Mk2 GTI - Valve stem seals
Discussion
Hi All,
I want to get car back on the road for summer and this is pretty much the only job which needs doing as well as a oil and filter change.
Does anyone know how easy or hard this job is? I've heard it can be done without taking everything apart, with a special tool?
What is the cost likely to be either way?
Iceboy
I want to get car back on the road for summer and this is pretty much the only job which needs doing as well as a oil and filter change.
Does anyone know how easy or hard this job is? I've heard it can be done without taking everything apart, with a special tool?
What is the cost likely to be either way?
Iceboy
Hi All,
Mods, please leave this here as I want feedback from those who may have had a Mk2 many years ago. Thanks.
Hope everyone is enjoying driving in this sunny weather!!
So i want to get my Mk2 GTI on the road and I'm sure the Valve steams seals need replacing. As soon as the engine gets up to temperature it starts to smoke.
So does anyone know how difficult or time consuming this job is?
The car had been sorn for over 3 years and I want to have some old skool fun this summer!!
I will get a garage with Knowledge of these cars to under take the work but need to Know if it is going to cost the earth?!
I've heard some people talk about changing them with a special tool and not taking the head off??!
Iceboy
Mods, please leave this here as I want feedback from those who may have had a Mk2 many years ago. Thanks.
Hope everyone is enjoying driving in this sunny weather!!
So i want to get my Mk2 GTI on the road and I'm sure the Valve steams seals need replacing. As soon as the engine gets up to temperature it starts to smoke.
So does anyone know how difficult or time consuming this job is?
The car had been sorn for over 3 years and I want to have some old skool fun this summer!!
I will get a garage with Knowledge of these cars to under take the work but need to Know if it is going to cost the earth?!
I've heard some people talk about changing them with a special tool and not taking the head off??!
Iceboy
Yeah you can hold the valves up with compressed air, or wind some rope into the cylinder through the plug hole, whilst using the tool to remove the valve springs.
It could just be the stem seals have dried up and shrunk. Try some 5W/40 synthetic oil and give it a blast. It might soften the seals up again.
Is it a 16V or digipants 8V? The latter was bad for valve guide wear actually, thinking back.....
As for originality affecting values, I'd say so with a good 16V. The 8V not so much and as above, 1.8T or 2.0 TFSI it. It's more original and mint bodywork / interior that govern it's value as they are the areas that let it down normally.
It could just be the stem seals have dried up and shrunk. Try some 5W/40 synthetic oil and give it a blast. It might soften the seals up again.
Is it a 16V or digipants 8V? The latter was bad for valve guide wear actually, thinking back.....
As for originality affecting values, I'd say so with a good 16V. The 8V not so much and as above, 1.8T or 2.0 TFSI it. It's more original and mint bodywork / interior that govern it's value as they are the areas that let it down normally.
Edited by rottenegg on Thursday 16th May 11:12
It's been a few years since I've done one of these, but I changed valve stem oil seals on the older K-jet cars without taking off the head and you could do it pretty quickly. It was a simple matter of whipping off the rocker cover, popping the camshaft and buckets out of the head and then using a spark plug air hose adaptor to pressurise the cylinder. Then a quick tap on the valve spring retainer with a soft faced hammer to unstick the collets, on with the spring compressor and whip the springs off to leave the naked valve poking up from the head... then it was a simple matter of swapping on a new valve stem oil seal. You could do a full set pretty quickly.
If you don't have an air hose adaptor (I just made one from an old spark plug and a bayonet connector) it's possible to achieve the same effect by feeding rope into the cylinder through the spark plug hole and then rotating the engine by hand to raise the piston up to compress the rope against the valve head... but i's far easier with an air line.
As others have said ^ I'd be doing a compression test and stuff first to establish how worn the engine was ..... Usually they wore out valve stem oil seals because the valve guides were already well worn and the stem seals had hardened over a time - the new stem seals worked by being more flexible in coping with the existing valve stem wear. Did do a few that were in good order though and the stem seals had just gone rock hard from sitting.
If you don't have an air hose adaptor (I just made one from an old spark plug and a bayonet connector) it's possible to achieve the same effect by feeding rope into the cylinder through the spark plug hole and then rotating the engine by hand to raise the piston up to compress the rope against the valve head... but i's far easier with an air line.
As others have said ^ I'd be doing a compression test and stuff first to establish how worn the engine was ..... Usually they wore out valve stem oil seals because the valve guides were already well worn and the stem seals had hardened over a time - the new stem seals worked by being more flexible in coping with the existing valve stem wear. Did do a few that were in good order though and the stem seals had just gone rock hard from sitting.
Might be worth getting hold of a second engine and fully refreshing it, then swap them over.
The stem seals do go, I had a smokey one but never bothered as it was a bit of a hound, but they arent that hard but need to check it isnt piston rings or the breather system as well, could just be very tired.
The stem seals do go, I had a smokey one but never bothered as it was a bit of a hound, but they arent that hard but need to check it isnt piston rings or the breather system as well, could just be very tired.
larrylamb11 said:
It's been a few years since I've done one of these, but I changed valve stem oil seals on the older K-jet cars without taking off the head and you could do it pretty quickly. It was a simple matter of whipping off the rocker cover, popping the camshaft and buckets out of the head and then using a spark plug air hose adaptor to pressurise the cylinder. Then a quick tap on the valve spring retainer with a soft faced hammer to unstick the collets, on with the spring compressor and whip the springs off to leave the naked valve poking up from the head... then it was a simple matter of swapping on a new valve stem oil seal. You could do a full set pretty quickly.
If you don't have an air hose adaptor (I just made one from an old spark plug and a bayonet connector) it's possible to achieve the same effect by feeding rope into the cylinder through the spark plug hole and then rotating the engine by hand to raise the piston up to compress the rope against the valve head... but i's far easier with an air line.
As others have said ^ I'd be doing a compression test and stuff first to establish how worn the engine was ..... Usually they wore out valve stem oil seals because the valve guides were already well worn and the stem seals had hardened over a time - the new stem seals worked by being more flexible in coping with the existing valve stem wear. Did do a few that were in good order though and the stem seals had just gone rock hard from sitting.
If you don't have an air hose adaptor (I just made one from an old spark plug and a bayonet connector) it's possible to achieve the same effect by feeding rope into the cylinder through the spark plug hole and then rotating the engine by hand to raise the piston up to compress the rope against the valve head... but i's far easier with an air line.
As others have said ^ I'd be doing a compression test and stuff first to establish how worn the engine was ..... Usually they wore out valve stem oil seals because the valve guides were already well worn and the stem seals had hardened over a time - the new stem seals worked by being more flexible in coping with the existing valve stem wear. Did do a few that were in good order though and the stem seals had just gone rock hard from sitting.
Similar to my old 205 gti. It smoked on idle, particularly in heavy traffic (got a bit embarrassing). I spoke to a couple of garages who sucked their teeth and said it was a full head off job, and possibly needed piston ring replacement too. Then I went to an enlightened Citroen/Peugeot Indie who said start with the valve stem seals, and had the lot done in half a day - using a similar method to above. Completely fixed the smoking issue for a couple of hundred quid.
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