inlet valve filth? normal or minging?

[steveo3002]

valve on the left there

is that normal for a older engine or terrible ?

wasnt expecting that bad tbh

[dan19evans]

Are you sure that isn't the exhaust valve ?

[steveo3002]

might be in fairness...will go check lol

[dan19evans]

have never seen an inlet valve covered in st like that... so im guessing its an exhaust valve

[steveo3002]

you have now...it is the inlets

[dan19evans]

hmmm it may be completely normal, but i have never seen it before

just out of curiosity, what did the valve come out of ?

[steveo3002]

theyre out of a vw polo..unknown engine to me , so might have been to the moon n back

[dan19evans]

well either way dont refit the valves like that. either replace the valves or clean the carbon deposits off them. and don't forget to regrind the valves into the valve seats

hope that helps

[garagewidow]

normally down to worn guides and/or worn stem seals,oil runs down the stem and burns up on the hot valve head when engine is switched off.either way something will need replacing.

[steveo3002]

yeah it cleans off pretty easy..the other one in the pic is one ove started to clean up

do the actual valves tend to wear much? hoping guides and seals will be enough

[dan19evans]

steveo3002 said:

yeah it cleans off pretty easy..the other one in the pic is one ove started to clean up

do the actual valves tend to wear much? hoping guides and seals will be enough

they dont normally wear, but you should check the valve stem for any obvious marks

and like i said before, you will obviously need to regrind the valves into the seats to ensure an air tight seal

[steveo3002]

yeah grinding the valves is no problem ,id planned that

stems dont have any lairy marks on

[Steve_D]

All you other guys have spent too much time working on performance engines that didn't really need stripping down in the first place.

Have seen valves like that all too often and normally in a well $hagged engine.
As has been said the normal culprit is stem seals closely followed by guides.

If that engine is now expected to 'perform' then I would be looking to replace guides and the valves.
If it is just a shopping trolley you may get a year out of new stem seals.

Steve

[Pumaracing]

Firstly that's clearly an inlet valve. An exhaust valve would be brown. It's indicative of high mileage and quite severe oil consumption to create those deposits but not unusual.