My 92 SE is burning the midnight oil, not mention the morning oil, and every other kind - about a quart every 700-1000 miles. After more than about 20 seconds idling, I get a big puff of oily smelling smoke out of the exhaust. Pretty sure at least my valve seals are shot - engine still runs smoothly, just can't live with the "Jed Clampett" effect any longer.

Question - can the valve seals (and guides?) be replaced w/out removing the heads??

Any further info on the job (web sites, etc) would be welcome. I have the Chilton's manual for the car.

Plan to do a leak down compression check to make sure I don't have ring problems - is this (the smoking) unusual for a max w/ 160k miles on it???

I live in Huntsville, AL - would consider taking it to a reasonable ($$)mechanic if there is one on this forum that would be interested.

Thx, Michael

 

Nope, you need to take the head off to do any head work. I can upload the FSM for a 94 Maxima if you want or you can download it from somewhere else (i forgot where i got mine).

 

I have one i can send you if you are interested.

 

Um well?? Bad VTCs+neglected engine leading to dried up valve stem seals = cheaper to just do a jdm ve30de swap imho...

 

what website can i get a price for the jdm v30de?

 

Jeff - I've kept the oil changed regularly. PLEASE don't throw VTCs in my face - EVERYONE has that problem!!! What is a jdm ve30de swap??

Mike

 

Not throwing it your face. But if you want to spend the $ to get it fixed, please feel free to do so.

In my experience, valve stem seals leak because of the lack of regular oil changes or the engine was run very hard/hot for a long time. But if you changed the oil, then that's clearly not the case then.

Either that or it's not the seals. Hard to tell

 

I know of people that cna change valve seals with the heads still on the car.I see people using a home-made device that consists of a bolt wiht the same thread as a spark plug.Then center was drilled out of the bolt and threaded and then a air compresser quick released was threaded into the center threads.

They would then rotate the engine until both valves were closed,install the "special tool" and then plug their air compresser into the tool so it supplied 120 psi directly to the cylinder holding the valves closed while he dissasembled the valve spring/keeper.Then replace the seal and put it back together.

Only thing though that is gine on a 4 cylinder or an old v8 but with all the valves in a ve Ic ould see it being a long process.

BJ white

 

MrSector9 is correct. It is possible to change vavle seals with the heads still on the car. I think that they sell that hook up for the compressed air in the autoparts stores. But anyway it is just how he said with the air holding the valves from falling into the combustion chamber. Even though its possible....Im not sure that you would want to do it. The time and money and hassle involved wouldnt be worth it IMHO. If I had enough money for the JDM then I would go that route if I were you, but thats just me.

Guides on the other hand, I dont see being an "on the car" job, cause I dont think that theres any way to work adound the valve stems. Im almost positive that the heads have to be off the car. Not only that but if its just the seals then do just the seals. If Im not mistaken, the guides should still be fine with leaky seals. If some kind of dirt got past the seals then thats a different story. But you did say that you did regular oil changes so....If you decide to do the seals then check the stems first while you have everything right in front of you, and decide from there.

 

I've done this on my old 4-banger. My dad made an adapter instead of buying it.

 

The factory service manual seems to indicate that if the piston is at top dead center, this will prevent the valves from falling into the cylinder... seems easier than the compressed air route, and TDC shouldn't be hard to find - I would think a decent size wooden dowel put through the spark plug hole, then just rotate the engine until dowel protrudes out as far as possible.... any takers on this method??

Now that I think about it, seems like one could rig up a balloon-type rig to shove into the spark plug hole - just blow it up and tie it off - maybe one of those hot-dog type kids balloons....

Is it just me, or does it seem fairly reasonable that a 13 year old car with 160k could/would have worn valve seals?? I had an 87 camry with 170k on it and it had the same symptoms, and I'm guessing the same problem.....

Mike

 

No offense taken, I guess I'm just a little irked that I DID take care to change the oil regularly, yet I have this problem. I'm beginning to think my engine has some intrinsic heating issues, as i have replaced almost all of my injectors to date, which may explain the valve seal problem.

If I do replace the seals, I would do the work myself, as I have a spare car and could take my time (and, hopefully, keep my sanity!!!)

I don't see throwing a ton of money at the car, as it only blue books for about $2500 - it's just that the engine STILL runs so damn smooth, I have trouble just giving up on it!!!

Hopefull a compression leak-down test will eliminate rings, in which case I am sure I will have a crack at the seals....

Mike

 

can someone send me a fsm for a 92se?

 

the valve stem seals are just normal wear and tear. think of how many billion (yes, billion) times those valves have gone up and down over the life of the engine.. and the seals are a tiny piece or rubber that sits against them with spring tension on them their entire life.

so it's conceiveable that they would start to leak after almost 15 years.

don't bother trying to put the head at TDC and do it without air pressure.. that's risky and can possibly bend valves. plus getting the spring retainers back on will be very tricky if the valve isn't seated completely and resting against the piston. even a few mm will make a big difference here.

buy the proper tool (or make it) to pressurize the cylinder and do it that way.
no, balloonw won't do you any good either. that will just cause more problems as they will burst inside the head and fill it with rubber shards. probably won't do any damage, but will be messy and clog the cat with more crap on their way out of the exhaust.

better to do things the right way. mechanics do it that way for a reason- and I'm sure they've tried more simple methods.

basically just pull the rocker arms off the heads and you should have full access to the valve stems. shouldn't even have to pull the cams, but since you're that far in, it will only take you another hour or so to rebuild the VTCs and you'll have the top end ready to go for another zillion miles.

 

THANK YOU MATT - you're the first person that has at least given me hope that my engine is just experiencing some normal wear and tear. I feel, as you do, that if I can fix the seals and VTCs she'll be almost as good as new.....

Mike

 

I'm almost 100% sure the cams have to be removed. There's no room to get at anything with the cams in. And if you have to remove the cams, you might as well remove the vtc assemblies for a rebuild. But now you have to make damn sure the timing marks are correct. And now you have to remove both side timing cover assembies off also. Not getting any funner