Valve Guide Seal Write up

[Edub1]

Special tools you will need:

Air compressor 120PSIAir hold tool – Murray’sUniversal spring compressorPointer style retrieval magnet (must have)

1) Position car on clean hard surface – IMPORTANT2) Remove valve cover3) Remove rocker arm assemblies leaving cam in place4) Remove spark plug and screw in air hold tool

Removing the rocker assemblies will close all the valves so there is no need to rotate motor. Compress cylinder to 140PSI as per FSM. 120PSI worked fine for me.

5) Compress valve until you have enough room to extract the valve lock shims from the top; pushing down and wiggling helps. Use your magnet to extract the shims.

6) Pull of old seal with a Channel Lock.

7) Put on new ones. Intake seals can be seated with the help of a deep well socket and light tapping.

8) Replace spring and valve lock shims. You will drop the shims several times. If you are on a clean hard surface use your magnet to retrieve them. If you are not on a clean hard surface you will never find them in a million years. Release spring compressor.

9) Install rocker assembly. Tighten from center outward. Torque to 27 - 30 ft lb or 37 - 41 NM

10) Replace valve cover - you are done.

IMPORTANT: Resist the temtation to observe the rocker arms by starting motor with valve cover off. Massive amounts of oil will spray everywhere.

Pictured is a universal spring compressor from Harbor Freight. The brass piece in the lower right is the air compressor hose and air hold tool.

Modified by Edub1 at 10:12 AM 9/30/2006
Modified by Edub1 at 9:33 AM 10/1/2006

[Neejay]

EDIT: Nevermind. Unfortunately, I dont have an air compressor, nor know anyone that would let me use one.

Good write up. I thought this job was a lot harder than what it seems to be. Now I still have to pay someone to do it

[Atown 240]

You are amazing, i have to replace mine on my car and i had no idea how.

Is it the same for dohc?

More pictures!

[lrb_2000]

Is it the same for dohc?

I doubt it.

[Neejay]

You are amazing, i have to replace mine on my car and i had no idea how.

Is it the same for dohc?

More pictures!

Apparently.

Both motors should be the same but you will need 8 exhaust seals for the DE.

[dickie]

hi-5. article?

[C-Kwik]

Is it the same for dohc?

No. The DOHC requires you to remove the cam(s) to access the valve seals. Once the cam is removed, you remove the shim and bucket(note which valve they go with if you remove more than one at a time). You'll need a different type of valve spring compressor.

http://www.mytoolstore.com/kd/kdengi13.html

Something like the one with part# KD 3087. I used one that looks like this but had to grind some of it down as the portion that presses down on the retainer was too large. This type of compressor tends to be a little unstable, so having an extra person helping is a good idea. Trying to remove/install the retainer clips while holding the spring down can be a little tricky.

I'd highly recommend picking up a few retainer clips before starting one of these. They are typically not in stock at most dealers and you may be without a car for a few days while you wait for them to come in. They are pretty cheap so having a few extra won't hurt the wallet. Unless of course, you can afford a bit of downtime.

[rico05]

What's a rocker arm, lol?

Nice write up. Too bad most of us can't benefit from it...

[ILikeMy240sx]

if you do not have an air compressor you can use a long and thin piece of CLEAN rope.

Insert enought rope into the combustion chamber so that if the valves drop, it will not fall completely. How much rope you insert through the sparkplug hole will depend on the position of your piston relative to the valves.

BTW, putting on the valve collars is probably the biggest pain in the arse... EVER!!!. Ive done about 4 valve jobs and every single time.. putting those little farkers back on the valve stem sucks.

In order to facilitate this process, you can use a bit of assy lube and weak magnetic flat head. The assy lube will help the collars stick on to the stem so that they dont fall off. A magnetic flat head will help you guide the collar on to the stem. Make sure the magnetic flat head isnt too strong.

I am attaching a picture to explain what I mean. I used a C-clamp style compressor because my head was already off the block.

[guyaverage]

Something to note, this is an interference engine. If you bring the piston up to top dead center (TDC) on whatever cylinder you are working on, you do not need to use compressed air or rope to hold the valve up, once the retainers are removed the valve will fall down about a half inch or so and sit on the top of the piston. You will have to push the valve spring down much futher this way when you put on the retainers and collars, but not enough to make it too difficult. I did my DOHC this way with no problem. Just MAKE SURE the piston is at top center before you try to push the spring down to remove the collars and retainers. Its VERY easy to forget once you get going. You only need to forget once, and then you are pulling the head to retrieve the valve you just dropped into the cylinder.

I've used the rope method before with varying degrees of sucess on various engines but sometimes find it to be a pain in the rear to get enough rope in there, but it does work. Compressed air is easiest, just keep the 120 psi air pressure constant, and make make sure the piston is at bottom dead center before you fill the cylinder, the piston will usually move down as soon as the air pressure is applied.

Another learn-from-experience hint: Put an old white sheet(s) over EVERYTHING in the engine bay except the cylinder head, and put white sheets or newspapers all over the floor under and around the car too. Absolutely guarantee at least once while compressing the valve spring your hand will slip and the tool, collars, and retainer will go flying out of there at Mach 2, and you will N-E-V-E-R find them. Well, you'll find them 3 months later when you are sweeping the garage out. White sheets or newspaper covering everything will make locating them possible, and quick.

I had to use a long pair of heavy duty needle nose pliers to get the valve seals out. Some of them were quite stubborn. Rotating it back and forth as you pull upwards will speed the process up.

When putting the new seals on I found using an 11/32, 12 point deep socket and VERY light taps with a SMALL hammer worked great. Dont tap them too hard or too far down or you can easily damage the seal. Put a drop of oil on the seal before pushing it over the valve stem.

[arcadiabc]

Absolutely guarantee at least once while compressing the valve spring your hand will slip and the tool, collars, and retainer will go flying out of there at Mach 2, and you will N-E-V-E-R find them

Oh so so true

[Edub1]

Note my warning about doing this on a clean, hard surface for exactely that reason.

The telescoping magnet was indispencable. I used it to remove the shims, replace the shims and retrieve the shims from under the car.

I don't know if shouting profanities made the shims easier to find but it sure did make me feel better.

[patrick10]

good writeup!

the only thing that was hard was breaking the retainer free from the valve and i really only had a hard time with the exhaust. all i did was put a peice of small rubber i had under the valve (my head is off the car) and lightly tapped the spring compressor. another thing that helped me is i used a washer to cover the retainer to get a flat surface. it made lining everything up with the ****ty autozone rented compressor much easier and cut my time down major.

pulling the old seal is the part that gets me. i really dont want to take vise grips to it but i think i have to. anyone hve any better suggestions or more info on this?

also its on a 180k sohc

[SirSilvia]

I don't know if shouting profanities made the shims easier to find but it sure did make me feel better.

lol works everytime.One heck of a detailed writeup, I'm thinking about doing this and replacing the springs as well. I got an extra chunk of change in my pocket. Plus might as well when I go into finding what the hell is clicking under the cover. using the old stethoscope found out the clicking wasn't near the chain, v_v

[mutiny]

One thing to note... as I found out from doing my own head job, it may not be possible at all to do this with the head on the block. On some motors (like mine) the valve stem will actually be stuck with the shims to the top spring plate. In other words, when you compress the spring, the valve will just go down with it and won't separate from the plate resulting in the inability to remove the shims/top plate/springs from the valve stem. I actually had to compress the spring and whack the valve from the bottom of the head to get it loose from the plate. I would think a C-clamp type spring compressor would work best for SOHC heads.

[Edub1]

Glad you guys are finding it usefull. A couple of precations - I would not try to do this without compressing with air. I certainly would not let the valve rest on the piston. The simple thought of that makes me cringe as valve damage would be so easy. Remember, you will be pressing down on the spring and some pressure will transfer to the valve.

I did have to wigle and even whack the spring a little to break the shims free. I can't see how they would lock up so tight that a little lateral force wouldn't get them loose. Also, with the type of compressor I used, I was able to lift the spring from it's seat rather than simply forcing it against the seat. Once lifted it can be whacked downward.

[ahardb0dy]

I know this is an old thread but I have a question, I think the seals in my 93 Hardbody with the KA24E are bad, it smokes at startup and after sitting in traffic when I rev the engine, Does the cam gear and chain need to be removed before removing the rocker assembly? Someone told me that the rockers keep tension on the cam so it would be best to remove the gear/chain? Question on that is, if you remove the cam gear and chain, and people have said to have the piston in the cylinder you are working on at TDC, how would you set it at TDC if the cam gear is off?

I don't have a problem doing the work myself but I don't want to screw up the timing or anything else.

So basically, remove the valve cover and the plugs, put the trans in gear to prevent the piston from moving when you pressurize the cylinder, remove the rocker assembly, pressurize the cylinder your working on, compress the spring and remove the retainers, remove the spring, remove the old seal, install new seal, and reassemble, move to next one, correct?

Engine is original inside as far as I know and has 268K miles on it, it runs strong, runs at normal temp and I average 19-20 MPG, it's in a 2wd with the 5 speed on stock height tires. I replaced the oil pump and all the timing parts and I have a mechanical Autometer oil pressure gauge so I know my oil pressure is good.

Thanks

[amc49]

If the engine has rockers you generally do not have to touch the cam at all as far as removal goes.

To the guy who had the valves stuck to the retainer and locks, a simple little hammer rap toward the OD of the retainer breaks them loose before trying to get them apart.

[ahardb0dy]

The bolts that hold the rocker arms also pass through the cam caps, pic below: