I have been an avid reader of this site for nearly two years now, and generally just search the forums for info and never post or ask questions, but now I have another 250 mav in the garage, this time it is planned to be my girlfriend's daily driver. I picked this car up 7 weeks ago, the car sat an unknown length of time, and after performing a tune up, power brake upgrade, carb adj and ignition timing check, she ran pretty well other than the slight smoke at start up, oily spark plugs to the threads, and the bad rear main leak. I checked the PCV and it was OK and verified the c4 vac modulator diaphram was not punctured allowing ATF to be pulled into the chambers. I then performed a dry and wet compression check, and the numbers were from 150 to 170 dry, and went up about 10-15 per cyl when wet, so I figured my rings were worn a little but still not worth tearing into (64K miles), and no signs of a headgasket failure from oil, coolant or comp test results. I went ahead and pulled the motor and head since after a test drive the motor had that blown headgasket miss sound and leak that had to be addressed before I could really hand over the keys, I wanted to paint the motor and engine compartment anyway. It looked as though the previous owner had hardly changed the oil once I dove into the motor and under the valve cover- lots of carbon and sludge, so I have been cleaning all weekend. I finally got the head to a point it was examinable, and noticed my valve stem seals were not all seated on top of the valve guides, but stuck to the valves at various heights along the stem. Am I right to assume this is my oily plug culprit and smoke? They arent supposed ride or float, correct? Can I simply replace these umbrella style seals with new ones without machining? What is supposed to keep this from occuring, and could a lack of lubrication to the valvetrain most likely allowed this to happen? I plan to repair only what is needed, clean and paint it all up, and have her drive it 2 years hopefully trouble free while I build the windsor and c4 sitting in the shop for it later. I appreciate all you gear heads experience and advice. Sorry for a long post, but sometimes facts make a question easier to answer to offer advise...
newbie valvetrain Q
- Thread starter 351 celi
- Start date
Worn valve guides and/or missing/carbonized/broken seals can do it. Can you wiggle the valve stems in the guides?
If you have the valves out look at the top side of the intake ones.
If oil is leaking down the stems it will be building up.
After a while it will look like this.
If oil is leaking down the stems it will be building up.
After a while it will look like this.
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