Valve stem seals loose

[ricster]

Hmmmm..... here we go again....

So I noticed a little extra puff of white smoke after idling when pulling off lately.... seems fine when the motor is hot. Seemed like tell tale valve stem seal problem. So I figured let me do a final re-torque of the head after the head change a while ago.

So I strip off the I/C and tappet cover and there she was. There are 2 valve stem seals that are not seated on the head but sitting on top of the vale close to the "cotter" pins. So my suspicions were correct. I took a small flat screw driver and pushed the 2 valve stem seals back down over the seating face on which they are supposed to hold.

Now I don't have the special tool to press down the valve spring to take out the little cotter pin, so I'll have to make a plan there. Then What must I do to ensure the valve stem seals stay in place ????? I am sure that I can turn the motor to TDC so that the valve will rest on top of the piston while trying to seat the stem seals. Do I need to get new ones???..... again??? ......These existing ones are only a few 1000Km old....... and I'm definitely NOT taking the head off again....haha

I need a good fix for this problem.....

[Mayhem]

Hi Ricster
There is no need to remove the head to replace the valve stem seals, you can buy a valve spring compressor that will keep the spring compressed while you remove the cotters. I got one a few years ago from Midas or Auto Zone and were not to expensive. Where are you if you are in the Cape area you are welcome to use mine.
Before you go ahead and replace all of them try to push the loose ones back onto the valve guides, it is possible that they were just not fitted correctly and came loose.

[Peter Connan]

Eish Cedric

I was taught that when fitting valve stem seals, you crush them slightly before fitting them.

Your biggest problem will be to make sure the cotters are seated properly afterwards. Normally you give the valve stem a good whack with a mallet, but don't do that with the piston at the top!

[Grootseun]

Ricter as a temporary fix you can do what we did on a lot of race engines if the valve stem seal cam loose on race day

Remove the rocker arm , clean the top of the valve spring the reatinaer and cotters off with thinners and then apply some contact glue arround the cotters and the stem liberally , just keep the tip of the valve stem where the rocker rides clean

I know it sounds like bull but have personally used this jippo trick and it worked fine for may kilometeres

[ricster]

Mayhem, thanks for the offer mate.... I'm a bit far though....ha ha....(JHB based). I'll pop into Midas and have a look at what they have.

Peter, I think these stem seals were removed from the previous "new pirate crappy" head that had only done a few Km, so like you said they have probably streched a bit, and possibly weren't "crushed".
Now... (here's my blonde hair moment).... what the hell is crushing?? Is it just squeezingthe bottoms of the seal that slides over the sleeve of ther head where the valve moves through? would you say that the "old" ones can be crushed, or should I just get new ones. Then the all important question....where to get them..... Not from the dealers thats for sure. If I remember Frans (Tour de France) said that some of the cheaper Hardbody diesel parts fit the 4.2 diesel motor, like rings and pistons for example.... so any idea if this is true for the stem seals??

Grootseun, I was told something similar with superglue.... clean all the oil off and put superglue around the base of the seal and slide it over.

It's not too bad at the moment so I'm happy to wait till I get a bit of time and rather do the job properly.

Grootseun.... please don't take this the wrong way cause I definitely don't blame anyone but myself ( I should just have put new seals in to start with)... but at the 4Gas day, when the motor was reving high, there was a sudden splutter/bang that happened, and at the time the guy who ran the thing ( can't remember his name ) said that it was possibly something that blew itself out the system. I didn't think aanything of it at the time but the next morning noticed the little extra puff of smoke on start up. So the seals were probably just waiting to pop off anyway. A 4.2 6 cylinder at nearly 3500 rpm sounds like a friggin nuclear reactor ready to blow up..... ... so in a round about way it was a good thing!!

[David]

... A 4.2 6 cylinder at nearly 3500 rpm sounds like a friggin nuclear reactor ready to blow up.....

But it was doing more than that all the time when you were at Atlantis dunes ... also with the puff of smoke

[Peter Connan]

Peter, I think these stem seals were removed from the previous "new pirate crappy" head that had only done a few Km, so like you said they have probably streched a bit, and possibly weren't "crushed".
Now... (here's my blonde hair moment).... what the hell is crushing?? Is it just squeezingthe bottoms of the seal that slides over the sleeve of ther head where the valve moves through? would you say that the "old" ones can be crushed, or should I just get new ones. Then the all important question....where to get them..... Not from the dealers thats for sure. If I remember Frans (Tour de France) said that some of the cheaper Hardbody diesel parts fit the 4.2 diesel motor, like rings and pistons for example.... so any idea if this is true for the stem seals??

Cedric, that's right, just squeeze it a bit though. Superglue or probably better high-temperature silicon sealant (also called red hermatite or gasket maker) could also help.

I would be surprised if it is not a fairly generic part, and it might well be worth measuring one (guide OD, stem OD and sela length should suffice) and/or taking a sample to a good spares shop? Also try phoning Dean at Masterpart in Belleville.

[Mayhem]

Hi Cedric
You should be able to get valve stem seals from Master Parts if you have one up there, I know the TD 27 had the same piston rings as my TD 42 so maybe the valve stem seals are also the same

[Grootseun]

Cedric the guy that performed the test was Colin and yes i read that you dont blame anyone but would like to explain

The specific test procedure in the Texa DSM system is a test approved by in excess of 40 manufacturers one of which being Nissan so i must agree with you that at 3500 it was most likely a bad seal to start with and the moderately high rev under no load might have only speeded up the problem , for what its worth i do apologise on behalf of my comany should you or anyone in that matter feel our testing caused damage to your vehicle

Geuss that highlights the point of having indemnities should we do another such a day , but anyway enough of this nonsens , Cedric get that beast sorted so that we can go play in the rough where the Patrols belong

[ricster]

Absolutely Driko..... Patrol must play !!!!

Driko ... definitely no apology needed... AT ALL !!!.... this was not your companies fault !!!! And anyone reading this should understand this please, My valve stem seals were faulty, that were fitted by the engineering shop that I chose..... the stem seals just happened to pop off at that moment....and again... its a good thing that it happened there and not in Namibia in the dunes or somewhere else in the middle of no where!!!!