Hi All,

Has anyone ever replaced the valve stem oil seals on a 3.0L V6 TS? Mine's starting to blow a fair bit of blue smoke now.

I've replaced them on other cars I've owned, but it looks like it could be a real pain in the **** job on a transversly mounted V6. I've noticed there is a tool you can buy that compresses the valve springs without having to take the heads off the engine. What I really would like to know if anyone has done the job is:

1. Do these spring compressers work on the magnas heads?

2. If they do, I assume I have to take the camshafts out to gain access to the valves (camshafts sit on followers directly above valves on this engine, not to the side with rocker gear - is that correct)?

Cheers.

Clarky.

Cant really help you much, but wondering how much mileage your car has done??? Mine has just ticked over 180,000km, and although its been well looked after, its does get thrashed a bit by me, and I thought it was common to change them before this mileage, so im wondering if I should start looking out for it.

Im thinking of doing a gas conversion so thought it might be worth doing them at the same time if im lucky to have got thus far...

Ollie

Mine's done about 230,000Kms. Smoke's been gradually getting worse and worse. I know from past experience that they just become an embarrasment to drive eventually if not sorted.

i was under the impression that blue smoke is oil burning (eg. piston ring gone) and that for the valve stem it is white smoke (from water not oil) and only on idle. where as if u had smoke all the time and it was blue more so then id be looking at ur engine rings but thats just me.

Valve stem oil seals stop the oil from the cyclinder head getting down past the valve stems/guides and into the combustion chamber. You get blue smoke.

Yes, have done these many a time.

Can do them in a few hours

Is a very easy job, if you know what you are doing you can do 2 cyl at a time with compressed air and the correct fittings without having to rotate the engine for each pot (2 cyl will be tdc at a time)

I take off the top manifold and rear manifold brackets get loosened and pushed out of the way. I would highly recommend you remove cams, disassemble rocker gear and clean out properly, remove dist housing and relplace cam seals etc.

The plugs at the other end, (big round black things) also go hard, you should replace these but they are only avail from good ol mits

Im doing this now, there is a few tools you can buy to do this and its pretty easy

spring compressor
http://www.primeindustrialsupplies.com.au/Automotive/ABW-70511/Deluxe%2BO%257CH%2BValve%2BSpr%2BCompressor.phtml

and I also bought a airline that screws in like a spark plug and to fill the cylinder air while you change the stem seal

my car doesnt make any cold start tapping noise any more, but I did the cam,crank seals at the same time

ye mines on its way out. on cold starts it will blow a puff of blue smoke and go away no smoke under normal drive (that i have seen)

some one wanna do mine for me? lol

could also be your rings mate, mine was doing the same as yours, only blue smoke when idling so we went for the stem seals. ended up being the rings, seals were worn but not enough to be seeping through.

mine are mega rooted, there was only a small puff for like a year at startup, but now she leaks like a siffe. Ive got a VRS kit that i will install once the engine is changed out. I also have bad tappet noise at startup, but i cant be bothered spending the money on it now, considering my other engine is nearly here. Its an abomination, and rather embarassing to drive into shopping centres haha but my cars have always looked like crap.

my car doesnt make any cold start tapping noise any more, but I did the cam,crank seals at the same time

What was making the tapping noise and how did it go away????

Ollie

Just a word of warning for all of you DIY's.

MAKE SURE THAT THE PISTON IS AT TDC BECAUSE IF YOU DROP THE VALVE IT WILL DISSAPEAR INTO THE POT.

Get 2 pairs of vice grips, a 1/2 inch breaker bar, lock the piston TDC, put the breaker bar into the front pully nut, clamp the grips either side of the bar and this will hold the bar in place. Put the grips onto the lower member

thats some sound advise haha i could see me doing that

Just to respond to the cause of the tapping noise, as the car remains off the oil drains away from the lifters in the head causing them to tick on cold start from lack of lubrication. Changing the seals will stop the oil from draining away.

That is what I was told when they were replaced anyway. Noise hasn't returned since.

Just to respond to the cause of the tapping noise, as the car remains off the oil drains away from the lifters in the head causing them to tick on cold start from lack of lubrication. Changing the seals will stop the oil from draining away.

That is what I was told when they were replaced anyway. Noise hasn't returned since.

I couldnt have said it better myself

Just to respond to the cause of the tapping noise, as the car remains off the oil drains away from the lifters in the head causing them to tick on cold start from lack of lubrication. Changing the seals will stop the oil from draining away.

That is what I was told when they were replaced anyway. Noise hasn't returned since.

Sorry mate but who ever told you that has their hand on it big time

The valve stem seals have NOTHING to do with the lash adjusters!

There are small valves in the lash adjusters, these get blocked and thus allow oil to seep past and they lose pressure.

Sometimes when the rocker gear is removed and they are disturbed they will come good, the other BIG issues is the bleed holes in the top of the rockers get blocked, the oil can not flow thus the lash adjusters block up also.

Valve stem seals are only to stop the oil getting bast the valve stem into the inlet and exhaust port.

Sorry mate but who ever told you that has their hand on it big time

The valve stem seals have NOTHING to do with the lash adjusters!

There are small valves in the lash adjusters, these get blocked and thus allow oil to seep past and they lose pressure.

Sometimes when the rocker gear is removed and they are disturbed they will come good, the other BIG issues is the bleed holes in the top of the rockers get blocked, the oil can not flow thus the lash adjusters block up also.

Valve stem seals are only to stop the oil getting bast the valve stem into the inlet and exhaust port.

Thanks, thought i was going nuts for a sec :P

Ollie

All I know is I was losing quite a bit of oil and those lifters or lash adjusters were ticking. Badly. As a matter of fact all 8 of them are now stuffed. Pretty certain they've failed from blockages rather than the issue at hand though.

Should mention i'm also aware where the valve stem seals come in, how they are not related remotely related to the hydraulic lifters and so on. From what I can tell the reference I was given at service time was related more-so to a loss of oil, not enough oil being in the engine and resulting noise from dry lifters. Take that however you wish though.

its definatly oil presure pressure going to the right places so it dosnt tap

i tested this on my th and it did the same thing

Well, if I do get round to doing the valve stem oil seals soon, I'll see if I can do a DIY guide with photos at the same time and post it here. May as well include cam belt replacement at the same time if that has to come off as well (which I assume it will have to if the camshafts have to come out). Got an air compressor at home, so really don't want to disturb the heads if at all possible.