I'm doing a head gasket replacement for the first time on my 99 Legacy and I neglected to align the timing mark on the harmonic balancer before removing the pulleys. After removing the heads I noticed that none of the exhaust valves were seated on one of the heads. Could my mistake have resulted in bent valves or could something else have caused all 4 valves to seat poorly? 

Edited October 13, 20178 yr by Deeron

No. Rotate the cam and the valves should unload. 

 

If they don't you have some other problem like dropped valve guides, etc. 

 

GD

Thanks, GD. What would cause all of the exhaust valves on that cylinder head to seat improperly? With the cylinder head removed I can see the gap between all 4 valves and their seats, so they're off by quite a bit. Would a bad head gasket cause this somehow? 

Thanks, GD. What would cause all of the exhaust valves on that cylinder head to seat improperly? With the cylinder head removed I can see the gap between all 4 valves and their seats, so they're off by quite a bit. Would a bad head gasket cause this somehow? 

 

Are the cams removed?  You may just be seeing valves in their open state.

 

But anyhow, if they are bent, it's probably from jumped time at some point.  Valves will need replaced.

The cam is holding them open. Turn the cam and they'll close.

 

Normally I spin the cam while the head is still on the block to close all the valves before I remove the head. It's doable with the head off the motor, just harder to hold the head and turn the cam at the same time.

Edited October 13, 20178 yr by Fairtax4me

Oh, ok. I thought that without the timing belt holding the cam in place then the force for the springs will turn the cam until everything is closed. I'll try turning it now.