I don’t need a step-by-step but a car I’m looking at may need this done. I can do a little more than change the oil but I’m no mechanic by any stretch of the imagination. To me intellectually it should be a relatively easy fix but then again I know it is much more than replacing a sensor. I just replaced a (front-mounted) water pump in a 2006 Jeep Commander so would this be easier than that?
Assuming I have the seals in hand and decide to take it into a garage, what would it cost me to have them do it?
I’ve never changed a water pump but I did change the valve stem seals on a 72 ford (V8). It really wasn’t a big deal. It was just tedious and took a long time. You will need a tool to compress all the springs. There’s a couple different styles, I used the one that looked like a pry bar.
It might not be the seals, but also the guides. That almost certainly takes a machine shop unless you want to invest in a lot of special tools. And if you are doing the guides, best to let them make sure the valves and seats are OK.
Probably your best bet is to remove the head(s) and take it to a automotive machine shop. If it’s a 4-cyl, it’s much easier to remove the head. You might not even need to remove the intake and exhaust manifolds. Talk to the machine shop about this.
And would you bring your own steak to a restaurant for them to cook? 'nough said.
Either way, this is a LOT more involved than a water pump. One approach is to remove the cylinder head, which is a major undertaking. The other approach requires applying a constant stream of compressed air into the cylinder being worked on so as not to drop the valves into the cylinder. It’s not a wise undertaking for someone with minimal experience.
"Assuming I have the seals in hand and decide to take it into a garage, what would it cost me to have them do it?"
I don’t know what would tempt you to provide the seals when having a professional repair facility do the work, but don’t. If the shop is foolish enough to use parts you provide, you are in warranty limbo. Should a seal fail and the shop maintains it’s due to a faulty part, then it’s your responsibility to pay them again to do the labor to replace it – and for this job, the labor is the lion’s share of the cost. Offhand, I’d guess it’s a $500-800 repair.
Your lack of enthusiasm about well…everything, is noted. Frequently. Little too frequently, know what I’m sayin?
For anyone else reading: yes, the AE86 is a fun ride as is and easy to customize. It’s a popular rally and/or drift car, and came off the factory line with great handling and gas mileage. Hope to find another hatchback someday.
The person selling the car has the seals already and doesn’t want to do the job himself before selling it. I had my suspicions as to why which the SD has confirmed.
Or the approach that the guy who wrote the walkthrough on the link I posted above used: turn the engine over to lower the piston, feed in several feet of nylon rope through the spark plug hole, and bring the piston back up to compress the rope and hold the valve in place. From a shadetree mechanic point of view, it’s actually probably not a bad idea…as long as you don’t manage to break it off inside the cylinder or something.
I think some people also wrap a rubber band around them. I don’t think I did anything like that. For some reason I think I just held them with my hand as I did the work and got lucky that I never dropped one.
Are there any symptoms beyond a happy little puff of smoke when you start it up in the morning? A lot of 80’s vintage Toyotas and Hondas have that problem, and other than the embarasment it’s not really doing much harm. Not fixing it is usually a perfectly viable option.
Unless you can not afford a mechanic to do this I suggest that you pay one to do this job. It is not for the first timer. It can be done, it is not easy. If you have a mechanic that will watch over your shoulder as you do this it can be done well. It can also be both frustrating and expensive.
Do not supply the $2.00 seal to the shop. Warranty issues can be a real pain in the backside.
As GreasyJack said " Are there any symptoms beyond a happy little puff of smoke when you start it up in the morning? A lot of 80’s vintage Toyotas and Hondas have that problem, and other than the embarasment it’s not really doing much harm. Not fixing it is usually a perfectly viable option."
Keep an eye on your oil level. no engine likes to be run without sufficient oil.
If it spews blue smoke like a fog, you need to address this problem. If it is this bad, you should not buy this car, it needs an engine overhaul. Valve seal replacement will just mask the problem for a short time.