Need advice on built motor gone bad

[bullettdsm]

Naw, I never had the manifold hooked up to the pcv valve. I just had the valve sitting there unplugged witht he manifold nipple plugged.

Uh, oh. If I understand this correctly; did you have anything set-up for your crankcase ventilation? Or did you just have a hose off your valve cover going to your pcv valve?
MB

 

[Bastard1g]

As of right now, I snatched out my pcv valve out and now there is an open hole in my valve cover(no oil leaks from there) and the vent on the side is unplugged, so basically I should have no problems with the crank case venilation. Still smokes though

 

[Phil92TSI]

I still think you should pull the valve cover and check the valve seals to make sure they are still seated on the guides. I had the same symptoms and the head was a fresh rebuild too. I'm not sure if the shop that rebuilt the head screwed up and didn't fully seat it or if the seal was defective. Either way somehow it worked its way loose.

 

[Bastard1g]

How do I look for bad seals? Did you look at my gallery for the picures? Looks pretty bad.

 

[Phil92TSI]

You can't really look for worn out valve seals, but you can check to see if they are all seated on the guides. I knew which cylinder's valves to look at when I pulled the exhaust manifold because there was oil all over the back side of one of the valves. With the valve cover removed I could see the valve seal was still on the valve stem, but not seated on the guide. Just like in your pictures, I had oil leaking at the exhaust manifold gasket. Also, my bumper would get black quickly where the exhaust exits from all the oil droplets being spewed out the exhaust.

 

[Bastard1g]

Yea, well I guess I know what I need to do. I need to take my car to the headshop and have them look at it. Sucks though, this head was supposed to be rebuilt with new valve stem seals. He supplied them though, I guess aftermarket seals suck ass.

 

[Waredtalontsi]

Why dont you cheak it yourself instead of taking the car to the headshop? Its easy just pull off your exhaust manifold and if any of the ports look wet then you know its leaking oil threw the valve seals. My car had the same problem a while ago.

 

[Bastard1g]

I just called the head shop that did my head. The guy seemed pretty cool about the idea of me bringing the car by, snatching the valve cover and examining the head for bad seals in front of him. Hopefully its the valve seals. He said its an easy fix, but he doesnt have the tools to do it with the head on the car,so I would have to pull the head and bring it to them. I hate the downtime though. I am hoping that they see that they messed up building the head, and lend me a fresh head to put on one weekend, and maybe let me take them my old head the next week.

 

[bullettdsm]

As of right now, I snatched out my pcv valve out and now there is an open hole in my valve cover(no oil leaks from there) and the vent on the side is unplugged, so basically I should have no problems with the crank case venilation. Still smokes though

Hey man, I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you on this. I had spyware computer lock-up problems. The point I was trying to make was if, during break in, you had your hose going to the pcv valve (from the valve cover) hooked up, but you did not hook up the other end to your intake (and it was a properly working valve) you can have a problem with seating the rings. The valve can allow pressure to build up in the crankcase because it works on the "pull" of the intake not the "push" of the crankcase pressure. I don't know if this was the case for you, but if it was (and you do a rebuild) I would hook the pcv valve up properly for break in period.
MB

 

[Bastard1g]

Well, one member suggested that I pull the exhaust manifold off, so I did and there was oil dripping out of the exhaust ports for cylinders 2&4. So valve stem seals?

 

[pneumo]

Well, one member suggested that I pull the exhaust manifold off, so I did and there was oil dripping out of the exhaust ports for cylinders 2&4. So valve stem seals?

Could you check something else? Remove the spark plugs, take a flashlight and look at the piston tops. Check to see if they're wet+oily, or dry.

 

[Bastard1g]

I did that and the pistons looked black. Also, is there anyway I can shove the valve stem seal back in there with just the valve cover off and a small pick?

 

[pneumo]

I did that and the pistons looked black. Also, is there anyway I can shove the valve stem seal back in there with just the valve cover off and a small pick?

Don't use a pick. If you accidentaly scratch a valve stem it will chew up the seal. It takes a lot of force to push a stem seal down. A pick isn't strong enough anyway.

If you have the valve cover off, just look at the seals to see if they are all at the same height. If any are higher by about 1/4" that would be where the oil is coming from.

 

[Bastard1g]

I will check that in a few days.

 

[snox135]

There is a tool that will remove valve stem seals with the head on the engine. I don't remember the manufactor of it right now. You could check out the Thomas Register it was featured in one of the emails they sent out.

 

[Bastard1g]

Now its pretty much up to me to fix this problem because the machine shop will not snatch the valve stem seals out while my head is on the car. I told them that it will cost me some money for parts and there is a good bit of labor involved in pulling the head and redoing the timing belt. So, me and my boss might do them now. Is there a way to compress the valve springs and pop the rockers off without having to pull the cams?

 

[boostaddictgsx]

Thats no problem, just compress the lifters by using a screwdriver or something (wrapped in cloth to avoid scratching anything, *pop* the rockers off the lifters, and wiggle them off the valve stem underneath the cams. Piece of cake

 

[pneumo]

If you want to change the valvestem seals, you'll have to pull the cams. Look over the procedure here; www.vfaq.com/mods/Valvespring-seals.html

a simpler, cheaper valvespring compressor can be made easily, check it out here; www.plymouthlaser.com/scomp.htm

 

[Bastard1g]

OK, so the cams have to be removed but the head can still be on the car? Thats fine because I was thinking about getting some fp2's anyway. I will just throw them on there while I have my stock cams out. One of the links dont work. Also, is there any I can buy a valve spring compressor that will work while I have the head on?