#2 compression went to zero

[gilhuly]

or this. I like this for its simplicity

http://www.plymouthlaser.com/scomp.htm

[gilhuly]

and finally and maybe simplest of all
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4334909

[Red-Arrow]

Have you discovered the problem yet?

[erikv11]

I know my posts are a bit long so to recap: cam cover is off, head is still in the car. It looks like a broken valve spring because one of the valve spring seats is slack.

But without a Schley or other tool I can't check that. So I am sort of stuck while I look for a tool. Hesitant to spend $130 on a tool for one lousy valve spring ... looking into making one a la Gilhuly's posts.

EDIT: OK I can see the broken spring, I got out a good flashlight and peered into the upper head. Definitely a broken valve spring. Figuring out a valve spring tool.

[Ozark Lee]

Hopefully the valve didn't beat the crap out of the top of the cylinder. You should be able to "rent" (it is actually for free after you return it) a valve spring compressor from O'Reilly. I would love to have this come down to a spring problem for you since it is about 1/2 the work.

That said you will be the absolute first person that I have ever heard of having a valve spring problem as opposed to an actual valve problem.

...Lee

[erikv11]

I am the lucky first!

After looking at things for a while, I decided not to mess with the valve spring. Too many unknowns, includeing how the head will perform over time. The yard will make up the difference in parts cost as a partial refund, if I pull the head and put in the one I just had checked, from my old engine. And that head has new valve stem seals plus a solid history, it was in my car the last 8 years. Good advice from gilhuly.

So I pulled the head. The valve is not burned, broken spring only, although I don't know about the condition of its surface etc.

I'll post up a pic of the broken spring.

[Red-Arrow]

Total not what I expect either.

[erikv11]

OK completed the head swap last night, seemed to go well. This time I fabricated the cam holder tool to hold the back end of the cams into the cam cover, it is worth the investment. Now I have a 100k head sitting on the workbench with just a broken vale spring ...

Engine is running smoothly though is sounds more "clicky" up top than I remember.

A few pics as promised.

The head after pulling. Was a little sludgy (not shown). Notice how #2 the exhaust valves are "wet" because it was not firing.

head_dirty_DSC02431.jpg (195.48 KiB) Viewed 1844 times

A normal valve spring, exhaust side. Except for the little fleck of sludge, this is what they are supposed to look like when you peer into the head.

valve_spring_ok_DSC02466.jpg (121.26 KiB) Viewed 1844 times

The broken spring - it looks collapsed, maybe broken in a couple places?

valve_spring_broken_DSC02465.jpg (122.81 KiB) Viewed 1844 times

close-up of the broken spring, slightly different angle

valve_spring_broken_zoom_DSC02463.jpg (137.47 KiB) Viewed 1844 times

Will see how it runs the next few days ...

[bahboy]

Bringing a dead thread back to life over here

So, i have a post on VS all about this, i have a 93 which decided to throw the timing belt. BYE VALVES.
In search of another head, or valves, or anything cheap, i went with this head. Erik gave me an awesome deal, and i knew it had the broken spring. He also is an excellent shipper and really helpful, big kudos to this man, would definitely buy from him again!

So i got the head in perfect condition. MY 93 head had most all the valves bent, and i tried taking the valves out with the wrong tool and it's just not gonna happen easily. So i went to plan B and said F-it, lets convert the 93 to the new style head. Erik hooked me up with the new intake manifold, and i believe i *MIGHT* need to swap fuel lines and the fuel rail, not sure yet but that's for later.

Took the head to a machine shop and had them swap the spring from my 93 head to this head. No issues there. These guys gave me a good deal (in comparison for me buying the proper tool and the assumption it was going to be the one spring) (82.50 for the spring swap, resurfacing and for the hot water cleaning dump thing). Good deal if you ask me, since we were unsure if it was really flat or not.

But, they let me keep the spring, so i figured i would show you guys and see what you think. I am worried that another spring is going to break eventually after viewing these pictures, but since i have the 93 head as a donor, i just need to get the proper tools. I can change valve stem seals at the same time Yea yea i didn't do it on this head, but it is pretty clean on the outside and i think other then the sludge and seeing these pictures, it'll be fine.

So here is the spring. You can see a piece of it broke off. I'm very glad i did get this resurfaced and cleaned, because i might have spent forever looking for the piece or any shards of it.






The pictures show it in 3 pieces. I tried to show the ends of it, and the metal looks clean on the outside.
The surface however, is what has me cautious. It appears to be 'speckled' like when something starts to rust. I'm not sure how clear it is in the pictures. If this is the case, does that mean more then likely ALL the valves are like this? If you look in the pictures above you can kinda see where this one broke is where the metal looks speckled, and on one of the good valves it shows some of this speckling too.

Anyways, i have never heard of valve springs breaking on these engines, so i figured this would be a good way to show that it can happen. Hopefully that will be the first and the last time i see or hear of it though

[vjaneczko]

It looks like a little carbon buildup maybe? Might want to soak that in a cup of carb cleaner overnight and see if it comes off.