Lifters and stem seals

[denguy]

I have the valve cover off to replace it's leaky gasket. Looking under it I am tempted to change the valve lifters[one is noisey at startup] and maybe the stem seals [I get a puff of oil smoke at startup, car has 260k miles on it]. How hard is this to do? Anyone have any tips on making making the job easier? One thing I don't recommend is starting the car with the valve cover off. I did use the tip about trimming off a little from the lower lip of the throttle body intake so the valve cover would clear it at removal.

[gergorian]

If you have an air compressor you can buy an adapter to put compressed air into the cylinder ( not sure on the psi needed but I don't think it would be too much.) to keep the valve from dropping when you remove the valve spring. You will also need a valve spring compressor that will work with the head still on the car ( if you plan on leaving the head on the car.) If you have both of those items then you can remove the rocker shafts, apply pressure to the cylinder that you want to change the seal in, compress the valve spring, remove the keepers, removed the spring, change the valve seal and re-assemble in the reverse order. Hope that helps!

[bravekozak]

With that amount of mileage on the engine, I'd be tempted to swap the engine with a rebuilt B6. I wouldn't bother with a bandaid patch of just changing one lifter and valve stem seals. I don't even think it's worth doing a complete head job unless the compression is still quite high in all cylinders.
Your choice.

[denguy]

Thanks for the comeback.

[blkfordsedan]

It's relatively quick and easy to change the HLAs. You can locate the offending one by pushing down on the valve end of the rockers on each cylinder while the cam is on the base circle. The bad one will be loose. If it only does this at cold start up, then test them after its sat over night.
As for tips:

when you pull a rocker shaft assy, turn the engine over so that the majority of the rockers on the shaft are resting on the base circle of the cam. A couple will be resting on the lobe ramps, but not at full lift. This will make it a ton easier when bolting the shaft assy back down.

The rocker arm spacer springs can be a pain when re-installing. They will try to get pinched between the shaft and the saddle tower on the head. I use a large zip tie around the shaft to help hold the springs back. I position the large head of the zip tie down so that it will rest against the side of the saddle tower and not get pinched under the shaft. Once the shaft is bolted down, just cut the zip tie and remove it.

[denguy]

Thanks for the ideas. The manual only gets you so far, then reality kicks in.

[denguy]

Blkfrdsedan....I like the sound of your easy lifter test method.........I will try this out........I do have one new lifter on hand, only sounds like one is clacking, how do you pull out the bad one after you find it?

[gergorian]

You will need to remove the rocker shaft that has the offending HLA and take a pair of needle-nose pliers and pull it out( if this isn't recommended please let me know) I did this on my old ones a while back( I was replacing them and didn't care if the old ones got damaged)

Also, if you havent already I would highly recommend you get a Haynes manual or something similar because they have alot of useful info in them that pertains to basic maintenance as well as major engine work.

[denguy]

I am not holding anyone liable for any suggestions offered on here so speak freely.