At about 220,302 miles on the odometer (71 miles on the new engine), the new engine experienced a mechanical failure that resulted in it running on 3 cylinders. It was discovered that the rear exhaust valve spring for cylinder #2 had broken at the 3rd coil from the top, which prevented that exhaust valve from closing. The engine rebuilder stood behind me 110% on this. They paid for the engine to be shipped back to them, performed all repairs, did a good amount of other work that was not even necessary just to be sure that everything would be good, and shipped it back to me at no charge. I don't fault them for the failure since they buy the springs from an outside supplier, and that supplier seemed to have allowed quality to slip. All of the springs were pulled out of the head and replaced with an OEM style dual-spring setup from a different supplier.

On April 3, 2012 the original engine ran for its last time with 220,231 miles on the odometer. I had taken a few days to drive to San Diego and then Joshua Tree to camp with some old friends, and the timing case broke when I was driving home. I noticed the typical M42 "diesel" engine that is so indicative of a loose timing chain when I pulled off of I5 at a Shell gas station in Kettleman City ("the In-N-Out Burger exit"), and I presume that the things came loose about 10 miles before that. So, the final nail in the engine's coffin happened with about 220,067 miles on the odometer. I made the decision to drive the car as far as it could get me and then call AAA if the engine completely failed. I am very grateful that it decided to misbehave near Kettleman City, however. I took highway 247 up to Barstow from Joshua Tree, and then highway 58 from there to Bakersfield/I5. Had the timing chain gone then, I might have been stranded in the middle of the Mojave desert. There is not much out there, at all, and I am very happy that I gout out of that place before the car decided to misbehave!

As you may notice in this maintenance log, the timing chain assembly had been giving me frequent trouble for a couple of years, and I was ready to get rid of the engine, and possibly the whole car. By keeping the engine speed above 3000RPM, the oil pressure was sufficient to have the timing chain tensioner piston push hard enough that the timing chain did not make any bad noises, and I got the car home. The oil was filled with aluminum shavings because the idler sprocket had broken the casting, that it is bolted to, completely off of the timing case. The sprocket was busy eating its way through the lower timing cover! After some serious thinking, I decided to get a nicely rebuilt engine for the car and got rid of the original, broken one. From here-on, the car has a "new" engine!