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Leaking valves. What should I do?


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1992 Loyale with 187K

 

I poured water into the intake port on the head and found out that three valves leak.  I am going to rent a valves spring compressor and address that.  Should I do the fourth one?

 

When I poured water into the exhaust port there were no leaking exhaust valves.  Why?  Should I do them too?

 

I have never done that kind of work so any suggestions/recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

 

 

Thanks,

Sam

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Why is it apart and being tested?

 

How much leakage?

 

Ideally someone with a lot of significant wdoerjnwc Gloyale tells you what he’d do, I would just assume the valves are dirty and just clean and lap them. Might as well replace the valve stems seals while it’s apart, maybe depending on the reason it’s being worked on as well.

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I'll go with the heads are off the block. If they leak, at the very least, they'll need lapping. Got to remove one to see if it's leaking due to crud / carbon, rust, wear or burned.

 

 

Why is it apart and being tested?

 

How much leakage?

 

Ideally someone with a lot of significant wdoerjnwc Gloyale tells you what he’d do, I would just assume the valves are dirty and just clean and lap them. Might as well replace the valve stems seals while it’s apart, maybe depending on the reason it’s being worked on as well.

Thank you guys!

 

That is the answer I was looking for.

 

I removed the heads because of leaking antifreeze. 

 

Since the heads were off I decided to check the valves and filled the exhaust and intake ports with water.  That is how YouTube shows to check for leaking valves.

 

I will get a spring compressor, remove the valves, and see what conditions they are.  I have never thought that the leakage might be just because the valves have a carbon built up.  We shall see.

 

Sam

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Seing as how everything is apart i would lap the valves sand the heads using the diy head surfacing method and me personaly i would port and polish the heads while there out and apart already i have never had a real valve spring tool ever i use a socket and a rag and a hammer to remove the springs just takes a quick tap and the keepers are out and have used plires to reinstall them when i did chevy heads with high comprestion springs i used 2 bars and levered them i have also used a drill press to compress the springs these ea82 springs are soft enuff that just body wait can compress them hand then i drop the keepers in easy enuff but im exstremely cheap or poor however you want to look at it so i do everything my self with what i have laying around

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I cut a slot in an unused socket. Then bolt allthread to it and a cam sprocket to the other end. Lean shoulder into cam sprocket - body weight like he said. Slots give access via needle nose or magnets for the keepers.

 

The spring compressors I’ve tried have all sucked for subarus. Clumsy awkward hard to set up and gotta reset for each valve based on side clearance, etc. DIY/ hand method is way quicker.

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Your first count said three valves leaked, yet none of the exhaust did. Wondered how many valves you had on one head!

 

You know, from past experiences with ea82 heads don't take short cuts. You put so much into rebuilding it and installing it , no fun finding cheapskate genes caused more headaches for you.

 

Any visible cracks between valves combustion chamber side?

 

You had a coolant leak....where, how?

 

The valves leak under that test just means you had an extra problem about to happen.

 

I always use petrol with a little oil coz think it is thinner than water and when petrol dries leaves oily residue about.

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Your first count said three valves leaked, yet none of the exhaust did. Wondered how many valves you had on one head!

 

You know, from past experiences with ea82 heads don't take short cuts. You put so much into rebuilding it and installing it , no fun finding cheapskate genes caused more headaches for you.

 

Any visible cracks between valves combustion chamber side?

 

You had a coolant leak....where, how?

 

The valves leak under that test just means you had an extra problem about to happen.

 

I always use petrol with a little oil coz think it is thinner than water and when petrol dries leaves oily residue about.

Thanks jono!!!

 

This is the post I have been looking for!

 

The surface between valves CRACKED.  See attached pictures.

 

Now I do not know if it is worth to proceed withe the repair.  What do you think?

 

To answer your another question: the coolant was pushing back into the radiator when I started investigating a slight overheating.  I decided that that was a blown head gasket and removed the heads but could not see any obvious signs of blown gasket.

 

Thanks again,

Sam

post-12128-0-44854700-1511282165_thumb.jpg

post-12128-0-53285000-1511282179_thumb.jpg

post-12128-0-52318400-1511282192_thumb.jpg

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There was a TSB years ago about small cracks between the valves. They are not a problem. Nearly every head I've had off an ea82 has them. I've not had any problem caused by those small cracks. I've read about people trying to fix them, they come back.

 

The coolant pushing out of the radiator and overheating is typical of failed headgaskets. It is not always visible. It only takes a very tiNY pinhole of a leak to let gasses at hundreds of psi to leak into the cooling system.

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Now you mention cracks! I have had a set weld repaired that failed again years later.

 

Two tests are cheap easy vacuum test once valves been sealed ground lapped etc then there is the pressure test costs more but is more definitive that I recommend for more piece of mind. Like many others have used heads with harmless cracks

 

A sealing product called seal wel uep one L also worked wonders

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Now you mention cracks! I have had a set weld repaired that failed again years later.

 

Two tests are cheap easy vacuum test once valves been sealed ground lapped etc then there is the pressure test costs more but is more definitive that I recommend for more piece of mind. Like many others have used heads with harmless cracks

 

A sealing product called seal wel uep one L also worked wonders

Thanks jono.

 

When I finish working on the heads I will stop at the local garage and find out how much it will be.

 

Sam

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I rented a valve removal tool yesterday and, like Garry said, it was a joke.  It did not work at all.

 

Inspired by your posts I removed the valves with my simple tools.  See how easy it was:

 


 

 

I also have an idea on how to install them.  But that will happen when I finish working on the heads.

 

Regards,

Sam
 

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