Valve seal job.. Who's done it?

[babowc]

Has anyone on this board assembled their own head before? Specifically, a KA24DE head, not the E.

Main reason for this post : I am burning oil.

lol.. I know i need to replace my valve stem seals, but Im not sure how hard it'd be, if i can tackle it, anyways.could you do the valve seals while the engine is still IN the car?

No flaming please.

*edit* are Valve SEALS and valve STEM SEALS two different pieces?if so.. i feel damn stupid.. and i need to go buy actual seals.. lol
Modified by babowc at 2:06 PM 2/7/2007

[LayNLow240]

yes you can do it in car. just need special tools for it. i did mine not too long ago and it wasnt hard. you just need a universal valve spring compressor, valve seal pliers and vale seal installer. also a compressor. and also assmebly lube and some confidence. oh and a somewhat strong magnet. just make sure you put everything back exactly how it came out. either do it valve by valve, or you can take everything out at once just make sure the shim and buckets go back to the valve they came out of.i think valve seal and valve stem seal are the same thing, but ask for valve stem seal, it will get you the right part. and make sure you get 16 seals in the box instead of 8 or youll have to order another set.

[guyaverage]

Valve seals and valve stem seals are the same thing.

Whichever cylinder you are working on, that piston MUST be at TDC to prevent the valve from dropping into the cylinder once the retainers are removed. Otherwise you will be pulling the head to retrieve it. There are other ways to prevent this, but this is the easiest in my opinion.

You will need a valve spring compressor. I used one that was not well suited for the job and ended up using various modified PVC plumbing pieces to push the retainer and spring down to get the keepers out. The valve stem will then move down about 1/2 inch as the valve sits on top of the piston.

Once you are this far, a healthy, larger pair of needle-nose pliers will let you reach down and grab the old seal out, and it usually wont come out easily (DONT nick or scrape the valve stem in the process!). Then the new seal can be GENTLY tapped down onto the post, after you lubed it with a drop of oil. Pull the valve stem up, and replace the retainer and keepers.

Do a search on "valve seals" and read up as much as you can ( here's one on an E head zerothread?id=200681 ). There are a decent number of threads out there that explain a bit more. Its not a terribly difficult job, provided you have the right tools and have an idea what you are doing. Its not necessarily easy though, either.

I managed to cut the oil consumption from about a quart a month down to about nothing.

[babowc]

oh really..i've a spare block sitting around, so i'll try on that one first before i go for it on the car..how would you keep time if you get each piston @ TDC??i was just curious about that, i've read the one on the KA24E head that Edub1 wrote about, but i thought it'd be a different procedure for the ka24DE..

anyhow, what would you do with the air compressor if you were you use it?..

hook it up to the TB? i was a little confused on that part.

also.. to keep every piston @ TDC, timing would completely change, correct?

[DjPantsSpecR]

you hook the air hose into the spark plug hole, the easier way to do this is to rig something up using compression tester parts, or an old spark plug.

you would have both the cams out, as well as the upper chain, so you would have to re-time the motor anyways. however, you can turn the crank according to which set of valves youre working on

[pr240sx]

The hardest part is to reinstall the valve locks back.As for the seals, warm them in oil before installing.

[guyaverage]

I didnt remove the upper chain while doing this. The valve spring tool I used had hooks that went under the opposite cam, so there was always had to be one cam and sprocket still installed. On the sprocket for the cam that was off, I used a thick wood dowel, 3/4 or 1 inch diameter, I cant remember (installed using the first cam journal cap to hold it) and allowed the sprocket to rotate on that, so when I rotated the crank to bring a piston to TDC the sprocket just freewheeled on the dowel. It looked a bit hokey, but it worked great. No timing issues.

[LayNLow240]

well i also tried using regular pliers, but failed to get the seals out.i used this spring compressor: http://eng.jtc.com.tw/products...d=181and these seal pliers:http://eng.jtc.com.tw/products...d=181and both worked fine.youll need some small needle nose pliers to put the retainer locks back in, and a small magnet to get them out easily. just dont drop them. i tried to keep my upper chain on, but in the end i just took it off and redid it when i put it back on. got everything perfect. i would have done a write up on it by now, but i dont have a camera to take pictures with.

ALSO, if you dont have a fsm, remember this. DO NOT torque the cam caps down very much. the head is alum which strips easy. FSM says 9-12in/lb on them, so its like get them snug, then a little more. no need to go hulk on them or anything.

[babowc]

sounds good..i'll be doing this on my spare block first

[LayNLow240]

good idea! i did the same thing. i had a spare head laying around and i took a few of those seals off to see what im jumping into.good luck.

[pr240sx]

Cam caps are torque to IN/lbs not FT/lbs

As for the tools, those are exactly the ones I was looking. How much are the compressor? are you willing to lend for a fee?

[guyaverage]

Page EM-21 of my FSM shows 6.7-8.7 ft/lbs, not in/lbs.

8.7 inch pounds would be barely hand-tight.

Before I checked the FSM I had been torquing mine to 10 ft lbs (as a guess based on the bolt size and knowing I was going into aluminum) any time I had the cams out and I havent stripped one yet.

[LayNLow240]

Page EM-21 of my FSM shows 6.7-8.7 ft/lbs, not in/lbs.

8.7 inch pounds would be barely hand-tight.

Before I checked the FSM I had been torquing mine to 10 ft lbs (as a guess based on the bolt size and knowing I was going into aluminum) any time I had the cams out and I havent stripped one yet.

oops, my bad. yeah 6-8 ft/lbs, not in/lbs. i coulda swore it said inlbs not ftlbs, but now that i look it is ftlbs.

[niemczykj]

i didnt take the time to read everyone elses replies so i dont know whats been said so far, but my dad has a buddy who works in a machine shop and he took my head to mil it and do a valve job...i kno he ordered valve stem seals for me and i know they are replacing them...i should have the head back sometime this week so i will talk to him and see how they do the seals and whats involved

....u guys think this is a deal?...i got the warped head shaved flat, pressure tested, a valve job, and a port and polish for 500$$