plan for in-car valve stem seals replacement

[Quicken]

that's fine, thanks for the offer though;)

[LabRat]

THANK YOU whoa for posting this write-up!! Absolutely spot on. Finished this project the other day. Its been over 300 miles now and NO SMOKE! Best of all, no more stink inside (mine was actually blowing oil past a leaky exhaust manifold gasket, down onto the manifold and turbo, sending burnt oil fumes right up into the cabin whenever the heat/defrost was on. Awful!!

But now: Awesome!! Thanks again! Anyone considering doing this job, whoa's write up and pic tutorial is excellent. Follow his steps to the letter and you'll be loving your volvo again.

[Quicken]

Hi Guys

Well, it's been a year, today I was driving on highway with the 850 GLE 1996 and noticed the rpm suddenly dropped along with speed from 90+Km/hr to 70Km/hr and I pressed the gas paddle, both the rpm and speed didn't go up for 5 seconds. Fortunately it went back to normal, that worried me abit. Then drove to lunch and then on the way home, stopped at a red light and suddenly the rpm drops from around 1k (where it normally is during complete stop in D drive) to 0 and the engine just dies. Tried to start the engine again and won't start, there is cranking though but the rpm just doesn't go up at all. Tried cranking for about 30min while waiting for the tow truck and can't get the rpm to go up at all?

I have had issues with blue smoke before and managed to get by, by topping with more engine oil in between oil changes for about a year. The question is "HAS MY ENGINE FINALLY DIED?" Ex. is this something that would be caused by letting the valve stem/guide seals break down completely?

[Quicken]

Hi Guys

Sorry accidently post the same post twice...and not sure about how to delete the duplicated one.

[erikv11]

Sounds more like the fuel pump or the fuel relay croaked, or the cam position sensor or the crank position sensor went out. You need to check the big three: spark, fuels, and compression. Then go from there.

Oh, did it set any codes?

[Quicken]

Hi there

Thanks for the reply, well, it's sitting in the dealership garage for the moment, it's thanksgiving weekend here up in Canada, so gotta wait until tom to see what they say. I am hoping it's going to be something small, but somehow still has this cloud over my turkey...anyways, will keep you guys updated.

[vjaneczko]

Question regarding the seals; since it takes little force to set them in place, what if you don't push it down enough, or at a slight angle? Will the movement of the valve and the spring cap eventualy seat the seal properly, or will it cause a leak? I ask because I'm half way through this and I'm not sure if I pushed all of them down snug. Should I redo them to be safe?

Also seems a little odd that the rubber seal is sitting in a thin aluminum 'bucket', which doesn't seem like it would create a good seal at the base, so I'm wondering how critical is the seating (or is that seatment?!).

[cn90]

This is a very nice thread that allows one to change the Valve Stem Seal w/o removing the cylinder head.

However, I have some questions for the gurus...if your car has blue smoke and you need to replace the seals, then it probably makes more sense to:
1. Remove the cylinder head and:
- replace the valve seals
- ? replace the exhaust valves as these may burn later.
- do the whole valve job (valve lash etc.) for intake valves

2. Clean the injectors to minimize the risks of burnt valves later.

What do you think?

[erikv11]

(1) My impressions: Exhaust valves burn in an instant, not over time. So while it can occur due to crud buildup on the valve, it isn't like it is just a matter of time until they burn. It should be OK to fix the stem seals and leave the valves alone, and unless you just happened to shut the car off right at doomsday any deposits should burn off without killing the valves. On the other hand if you just like doing maintenance and are looking for a reason to tinker, and a lot of people do/are, then go ahead and pull the head. Might want to do a leakdown test to see if there is any other reason to justify it. Main thing here is I would never, ever crack a head that didn't need it. Even the best mechanics don't always put them back together as well as it was done at the factory.

Or think about it this way: even when a valve burns, in almost all cases an experienced machinist will only replace that one exhaust valve. By the logic you suggested, you would want to replace all valves any time one burned. Pretty much no one does it that way.

(2) Sure, dirty injectors can run lean, so cleaning isn't a bad idea. The flip side of the discussion is, burned valves due to dirty injectors appear to be extremely rare on these cars. I've only heard of a couple confirmed cases from my mechanic, and as I've been posting a lot recently, almost always the reports on injector flow testing come back fine. It's $100 to clean your injectors, not cheap for many people; it more or less comes down to if you have that kind of money to play around with.

[cn90]

Old post but I want to ask the guru here on "what is acceptable oil consumption".

- Car is 1998 S70 GLT with 165K miles. Back to Stage Zero: new spark plugs, cap/rotor, Bougicord.
- Runs like top.
- PCV overhaul done 1 year ago using heater hose mod, nice negative suction on dipstick housing. No smoking dipstick.
- No external oil leak on driveway.
- No blue smoke in exhaust pipe.

But at this mileage, I suspect my oil consumption is from the infamous valve stem seals...

At this time, I use Mobil1 synthetic 10W30 and I have to add 1 qt every 1000 miles, is this "normal" for this age?