dave1123

You know? I've been seriously thinking there are not valve stem seals in the head I bought, so I've been rereading the advertising for this head and it says "New heavy casting complete with valves and springs." Nowhere does it mention seals or even if the valves and springs are NEW! Odessa is a foundry company and they produce castings for lots of different engines and their products are pretty reasonable in price. I can very easily see them reconditioning the valves and checking the old springs before assembling the head, but they should specifically say so.

Actually, it's my own fault for not checking before I put it on, but with the need to get it back on the road quickly, it got overlooked. I just bought a set of Fel-Pro Viton seals and am about to change them. I'll let you know what I find.

marklar134

when i bought mine from CHI they did specifically say they replaced the guides seats and seals, hopefully those new seals fix it!

Jeepin'_Aint_EZ

Hmm I'm curious to see what the problem has been with your head. It sounds like bad valve seals but to have no valve seals? I'd be shocked to see that

dave1123

I just made an appointment with my mechanic for Tuesday and he said it should be done in 3 hours. If it DOESN'T have any seals, I'm taking pictures! They probably just used some cheap umbrellas. Before the head change, It was using a quart in 2000 miles, but it had a leaky valve cover gasket. Since the head change, it's steadily gotten worse until now it's a quart in 250 miles if I spend a long time idling to stay warm. I usually have to wait 2 hours to get my newspapers and if I don't get there early, I loose a close parking spot to get into the building. Depending on the air temp, it runs almost continuously for those 2 hours. That's like a cop car on a stakeout!

dave1123

OKAY! Valve seals replaced with Fel-Pro Viton seals. No smoke after 12 hours of operation, 4 hours continuous. Original seals looked fine but were probably neoprene and were hard and crispy around the seal lip. Under a microscope, there were fine cracks in the actual contact surfaces. After another 30 miles, it's due an oil change and and I'll be watching the usage like a hawk!

What was interesting was when the cylinders were charged with air, there was no leakage to speak of. So the rings must be in good shape, which I thought was the case. "I love it when a plan comes together!"

jon-d

if I recall your head is not that old?? That being the case it surprises me that the seals would go out that quickly.

dave1123

My thought as well! It's only get 35K miles on it. It's not been overheated either.

Jeepin'_Aint_EZ

Makes me wonder just how old the seals were that came with it.

dave1123

The head was a brand new casting without bolt tightening circles on the head bolt holes, so it had never been on an engine before. What I'm saying is they used cheap neoprene seals, probably made in China!

When you buy something assembled, ready to go, you'd assume it's ready to go! I'm pissed at them for using cheap seals, but I'm more pissed at myself for not checking for and using good seals. When I was building engines, I'd never let something like that go by. I was always picky with my rebuilds. That's why none of my engines blew up! AND these were used for racing for the most part.

Fred/N0AZZ

Dave all to often any more with "Rebuilt" engines they reuse a lot of old parts and the new ones are from the cheapest source, sad to say.


This very well may have been the case with your valve seals, or very old new stock ones from a buy out somewhere. I do hope that they do stop all the oil usage you were having and great news on the rings no leakage.

Jeepin'_Aint_EZ

This is what I meant, thanks Fred I've worked at part stores and have seen some parts with dust on them older than me.

dave1123

That may well be the case, IDK, all I know is they sucked at their job! Right now I have to put a couple hundred miles on it to see what happens, but the lack of oil smoke looks good.

For some reason the engine sounds different. I know it might be psychological, but it does. The exhaust sounds deeper and smoother, or I'm just imagining it.

Fred/N0AZZ

Oh hell Dave it's just you , like me it's our age but I hear less of anything as I once did lol.

dave1123

You sound like my late wife, Fred! Every time I'd make a statement like that, she'd say "It's senility." She was 8 years younger than me and always rubbed it in!

Actually, the deep snow I've been driving thru lately may have something to do with the sound.

Also, I have a partial hearing loss in my right ear and that was always a problem when driving with my wife. She'd be talking to me and I'd have to ask her to repeat stuff. "You're not listening!" "I hear you talking, but didn't hear what you said!" Sulk! Pissed off attitude. Letting her drive was scary because she had the habit of braking late! I kept trying to push my right foot thru the floor!

Sorry, this has nothing to do with valve seals, does it?