:( First time she had to pull over...

[gr_diver]

Since we got the Opel in '78, she never had to pull over right in the middle of the street, from problems that kept her from even limping home or to the local garage..

Today I was driving, and was at a nearby village. While driving I start to hear a valve ticking, nothing loud, but surely not normal. I think, ok I'll get home and see what's going on... I was only about 5-6km away so I kept going. I drove about 4km, and stopped at a traffic light, the sound was surely louder, the valve was hitting the head, but not loudly "hammering". There I started to worry. I pulled over and thought that it held most of the way, I'll keep it at low rpms and continue. After another km it started backfiring through the carb, misfiring and I HAD to stop there, before she completely died on me... In the middle of nowhere... Coincidence: My trunk was empty because I was at a body shop to get an estimate for trunk-floor repair (rust). And empty meant NO TOOLS... Why do problems always happen when you do not have the means to fix them? I want to meet that Murphy guy and have a "friendly" chat with him....

It was by total luck that my father was close (God bless mobile phones!) and he came over, picked me up, took me home for tools and left me again at the car. I opened the valve cover and the problem was more than obvious. The rocker nut on #1's exhaust had backed off enough to let the rocker come off the lifter and valve... I try to adjust it and was soooo loose. And then it came to me, the last time I adjusted the valves I noticed it was loose, I squished it in a vice and then it felt tight like the rest. Apparently not...

ALWAYS !!REPLACE!! THE ROCKER NUTS IF THEY FEEL LOOSE...

I re-positioned the rocker, re-adjusted it, prayed that it will hold, and drove home. Lesson learned...

Only good thing, because I was stranded right outside a house, a nice lady came out to ask why I had stopped in front of her driveway. After I explained, and told her that I'll only leave it here for 20 minutes to go get some tools and return to fix it, she offered me a nice cool soda and stayed for company until my father came over. She seemed a bit impressed, women have a tendency to fall for guys that can fix things... Later when I returned, the open valve cover looked like open-heart surgery to her. Too bad she had to leave before I was done. I think I'll stop by tomorrow to say, "Thank you for yesterday!"

[tekenaar]

After all the stuff you went through fixing your fuel pump problems, etc., REALLY glad this turned out to be very minor in the end!