hey guys, im pretty sure my vss's are gone. any1 way to replace them at home or do i have to book it into the car doctor?

if you got the know how get a VRS gasket kit and pull your heads off yourself and then take them to a mech. that would knock hundreds off your bill plus you get new seals with the VRS kit

lol ye i got a quote for 320 for reconditioning, 1200 for work if i just take the car in and they do everything

thats a great price, i got stung 600 for a astron head

valve stem seals can be done engine-in.
the following write up is written assuming you have an air compressor capable of pumping approx 30-90psi.

Buy special spark-plug air socket from autobarn. buy valve stem seals. buy valve spring compressor suitable for top-compression. invest in magnetic rod.

say this is for cylinder 1.

remove spark plug and replace with air fitting with air hose attached. allow compressed air to enter chamber.

remove rocker cover

remove rocker assembly.

use valve spring compressor to compress valve spring to reveal collets (small triangle shaped pieces of metal which hold the valve up), CAREFULLY remove collets with magnetic finger, ensuring these do not fall into any oil galleries.

remove valve spring

remove valve stem seal.

oil the 'mount' (for lack of a better word) for the valve stem seal to aid with installation.

install new valve stem seal. repeat for all cylinders, replacing valve spring and collets before moving to next cylinder.

*note- Magna valve stem seal do NOT need to be hammered. pressing firmly on the seals while ensuring they remain true to the angle will yield results.
*note two- For V6 models, inlet manifold and associated parts must be removed before accessing rear bank.

all up shouldnt take very long. i estimate 3-4 hours for a newbie.

that sounds like alot of stuffin around just to save your head gasket. it would be easier to take the heads off and to do it on a bench. imagine leaning ova the bonnet for a couple of hours,stuff that

that sounds like alot of stuffin around just to save your head gasket. it would be easier to take the heads off and to do it on a bench. imagine leaning ova the bonnet for a couple of hours,stuff that

well...the risk of changing the head gasket is that if yours isnt currently leaking, replacing itmight mean that the new one leaks.

although we like to think things such as head gaskets are foolproof, more often than not, they're not. so if yours isnt currently leaking, i'd try to save that.

btw what did they do on the astron head for it to cost $600?

btw what did they do on the astron head for it to cost $600?

resurfaced the face reseated vavles and mild port. plus they put my cam in that i had

resurfaced the face reseated vavles and mild port. plus they put my cam in that i had

oh right, yeah now i know why it cost that much. took forever to relap the valves when i did my astron head last time. easy 10hours for me because it was a first-time

easy to do on a magna ts v6 3.0, i done mine 2 months ago and i was a bit concerned in the begining as never done them before , but in the end with all the info on this subject on the forums and with the help of a compressor , haynes manual, and the valve spring compressor tool i buy at *bay for 40 it cost me all togheter $160 including all the gasquets and seals and about 6 hours of my time on a v6.

Front ones very easy back ones are the ones that will make you swear alot :)

that sounds like alot of stuffin around just to save your head gasket. it would be easier to take the heads off and to do it on a bench. imagine leaning ova the bonnet for a couple of hours,stuff that

Please attempt to quote fact mate befire you fill the tech sections up with your opinion which is clearly derived from guess work.....by the time you remove manifolds, exhaust manifolds, dist, power steer pump, timing belt etc etc, not to mention the costs of resurface, testing etc you are wayyy behind

So you say that removing a pair of heads is less hassle, yeah.....

It is a simple job for anyone with knowledge, if you know what you are doing you can also do 2 cyl at once as well to save time.

Pretty much as Yann stated above, only make sure you lock off the crank as when you pressurise you will force the piston down from TDC

An old trick to hold the valves in place is to get some nice clean rope and feed it into the cylinder with the piston down, then wind the crank until the rope is wedged between the crown of the piston and the valves. Do the guide seals, remove rope and move onto the next one - easy as!

PS Haven't tried it myself though! What design of valve spring compressor works best doing it this way (ie leaving heads on)? Obviously the "G" clamp design is a no-goer! Is there enough clearance between the valve springs and the V6 cams, or do the cams and belt need to come off?

Just checked e-Bay. Compressor with uneven length arms look good!

Cams can be left in for stem seals as can the belt. Thus why taking heads off is like going from Melbourne to Sydney via Darwin and Perth!!!!

You only need about 25psi and if you are unfortunate to drop a valve, with the Piston at TDC the valve is still retrievable.

There are spring tools avail that have a thread on them and you grip the spring and then wind a handle and this compresses the spring, you remove the Colet, remove the old seal, drop the new on and go onto the next valve

Yep - eBay seller has the spring compressor and air hose fittings at a good price. I will keep him in mind when my V6 starts blowing blue smoke. Thanks for the info! Cams in, belt on sounds so much simpler.

after ages of costing shit up and everything, i take it to the mechanics (won't name names yet) and it's apparently going to be to difficult for them to do. something about the crank turning due to the compressed air. complete and utter bs. so it will be longer til its fixed now.

after ages of costing shit up and everything, i take it to the mechanics (won't name names yet) and it's apparently going to be to difficult for them to do. something about the crank turning due to the compressed air. complete and utter bs. so it will be longer til its fixed now.

not so. i think you underestimate the strength of compressed air. you'd be surprised. what the mechanic should have done was use a socket and ratchet on the crank bolt to make sure it doesnt turn. eventually the ratchet will press up against something and will turn no more.

not so. i think you underestimate the strength of compressed air. you'd be surprised. what the mechanic should have done was use a socket and ratchet on the crank bolt to make sure it doesnt turn. eventually the ratchet will press up against something and will turn no more.

explain how u know this and have done this, but a qualified mechanic gave up?

explain how u know this and have done this, but a qualified mechanic gave up?

explain how a qualified mechanic cracked my engine block while doing a timing chain?

the socket spins the arm/Tbar till it hits the chassis rail and the motor will stop, its not hard. go to another mech.

explain how u know this and have done this, but a qualified mechanic gave up?

It is not in the book, trained mechanics dont know how to improvise:facejump:

Your mechanic is an ass clown, in short

You use 2 pairs of Vice Grips on the lower cross member, you then also use a breaker bar, not a ratchet

You also use a pressure reg on the line, not full line pressure, I use about 25 - 30 PSI MAX

Just because some clown has a bit of paper to state they went to tech school does not mean they know what they are doing

ye not going back to him, can anyone recommend a good mechanic in north GC?

Wrong end of the coast , but All-GO Mechanical in Currumbin Ck Road are great ......

need a new engine -_-

need a new engine -_-

please explain...

they didnt do the seals, put new rocker covers gaskets and plugs, flushed engine, new oil and seals additive and boooooom (not really) leaking from several spots on the engine. from what i gathered from the guy, its leak from heads, sump, timing housing thing and a few other places i cant remember. but i went in and seen the oil it dropped, close to a litre or so. i have a suspision my dipstick has shifted upwards because everytime i fill it to the line it overfills and goes everywhere. anyone ever heard of the dipstick moving?

are these guys dipshits or what? pure numbsculls!

just got the car back and its fine, i think the over filled it...

This is a trick Graham showed me for old engines.

If you can limit how much oil goes onto the valve stem then there is less oil able to get past the stem seals. Now most oil leaks onto the stem through the gaps between the collets. Fill those gaps with Silicone RTV, Permatex blue/Loctite blue, and the oil from the rockers then goes onto the valve spring retainer and flows over the spring rather than down the valve stem. Actually Graham started doing this on race engines to cool the springs, then found it cut oil consumption in endurance engines too.

The silicone RTV won't just stick to an oily surface so you will have to carefully degrease between the collets, retainers and valve stem with petrol on a toothbrush, then metho on a toothbrush. Give it time to dry or use compressed air then squeeze and poke silicone into the gaps. Give it a few hours to dry before starting the engine.

Cheers,
Alan

wow so simple.... would prolly take the same time as replacing. but you would do it after installing the new ones anyways while the parts are clean....Hmmm mine need doing... lol

I've done the job with the heads on. I used the rope trick as mentioned earlier, and it worked fine. One word of advice, once you've taken the rocker assemblies off, remove the left hand (as you look at the engine from the front) camshaft bearing journal caps from the assembly, and bolt the camshaft back down. Otherwise, they tend to lift as you're turning the crankshaft over - mine skipped a tooth on the timing belt whilst doing this - didn't do any damage, but the car was making a real racket and running rough. Added an extra few hours onto an already involving job to sort it out.

I did the stem seals in HER car last week , heads on , air method .. Worked great ..

But I know why I'm not a mechanic , 240V electrics are much easier/cleaner to repair!!!


But was fun , in a sorta evil , sadistic kinda way ....


The help on here is awesome , thanks all ......:beer::beer:

What is the typical mileage that the VSS need replacing in the V6? Mine is nearly at 210,000km and they have never been replaced. Been keeping an eye out for them for the last 2+ years but it doesn't seem to be blowing a whiff of smoke or using any oil.

Ollie

What is the typical mileage that the VSS need replacing in the V6? Mine is nearly at 210,000km and they have never been replaced. Been keeping an eye out for them for the last 2+ years but it doesn't seem to be blowing a whiff of smoke or using any oil.

Ollie

sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you dont. they'll generally do 100,000km reliably, but usually go a hell of alot longer than that. just keep an eye on them man, you'll be fine...

I currently have the rocker cover off, the piston (5 - started on the front 3 and if those go well ill do the last 3 tomorrow) at TDC, holding the valve in place (rope trick) and the spring compressed. But i am at a loss as to pulling the spring itself off. Can anyone explain?

In the end if just gave up trying to swap the stems as the collets would not come loose. But i now have a more serious problem, the crank will only turn in a limited arc of rotation! So i cant get the timing back...
This happens even with the rockers off the front cam and back full assembled (untouched) and the belt to the crank - spark plugs out - the engine only has limited rotation.

Any thoughts on this?
Suggestions on ways to proceed?

Thoughts at the moment is that somethng is jaming one of the cylinders (probably #5), so the head will need to come off. :( Not what i really want to do.

did you remember to remove the rope mate? lol i know it sounds silly but sometimes it does slip your mind.

else, rip the rocker cover off, and ensure that the collets on the cylinder you tried to fix are in the proper place and the valve is closing fully.

having done this, it might be that you have to re-time the engine. make sure the cam timing marks are in the correct place, put the crank pulley on TDC and refit the belt.

all the best mate

sadly remembered the rope.

I just had the mobile mechanic around as i was running out of time to get the into 1 piece. He turned up looked at it and said i probably have bent valves (99% sure). He offered to redo the timing (requiring the pull down of the side to get to the timing belt). I decided it was not worth paying time to do something that i could do just to find out it was most likely stuffed.
Anyway i now have the side 3/4 pulled down but stuck on 2 bolts. There is a bolt for the cover behind(ie cant get to the bloody thing) the crank pulley for the P/S and another on the tensioner for the water pump that i cant get undone (ie locked up... sprayed with WD40 in the hope it frees up) :S.