Itoyota

I obviously have a valve stem seal leak on the exhaust side (only side the machinists worked with) and it's causing a rough idle, poor fuel economy and rough idle once the spark plug fouls out. So, has anyone heard of any product in a bottle or can that can maybe just maybe kill this leak?
And does anyone know of any way the valve stem seal can be replaced minus pulling the head? I'm not too familiar with this procedure but i know you can replace them w/out pulling the head on some GMC and Chevys.

86SR522REEFI

Um the valve stem is on your wheel, its the black thing you put air into, are you talking about the valve cover gasket? The valve cover gasket is like 15 bucks and it shouldnt take you more than an hour, it takes me about 20 minutes to do one of those on a 22re.

Green93

My father-in-law just replaced the valve springs in an older Mercedes without removing the head. He made an attachment for his air compressor that would thread into the sparkplug hole. He then pressurized the cylinder so that he could remove the keepers on the valve stem without having the whole valve fall into the cylinder. He was just replacing the springs but I think you would be able to get at the valve stem seals as well. Not 100% sure though.

Jason

williemon

Who says it is a leak around the valve stem? Has this been confirmed by a compression test and leak down test?

Is the work on the head and valves warranteed?

ozziesironmanoffroad

try replacing the valve covers. ive noticed my 22re likes to crack the gaskets, i have no idea why.

Itoyota

yeah i'm sure it's the valve stem seal. obviously you shouldn't be posting here cuz you are clueless to what i am talking about.
Positive it's a valve stem leak i got 1/2 the spark plug fouling, and compression/leak downs are good @175 ea cyllinder (varying 5 lbs)
And, i'm guessing that none of you know if i can get at them w/ out removing the head. I don't think i can, so thus is why i'm asking for in the bottle repairs.

corvey

Actually there is one possibilty to do it without removing the head. PART NUMBER "KD 3087" Look at the bottom of this link... http://www.mytoolstore.com/kd/kdengi13.html

Green93

The tool that corvey posted should work. Just remember to add air to the cylinder like I said so the valve doesn't slip right into the cylinder.

Itoyota

k thanks guys. but i got to say, you both sound hesitant. Have you used this method before or heard of it successfully being done by a garage mechanic. It sounds simple, but EVERYTHING sounds simple. thnaks again

GSGALLANT

The air in the cylinders trick will work to keep the valves in place (assuming you're at TDC on the compression stroke for that cylinder when you pressurize it.) Getting the springs and keepers off is one thing (and that tool may work for you), but removing the valve stem seals with the valves in place is going to give you headaches. When I replaced my valve stem seals, the heads were on my bench, and the valves were out, and I still had a hard time removing the seals. They were likely as old as the truck (my truck's a '93), and were really brittle. I tried a small hook, small screwdrivers, and needle nose pliers to get them out, and all methods caused the seals to come out in several pieces. If that happens to you, be sure that you're getting all the little pieces out so they don't end up in your cylinders.

RustBucket

iTrader: (1)

Hey man,

I did this very thing on a Toyota Tercel 1.5L. It is very doable, it's a cheap process, but it it tedious. I found it was better to simply stuff each cylinder with some flexible rope - it's not as touchy as using the compressed air because if you tap the valve too hard, air will leak past and it will fall into the cylinder.

You should be able to make one of those tools work. The 22re has a good bit of room around the valve springs so if you have some dexterity I'm sure you can do it.

Valve stem seals pull off of the guide easily with some channel-locks and a little twisting. And then you put the new ones on follow the instructions and *don't* tap them! Just push them on until you feel them seat down. I have broken one before because I was too rough with it.

The little retainers are a pain in the butt to put back in. Use two baby screw drivers and some grease as a glue. Ask any mechanic and he can show you what I'm talking about.

MMA_Alex

Personally I think it would be easier and less of a hassle to just pull the head.

And the grease trick mentioned above is awesome for getting the spring retainers to stay in place for us people who don't have 4 hands.

RustBucket

iTrader: (1)

Pulling the head seems like it would be ALOT more work... removing intake/exhaust manifolds, cleaning the mating faces, buying a new headgasket, going through the torqueing procedures, etc. and so on. This only involves taking off the valve cover and then getting clever

MMA_Alex

lol well go ahead and try it and tell me how many hours it takes ya?

mr x

I've done the air trick about 3 times, never on a 22re though. It worked fine for me every time. I think it would be very easy on 22re in comparison to other engines.

Itoyota

k well, this is looking like a necessary repair and a feasable answer to my fouling plug. I'll post back with emergency issues or the succesfull completion. BTW. I read the FSM and it says the valve stem and the seal have to be gauged to one another in order to seal properly. Is this true? Can't i just press the seal down onto the seat and gently use the stem to gauge the seal opening?

MMA_Alex

I think what its saying is that they want you to use a micrometer to check that everything is within spec. you wont be able to check the valve stem in the wear areas without removing them, which will require removing the head.

ps. take lots of pics, and tell us how it goes so people know for the future

Itoyota

will do

Itoyota

well infinite knowledge base that is yotatech, check this out. I tore it all down, basically wasted 2 hrs, when i should have been studying for my
O-chem exam tomorrow, staring at the rocker arm assembly trying to figure out how this is gonna work. You look at the pictures.
The longer you think about it, the more you'll realize, this can't be done without removing the rocker arm assembly. WELL we ALL know what that means ... head bolts .... AND well then, there goes the HG. man




even of i shove the rocker arm over with prying force and screwdrivers and 8 hands, there isn't enough room for the spring and valve to completely rebound and allow me to remove it.

well, ideas?

MMA_Alex

I got an idea. Pull the head like i suggested! lol