valve seal myself or someone else?

[viseversa101]

Okay, so I have had a slow oil leak that has been burning off for months now. I have checked everything, and assumed it was a valve seal. I am getting great compression, so I did a leak down test and it leads me to believe yes it is a valve seal. It only smokes during idle around 1000 rpm's and only after warming up. I was quoted 350$ to replace the valve seals.
I have looked thoroughly into this and it erked me into wanting to have someone else do it, not being confident enough that I myself could handle the task. However 350 to just replace the seals n throw it together seems a waste when I could put that towards having the head inspected or something else while it was apart. A valve seal only costs what a dollar or 2?
So what my question is do I do it myself to spend the money somewhere else or do I pay someone to do it.....eeek

 

[PrimerPLus]

I would look to other machine shops. That's kind of a lot .

 

[Dsmkauai]

With the right tools and know how you can do anything!

 

[viseversa101]

yea i dont have the greatest selection of tools but for 350, i could be buying the tools i dont have and keeping them. Thatl give the wifey a reason to okay the purchase too

 

[dot45]

Unless you have done the timing belt recently, go ahead and do the t-belt and water pump while you have the head off.

 

[viseversa101]

yes. that sounds like a plan.

 

[Colt4G63 also]

Why would you take the head off to replace valve seals? If you think the head has to come off to do that job, you obviously shouldn't attempt it.

 

[BogusSVO]

I would look to other machine shops. That's kind of a lot .

Unless you have done the timing belt recently, go ahead and do the t-belt and water pump while you have the head off.

He sounds like he wants to do a seal change with the head bolted to the block.

OP, look into either method, compressed air or rope method.

Changing the seals on a 420 head is not all that hard, a bit time consuming.

It will be very similar as any of the threads about valve seal swap on the 4g63.

The main difference, will be the style of seal used, the 4g63 uses a metal clad, where the 420a has a top hat style seal, the top hat seal has the spring seat built into it.

I am also not sure what valve locks you have, some 420 have a triple groove lock, and others have a single groove lock.

The triple groove locks are more of a pain to get into place. Some of the on car valve spring compressors will just not work. Like the blue point "peg" lock installer.

 

[Colt4G63 also]

Take that leakdown tester you were using earlier, and use it to hold the valves in place while you remove the retainers and change the seals. The shop that quoted you the price probably wasn't planning to pull the head off.

The cylinder head R&R on that job calls for about eight hours, which would mean your that after your $80 Felpro HS9922PT head set, and your $15 Felpro ES72166 head bolt set, and $40 for fluids, your shop only charges $26.88 per hour. Does that sound fesable? Even if that price didn't include parts, you are only looking at around $43 per hour.

 

[viseversa101]

Take that leakdown tester you were using earlier, and use it to hold the valves in place while you remove the retainers and change the seals. The shop that quoted you the price probably wasn't planning to pull the head off.

The cylinder head R&R on that job calls for about eight hours, which would mean your that after your $80 Felpro HS9922PT head set, and your $15 Felpro ES72166 head bolt set, and $40 for fluids, your shop only charges $26.88 per hour. Does that sound fesable? Even if that price didn't include parts, you are only looking at around $43 per hour.

okay, now factor in those costs along with if say the head were taken off and a stage 2 ported head i bought for 50$ were surfaced and checked....do I do that....or just do the seals?

 

[Colt4G63 also]

okay, now factor in those costs along with if say the head were taken off and a stage 2 ported head i bought for 50$ were surfaced and checked....do I do that....or just do the seals?

If you brought it to my shop, you would pay around $680 just for the labor to R&R the head. I would send it to the machine shop which would charge around another $180-$200 to pressure test and mill the head. That doesn't include the price of any parts. You (as the one paying) have to decide if you want to have the job done or not.