Oil stem seals?

[ButcherV6]

Right just been to a garage talking about the smoking problem I have with my 2.4 v6 R reg, and with out any hesitation he said it would be the oil stem seals with everything I described.

Now is this a major problem? How big of a job is it and what would I expect to pay to get it put right?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ButcherV6]

Just to clarify it's the valve oil seals, apparently they go hard and are unable to seal. Any ideas?

 

[aragorn]

What are the symptoms?

Stem seals would usually cause a puff of smoke on starting the car in the morning, and more noticeably, if you leave it idling for a few minutes while hot, then rev it, it will belch out clouds of blue smoke.


ye, you can do them in situ but its tricky. alternatively you'd have to remove the cylinder heads and do it on a bench.

if doing it in situ, You'd need to remove the rocker covers, timing belt and camshafts, then you'd need to find a way of stopping the valve dropping into the cylinder (sometimes an airline connected to the spark plug hole will do it) use a spring compressor to compress the valve spring and remove the collets, then remove the upper platform and spring. Then you can pull the seal off the top of the valve stem and replace it. Repeat x30, then reassemble.

 

[jcb]

quite possible.
what are the symptoms?
smoking on overide, smoke on start up, doesn't smoke too much on medium to high load? That is what valve stem oil seals show. I should know.... had plenty of Gti's with same problems.

you can do it with the head on if you know what you are doing. its a faff as you need to pull all valve springs. retainers etc....you have 30 if I am not mistaken..... depends on the garage, if they have done it before and whether they like raping people like yourself.

 

[ButcherV6]

The symptoms are;

Blue smoke on cold start.
A lot of gray/blue smoke on idle once hot.
When driving it's had to tell but it dosnt seem to smoking as much as on idle.
The car runs and drives smooth and sounds smooth and quiet under the bonnet, iv not had the car long enough to tell if it's using lots of oil but I have had to top it up.

Thanks for your help.

 

[aragorn]

Ye does sound like the stem seals.

Is it a low mileage car?

 

[ButcherV6]

130,000 miles on it.

 

[aragorn]

Kinda average then. I just wondered if it had sat parked up for years that might have explained the dried up seals

TBH its not something i've really heard is all that common in these engines, and if a garage does the repair work your going to be talking a big bill. Your often talking 400+ just for a timing belt on these cars, and this job requires the belt to come off just as a starting point.

 

[theviking]

it the labour on this kinda job my old mk 2 gti didi it then engine went so scrapped it and cut losses is the car worth 400 plus ? mine was nt !

 

[ButcherV6]

The car is mint it's a 98 2.4 V6 SE with all the extras, just did all the shocks and new rear calipers for the MOT, it's got the 18" alloys from a newer audi fitted and I was well happy with it appart from this smoke but I took a gamble with it as I only give £850, think I might get it up for sale spairs or repairs and cut my losses, it's got a full MOT on it so must be worth something to someone?

 

[aragorn]

maybe just get yourself another engine and swap it over?

 

[Matt82]

maybe just get yourself another engine and swap it over?

exactly what i was thinking

something V8?

 

[aragorn]

Now your talking

 

[theviking]

drop engine not that hard i put a g60 into a mk one WOW years ago and didnt cost much

 

[jcb]

it is not a hard job if you are prepared to buy a few tools.
It just takes some time.
you can do it with the head in situ and learn a bit about your engine. get a bentley manual, decent set of sockets and some long nose forceps (for the seal removal).
you could make a job of it and do the cam belt while you are at it. You can always get someone knowledgeable to double check the timing when you are done (or just post photos on here RS246 etc)

I was faced with a similar prospect about 10 years ago on an old car when the head gasket went.
wasn't viable and I didn't want to just scrap it. did the head over four days outside my house, filling the boot with bits as I went.
Worked a charm and lasted another 3 years