[MichiganMat]

whats all the cringing about? Its just a burned valve. Maybe Im wrong, but the only thing to fear about that valve is a loss of compression. An old subaru of mine had the same issue, ran like champ for 250K miles. Is there really need for concern?

Secondly, I think I found the cause of the problem. The blackened cylinders are not 2 & 3, they are 5 & 6. I had a small mouse nest over 6 when I bought the car (no PPI (i know, i know)) but it was really minor. Anyway, it must have toasted those valves back there. 6 is definitely the worst, 5 is not so bad, the rest are fine. I did inspect the #6 exhaust valve as best I could and I didn't see any pieces missing or fried off, so either I can't see it or the problem is with the rings and not the valve.

Chalk it up to a rookie mistake I guess. Maybe one of these days when I find time for an engine rebuild I'll get a chance to replace that stuff, but Im going to run it for now. Hell, theres probably enough room back there to do the whole thing with the motor in the car! Unless theres a threat of the car exploding into a ball of flame, Im going to keep pounding on the beotch...