Valvestem seals off the guides?????

[Amelio]

I have a little over 1k miles on a new engine, it has been running real good but just noticed some blue smoke on start up and it has progressively gotten worse and now smokes at idle.

My initial thought would be a turbo seal but the turbo is new and I checked both sides of the turbo and it is dry....not the problem.

I pulled my plugs and found cyl#6 to be oiled ....my first thought was a broken ring...did a quick compression check...it is a little high due to some oil in the cylinder but looks good...165psi.

I pulled the rocker covers and found that the valve stem seal had been pulled off the guide and was sitting at the top of the valve. I though this was the problem and then I noticed that every valve on the pass side head was like that. I checked the driver side head and the seals were still on the guides.

Does it make sense that even know every valve on the even bank has had the seal pulled up that only the #6 cylinder would be the culprit?

My next step would be to pull the pan and look at the cylinder wall for any signs of scoring or broken oil ring....but before I touched the pan which does not leak :smile: I wanted to get some opinions and thoughts.

I have read through some other posts and have seen similar threads.....I have stock champion ported heads with larger steel valves....they appear to have the white teflon seals. When I rebuilt the engine I went roller...I did not touch the valves or seals...just installed he new beehive springs for the cam.


Thoughts and opinions please....Thank you!

 

[paintitblack]

The white teflon seals are a pain to set and if not done right will pull up very easily. Not knowing the lift on the cam or your spring height it could be possible the retainer has hit the top of the guide crushing the seal causing it to fail. If its a cast head i would check to make sure the guide it self isnt cracked, allowing excess oil to pass though. Remember that #6 is at the back and the motor has a slight tilt allowing oil to collect at the back 2 cyls. I would also take the spring off and check the valve to guide clearance side to side for excessive wear. That will allow more oil in there too. And for s***s & giggles i would pull the upper plenum and look inside the intake and port for that cyl. before pulling the pan. Brian

 

[Amelio]

Thanks for the reply...the cam is .515 lift and my installed height was some where around "1.74 I think???? it was within spec... I just found it odd to see the even bank with all the seals pulled off and the odd bank fine and one cylinder to be oily.

I am going to do a leak down test to rule out a ring issue then just install new valve seals.

Thanks

 

[charlief1]

Um...I know this may sound funny but what valves are you using? Stock?

 

[turbodave231]

Spring installed height and stem height will have nothing to do with the retainer hitting the seal.

It sounds like you needed to machine the top of the guides down to avoid bind and didn't check this upon assembly. A cheap pair of harware store springs (check springs) are what you need to use before final assembly to verify the valves don't hit the pistons and the retainers don't hit the guides.

Measure twice and assemble once.