This was the second time for me when I checked the valve clearance on my 92 civic dx hatch. The first time was on my 95 Odyssey. Now, the easiest way for me to check for TDC on each cylinder was to insert a long pencil through the spark plug hole and worked great on the Odyssey no probs. On the civic though, the piston comes closer to the head at TDC and so a portion of pencil broke off and was inside the combustion chamber !!!

So I studied the Chilton's manual to see how to remove the rocker arm assembly so I could get closer to the hole and remove that piece of pencil. There was no way I was about to remove the head and put it back on without a new head gasket.

So I removed the rocker arm assembly. I still couldn't get that small piece of pencil out of the chamber (about 1/2"). I tried vacumming it out but to no avail. So I had to put that rocker arm assembly back on and torque to spec. I put back everything as before and decided to just start it up. The pencil's only soft wood anyway and should burn. I started it up and there was a slight hiccup but it runs fine.

I then realized that taking apart engines and putting them back together again is really no big deal. So now I'm iching to do a rebuild. Maybe I'll get a junkyard engine and rebuild it.