In hindsight (smacks forehead) it was obvious. As Frank said, the valves stick, as the motor cranks or when it fires they drag on open and bend the pushrods. I bent one or more again. Too late in the day to pop the cover to look but I'm sure thats it; it started right up but that chug-chug of a dead cylinder. When I fixed it last time, I turned the engine over with a 3/4" socket and ratchet, that probably broke them loose enough so that no damage done on start up. The non-bent ones that fell out, probably a valve was stuck OPEN, so when the cam follower went down the rod fell out. Simple. So I'm left with two choices: put pushrods back in, free it up, change the oil with flush as planned, and hope that fresh lube down the valve stems will solve it. Or, simply pull the head, disassemble to clean and inspect. Any bets on what my chance of success with it-will-clear-with-lube will be? There seems to be no underlying mechanical issue, and the engine seems to be in otherwise good runnin condition, it just sat. _______________________________________________ Amc-list mailing list Amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.amc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/amc-list