking them, creating new issues, etc. I am leaning towards A) putting a new push rod in, putting the manifolds back on and turning the engine over to see if any other problems can be seen vs B) going ahead and taking the heads off to be rebuilt. If "A", then if no other problems can be found, the issue is resolved and the cost is ~$150 vs "B" at $1000- $1200. If other problems are found then, tear it back down and proceed to remove the heads (costing ~$300 more than it would have otherwise because of putting it back together and then taking it apart AGAIN). Thoughts..."A" or "B" or.... Thank you so much!