Bedford/Vauxhall Rascal Van

The message from snipped-for-privacy@tesco.net contains these words:

Check the valve stem oil seals first. They're cheap and easy!

->The message

->from snipped-for-privacy@tesco.net contains these words:

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->> Unless it is the valves as I haven't checked yet.

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->Check the valve stem oil seals first. They're cheap and easy!

And nine times out of 10 that is the problem, the other one time its the oil rings being gummed up.

While you have the head off make sure the silly little oil feed is clear (welding wire) and make sure you don't put the gasket on the wrong way round, it's very easy to do !

================== If you do need new rings consider fitting "Cords" rings (if they're available for your engine) instead of standard rings. You might find that they're cheaper than the 'arm and a leg' variety you've been offered and they're designed for use in worn bores.

Cic.

If it is the valve stem oil seals. What am I looking for? Is there any sign when the head is off? I rather fix the problem once than put head back on only to find the same problem.

Guy K> The message

I have had to put new rings in one of these, they were quite dear, but after rebuild the engine was nearly as good as new. It needed new rings because of overheating which was caused by lack of maintenance with regard to changing the antifreeze, this lead to the core plug which is below the camshaft rotting through. If you dismantle the engine then definitely change that tiny core plug !!!

mrcheerful

It is _possible_ to do the stem seals without removing the head, by pressurising the cylinders with compressed air to hold the valves in places, but it's tricky, and if you let it leak, as I did last time, the valve drops down into the cylinder and the head has to come off anyway!

Easier method. Remove all four sparks to decom the engine. Each head has to be done one at a time, feed cord through the spark plug hole to fill the gap between the top of the piston and the bottom of the valves leaving the end of the cord dangling out of the spark plug hole and secured in a safe place.

Then bar over the engine to compress the cord between the piston and valves to ensure no droppage when you fix the stems. Finally once the work is done, bar the engine over in the opposite direction to allow you to pull the cord out. Move onto the next pot and repeat etc.

Far easier than using compressed air.

PDH

The message from snipped-for-privacy@tesco.net contains these words:

Just replace 'em.

The message from "Paul Hubbard" contains these words:

Not if you happen to have a spark-plug adaptor and a compressed air supply handy. Having used both techniques I can assure you the string method works fine bit is slow and tedious compared to pressure.

Sounds good. I'll give it a try.

Paul Hubbard wrote:

Remember those words when the compressor or line throws a wobbley :o)

PDH

The message from "Paul Hubbard" contains these words:

If you've wound the engine over so the cylinder you're working on is at TDC then the worst that'll happen is the valve drops a quarter of an inch. Fix airlin, lift valvestem with fingers and away you go.

I know this 'cos my gormless sidekick[1] once unplugged the airline mid-fix.

[1] The same one who while I was grinding the front seat-belt socket mounting bolt off a Maestro came and tapped me on the shoulder to ask if I wanted coffee. I still bear the scar on the back of my thumb.

But was the murder of SWMBO successful?

The message from "Dave Plowman (News)" contains these words:

Nah - the captive nut under the floor had decided to come loose so it had failed its MOT. Couldn't get the grinder over the exhaust so since it was an old banger and we didn't care if the carpet got a bit scorched so I ground it off from the top. Reaching over to hold a nut welded to a plate in place was easy.