[QUOTE]Originally posted by pmizell
Was your engine misfiring also? With a broken rocker arm, your valves wouldn't be opening and closing properly clearly affecting engine performance.

The rocker arms were not broken the carrier that holds two of the rocker arms was cracked. The valves were still opening, but the cracked carrier was moving up and down slightly making the noise.

You said you ran the engine with valve cover off -- did the rocker arms break after you tried this?

I was checking for a loose timing chain when I ran the engine with the valve cover off and you can only run it for a few seconds because oil is running all over the place. I pulled and pushed on the rocker arms to check for any play and they were all tight. The crack in the rocker arm carrier was not obvious and I found it only after a close visually inspection. I did remove the carrier, which allowed the two valves for the first cylinder to close, and ran the car briefly and the noise went away.

~Paul

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