Smokey Ford

[P*Ting]

My Escort Convertible (the bane of my life) pumps blue smoke out the back. Adding some 'stop smoke' helped, and seemed to improve performance slightly.

Ford have told me that it's almost certainly valve seals, but there's significant wear on allsorts of other bits and they advise me to get a new engine.

This particular garage are well known as pessamistic and love to overplay the drama. They're also said to be utterly clueless, a fact borne out by their treatment of Dad's two year old mondeo which is screaming towards its 3rd gearbox (depite the AA warning Dad that the problem would reoccur unless you replaced 'this bit here'.

Anyway, after what I've seen and heard I want to try the seals myself and hence maybe save a small fortune.

Does anyone have any advice/input?

I've worked on cars quite a lot and I'm doing an engineering degree, but I've never had the head off one before. I'd like to do the cambelt as well.

Specifically, could anyone tell me;

*)if I need any special tools

*)if there are any common mistakes I should avoid making

*)if the smoke could be caused by something else

*)the likelihood of this repair actually achieving anything


Thanks...

[P*Ting]

Cheers Justin, it is a CVH, 8 valve (don't know how I forgot to mention it).

[P*Ting]

Oh, one thing, do you know if Halfords do these tools? I don't know of a Burtons anywhere round here. Do you have a www address for them? My google searches only want to give me the american side of their business.

Thanks again.

>> Edited by P*Ting on Tuesday 4th February 23:37

[P*Ting]

Thanks for the link TVR, I may be being dim here, but which of these would I need?

JSM13168 VALVE SPRING COMPRESSOR

CATL16750 VALVE SPRING COMPRESSOR

DRA13891 VALVE SPRING COMPRESSOR 55-95mm

They're the only things I could find with 'valve spring' in the name. I just hope it isn't the £50 one!

I'm guessing they'll deliver it / have you any experience with them that might indicate how long it would take to arrive?

Cheers,

Al.

[P*Ting]

Excellent advice, though not entirely what I was hoping to hear.

The car is stored at my Parent's house, along with it's haynes manual so I don't have access to either right now.

Few more questions;

1) If I post some digicam pics over the weekend will anyone be around to help me?

2) How much should I expect to pay for the tools?

3) Does anyone with too much time on thier hands want to do me a list of tools I'm likely to need?


Thanks guys, this kind of advice usually costs a fortune (local college want £300 for a 'basic' course in motor mechanic stuff).

[P*Ting]

Just the sort of information I needed, thanks Graham.

[P*Ting]

Andy,

Funny you posted this now, I've just been out pricing the bits (at Halfords).

*The valve spring compressor is £14
*The head gasket set is £30
*The Cam belt is either £10 or £16, depending on how many teeth it has.
The head bolts are £13

Halfords don't supply valve seals or guides, so I'm open to guesses on those.

I have a friend who is a mechanic and I'm hoping he won't mind if I borrow his valve spring compressor for a weekend (or maybe two).

Step by step as I see it I'll have to;

*mark out the position of the camshaft
*take out the head bolts
*remove the head
*inspect the bores for any sign of a lip
*remove the (cam/head/rocker?) cover
*remove the cam
*remove the valve springs
*remove the valve seals
*check for play in the valves when open

Then;

*fit new guides if needed
*fit new seals
*put the valve springs back
*put the cam back in, returning the valves to their original positions (Don't know how I'm going to manage this - suggestions please!!!)
*lubricate the cam/follower surfaces (what product should I use?)
*position the new gaskets & seals
*put the head back on and line it up with my marks
*put the cam belt back on
*tighten the stretch bolts to the required torque
*pray it doesn't blow up!

Have I missed anything? I didn't include cleaning steps as those seem quite obvious to me. Obviously the haynes manual will have a decent guide, but I want to understand what I'm doing, not just parrot it.

Al

[P*Ting]

Ahhhh, now it starts to become clear.

I was reading the tech talk on burtonpower.com and they were talking about top-dead-centre and marks on the engine, this went in one ear out the other (so to speak), but then it was 5:30am.

The only thing still bugging me is reasembly. As you mention Graham the valves on no1 should be closed, fair enough, but they won't all be, which implies I'll be trying to fight the valve springs when I'm trying to close the cam cover again. Won't they make it spin or something? Or do I put the valve springs back on when the cam is already tied down?

Another point I forgot to mention earlier; is a cambelt as easy to change as an alternator belt? Whack it on, see if you can push it a bit (1/4 inch deflection along the longest travel isn't it) and that's job done?

Cheers,

Al.

[P*Ting]

Cheers guys, as I mention, I've got the Haynes Manual already, but I don't have it with me.

Anyway, I believe its always a good idea to research things like this as deeply as you can, hence my asking you gents. I'm sure a few things have come up here that aren't mentioned in Haynes.


Thanks for the offer Deltaf, I appreciate the advice you've given!

Thanks again all, I'll yell in an emergency...







>> Edited by P*Ting on Wednesday 5th February 21:24

[P*Ting]

Justin, how do angled valves affect the procedure?

Can I just take off the cover and stick in a new set of valve seals?

Is there any way to test the guides without removing the head?

As you say, it is an old engine and I'm not convinced that pulling it apart is a very good idea - I'd prefer a quick&dirty approach that doesn't disturb to much.

Al.

[P*Ting]

Ah, a compression test, the plot thickens.

This thread is teaching me more useful engineering than a 4 year degree course has so far managed.

[P*Ting]

Update,

Had a go round it on the weekend and it looks like the bottom half is just as much to blame as the top.

Overall the engine is quite worn, though I'd say it's got some miles in it yet. I'll probably use it for a couple of weeks in summer then get shot of it.

Certainly not going to take it apart.

Thanks for all your help guys.

Alan.