i was around 8k rpms in 3rd gear when i hit a bump while shifting to 4th and accidentally caught 2nd instead. the rpms surged into the red for less than a second before i slammed the clutch back in. what i want to know is, are there any telltale signs of a bent valve? the car still seemed to run fine the rest of the way home and i popped the hood to see if it was making any excess noise. didn't hear any obvious ticking from the valves, but i'm not sure if the engine was that noisy at idle before this unfortunate incident. i don't know if i'm just being paranoid, but if anyone could offer some ways to tell if i have a bent valve or not, it would be greatly appreciated!

 

Usually people go to 13,000rpm's then you got trouble. Maybe it was a miracle it is still running. Pray! and thank god..

 

if your engine is still running, then you should be fine......

 

You "should" be OK. The pre'04 stock engine is supposed to be able to take a brief foray to about 10,500. However, you will never know exactly how high you went. There is another thread currently where the owner over-revved "in the past" and now has some obvious valvetrain ticking. "If" there was any damage, it may not manifest itself for some time. (I hope I didn't cause you to lose too much sleep. ) Just be careful from now on.

 

aaahhhhh, the old hit a bump, sun in the eyes, just started raining, missed shift, over-rev scenario You really shouldn't be taking that thing four-wheeling
A compression test is an easy way to see if valves are seating up. Even if the compression test shows good it's not a guaranty however that ALL is well but it's an easy test to see if valves are indeed bent. Good luck.

 

I did the same thing. accidently shifted into 2nd trying to go into 4th and it only went in for a split second, i actually thought it didnt even catch. After that my idle was acting weird and the engine was excessivly loud, the next morning my car wouldnt even start. I had to get a whole new head, which was alot of money. Good luck to you, hope nothing happened.

 

thanks for all the replies! yes, i know i'm a jackass for letting this happen and i slept very uneasily last night. haven't fired the car up yet today, but i'm praying i didnt do any damage, however i'm prepared for the worst. that last post about having to get an entire new head is seriously scaring me. i'm gonna go for a drive now and see if anything is out of the ordinary. i'll let you guys know if anything new develops.

 

let us know.

 

I'm just wondering how much did the new head cost you? Cause the same thing happend to me.

 

Replacing the whole head will cost about $6000, including labor; more or less depending on the places.