Bad Valve stem seal - is this expensive?

[weaver]

Hey guys, the last time I went to the dealer to get my valve cover gasket fixed the warned me of a leaky valve stem seal. It was making startup hard at first, but now when I stop and my engine goes to idle the car will stumble and turn off some times. once it establishes an idle it's fine. Also my CEL is on and they told me it was due to a fuel trim problem. I have a mostly stock engine w/ a eIII16g and stock fuel, but I'm only running around 12 lbs of boost. I'm not sure what's going on. I was advised by somebody that it would be better to get another head reworked and just replace the one I have, but it seems to me that would be way more expensive than just fixing the one I have. What do you think?

 

[qiklitltsi]

some dealers (honda) around my area will do a complete head job for $300 if you take the head off yourself

 

[ECLIPSECRAZY72]

if your just replacing seals on your head than it is simple if you know what your doing. you can replace the seals for cheap and are easy to replace. just make sure you dont have any bent valves while you have it apart and make sure your valve springs and retainers and valves wind up in the same place you took them out of. so it is cheaper than getting a new head especially if you do it yourself.

 

[somdturbo]

valve stem seals from napa are 1$ each, totally 16$$$$

 

[FORMONTOYA]

Yea, it's cheap as hell if you do the work yourself. I had a buddy do mine, I pulled the head and brought it to him. He vatted it up, resealed it and gave it back for $100. Plus the price of the head gasket set.