VALVE SPRING BROKEN

Depends on the car/engine type and whether further damage has been done.

Minimum for something easy without complications would be less than a hundred pounds.

Maximum several thousand.

mrcheerful

Really depends on what the problem is. If the spring itself has just broke, it shouldn't cost TOO much. However, it may have done some serious damage to the internals, for example, if it snapped while the engine was running, it may have thrown the valve into the piston head. This is going to cost you big.........

Depends. At the very worst it involves removing the cylinder head and the camshaft so budget for about £150 of parts and a few hours labour.

Some can be changed without needing to remove the head but the list is shrinking every year.

Guess you know as much about mechanics as you do driving...

Not always. Engines such as the TU engines found in almost every 90's citroen & peugeot have rocker arms above the valve springs. There is NO NEED to remove the camshaft on engines such as this. Simply remove the rocker assembly and you can get to the springs no problem. Conor did say that this was worst case scenario, and if you have a cam which sits on top of followers as opposed to rocker arms then the cams will need to come out.

Most can be changed without removing the head if you have the right equipment. You need an adaptor that fits on an airline and fills the cylinder up with compressed air. If done at the right point in the cycle, this pressure holds the valves in place while you service the spring. You can get valve spring compressors for this work which dont need access to the bottom of the valve. Some engines have the spring recessed into the head, which is hard to access without removing the head.

What car is it that the valve spring needs changing on?

Yep spot on there Conor even shorter are the list of Mechanics who are capable of doing the job with out taking the head off. Derek

In news: snipped-for-privacy@eurocom.com, Almudena Soria decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

In news: snipped-for-privacy@eurocom.com, Almudena Soria decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Ford Crossflow engine - around £40 Ferrari 550 V12 engine - around £3000

Give us a clue as to what you drive, and we may be able to help.

Rocker assembly held down with the head bolts

good point, i never thought of that

However, as with old Vauxhauls if you're careful you don't disturb the headgasket & you can get away with it.

Thank you for all the replies...

The car that needs repairing is a VW Polo 1.4. Its never had any big problems except spark plugs and leads. I took it to the garage cause there was a strange noise but the engine was working fine. They told me that was the Valve Spring (or something like that which was broken....

Thanks anyway hope it wont be too much money :(

Surely its best practise to fit a new headgasket once you've took the tension off the head bolts. You'll need a new set of head bolts at least...........

Chris Bacon ( snipped-for-privacy@thai.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

No.

The message from Adrian contains these words:

Not at all - depends where the break is. If it's near one end the engine may well run perfectly OK at low revs, only suffering when the remaining spring proves to weak to slam the valve shut in time as the revs pick up.

Guy King ( snipped-for-privacy@zetnet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

If it's broken close to one end, so that the free length of the unbroken bit is still longer than the "closed" length, yep, you'd probably be OK. I definitely think I'd want to get it looked at ASAP, before that loose bit wandered off...

Anything else, though... - at best, you'll lose compression, at worst, the collets could well fall out, releasing Mr Valve to meet Mr Piston.

Why? They where reusable. & what's the point in changing an undamaged head gasket?

As you tighten the bolts, you tighten them to a specified torque, and then angle tighten (overtighten) by 240* This effectively stretches the head bolts a little and stops a good seal being obtained.

Some performance engines do have twin valve springs