how to take off valve covers

[purplcam]

hi, my mechanic told me that a piston might be broken in my car, or that a spring might be broken. i wanted to take off my valve covers to see whether or not the spring is broken i need to take off the drivers side. can anyone provide any info on how to do this properly. thank you

[Flobeast385]

I could tell you how to do it but pictures are better, try going to ls1howto.com and clicking on the cam and valve spring swap at the right. Just scroll down to where they are taking the valve covers off and you will have step by step pictures and caption.

[purplcam]

hey, thanks for the info

[2001NBMZ28]

Valve spring? Helped a buddy remove both covers Saturday to make sure his rockers weren't loose on his 2K. '98's are a little different bolt wise (perimeter vs. center?). Anyway, it was easy. Disconnect battery, unplug and remove coil pack, coil side plug wires, cover bolts, remove hose at rear of cover if you have one, then comes right off. We depressurized the fuel rail for safety cause we were moving it around, didn't need to though. Before starting get a new gasket, both of his were distorted and couldn't be reused. Are you throwing an SES light? The code might help nail down which cyl it is.

[purplcam]

the code said there wasn't enough combustions in cylinder 8. i don't remember what the code number was but my mechanic told me to try this before spending too much money. the car is salvaged with 150k miles so i don't know if i want to spend money on it anymore. thanks for the help

[M6TA]

not enough combustion or compression?

[Mr. Luos]

the code said there wasn't enough combustions in cylinder 8. i don't remember what the code number was but...
Was it P0308??