quick valvespring question

[Blizzard242]

Alright I finished changing all of my valve springs tonight.. Something that worried me though was that out of 2 of my cylinders, from the exhaust valves specifically had slight airleaks. Now is this normal or should I be worried? My geuss is that the valves are not sitting against the head right because either the valves are warped or something could be really wrong with the heads. It wasn't a huge leak or anything but it was audible. I did the top dead center method with a compressor fitting through the spark plug port. The exhaust manifolds were removed which was how I heard the leak so easily.

Eh while I'm at it.. Apparently the torque wrench I bought is rated for 30lbs-100ish somethin. The rocker arm bolts are to be torqued to 25. On the actual torque wrench it does have a reading for 25lbs but I'm a bit worried it wouldn't be accurate. I should have forked out the money for the snap-on wrench but I haven't just yet. So would it really hurt anything if I torqued to 30 rather than 25?

[ssms5411]

Re: quick valvespring question

The air sound, sounds normal , mine did it. For the rocker arms I used Comp reusable bolts so they were 23ftlbs. I don't know what kind you got of rocker arm bolts you used, but I used a non-name brand torque wrench with no problems so you shouldn't have any problems as long as they are torque to spec.

[RadRacer]

Re: quick valvespring question

That leak probably is normal after usual wear. I know my heads had that on 4 of the cylinders, but mine was a lot worse. A valve job should fix it :) As for the torque wrench, check the other readings, and see if you could estimate where 25 is. I doubt it'll hurt being a few pounds over, so just wing it.

[Meatyshells]

Re: quick valvespring question

it could of also been coming out of the spark plug hole, or from the air hose.
If you are really concerned, get a compression tester and test your compression.

[ssms5411]

Re: quick valvespring question

Yeah, bring up the air hose Meaty, to others don't try to bend or force the air hose, it will cause it to leak.LOL , from experience.

[Blizzard242]

Re: quick valvespring question

lol, I know it was from the exhaust valves cause I was touching the valve with my hand. I deal with tons of airleaks all day long seeing as I inspect trailers and dollies for fedex that use air brake systems so I've gotten real good at pin-pointing their exact locations.
The air fitting I used is from a compression tester.. I don't know why it would matter with the rockers off but I'll put them back on and turn the crank a few times to see if it amounts to anything. Maybe I'm doin somethin wrong and it needs the starter to kick the fly wheel around instead of me turning the crank pulley with a breaker bar and a socket.
I don't like the gauge that came with the kit because pressure will not release from it unless you manually press the exhaust button on it. Seems stupid to me but apparently it only checks max compression which never amounted to barely anything on any of the cylinders when I was finding TDC. Harbor Freight tools rock! blah. It's true when they say you get what you pay for.
As for the torque wrench.. I think my brother has a snap-on wrench around here that I'll steal for a minute to compare the accuracy. If not, then my fingers are crossed.

[bigbrian442]

Re: quick valvespring question

Yes, over torquing the bolts will cause them to fail. The stock bolts are torque yield bolts and should only be used once.

The air leaking through the exhaust valves is normal on higher mileage motors. Could mean your ready for a valve job or valve guides ( you need a valve job too if you replace the guides).

The compression tester holds pressure till you release it because when you test compression, you crank the motor till the gauge stops moving usually 4 or 5 compression cycles.

A cylinder leak down test would show the condition of the cylinder sealing better then a compression test.

When you use the hose from a compression tester to fill the cylinders with air, Remove the valve core from the end of the hose. Put it back to use the hose with the compression tester once again.

[Blizzard242]

Re: quick valvespring question

Yeah I torqued them to 25, I just hope that wrench is accurate. If the rockers pull out eh, new heads and bolts!

I'm not horribley worried about the valves leaking if it's not a huge problem seeing as I'm gonna go for some abbott or intense heads next season. I just want them to hold up this year in a car where I'll be putting less than 10,000 miles on.

I haven't really looked into it but I'm not positive if the gauge has a valve core in it at all. I'll look into it when I have the rest of the engine back together.

So far I haven't broken anything and it sounds like I've done everything right. Even went as far as to get the injectors out after I finished with the rockers tonight. That's great when I was only gonna piddle around with the fuel rail to see what I had to get done. I'm addicted. And my girlfriend is jealous. But she's visiting her parents next week :rock: