stem seals

[Timmo]

couple of questions,
forst one easy!! second not so!!
1, Can someone reccomend me a good Stem seal softening additive??

2, Anyone know if the stem seals can be replaced with the head in situ by blowing copressed air into the cylinder?? is possible on some models but not sure on the 16v??

Failing that i'll sort out a long reach valve compresser and soert some new valves for the old head on which i bent them when the belt went!!!

Ta muchly in advance!

[Toddman]

Personally I wouldn't bother with an additive so therefore can't recommend any
However IIRC you can replace the 16v stem seals without removing the head as I think Alan S actually did so but suffered a power cut whilst doing the job and ended up taking off the head anyway and sadly Alan is out of action or I am sure he would assist.

What's the trouble mate are you just suffering the blue bafflr dust on start up or all the time?
My first step would be a change of oil as the ultra thin stuff will just compound your problems.

Cheers
Luke

[Timmo]

its had the little puff on start up for a few years but with it being sat for so long only being run every so often when i get up to pop's it appears to have hardened the seals some what! seemed fine when i drove it over slightly spiritedly but mech was sayign it was Bad hwne he fired it up yesterday to take it up to his shop from my brothers, and didnt really improve when he got it to the mot station, (mot man into his bx's but said had it been mot'd to sell then he would have thrown the emmisions book at it, but as its not on the road he let it go! ) mech said he has no doubt that if it was to be used properly again for a few months it would clear up okay, but as a tempory measure to stick a softening addetive in (worked a treat on an old Bx gti he looks after a couple of years ago with a similar issue)

i might try and contact alan s when i have the car back to pops etc and see whats involved for an in situ job, i know my mech has mentioned it before as he has done another different brand car that way, might be worth looking into for pricing and also see how much it will be for some valves etc and sort the spare head out ready to drop back on??
would like to get it sorted as its the only thing that lets it down at the mo, and as the mech said, didnt miss a beat when he was driving it!

[Vanny]

can get long reach valve spring compressors from halfords cheap!

[Timmo]

thanks Vanny! i have seen them up at my local factors too! and i would have thought my neighbour has one!??! he used to race stock cars at wembley etc! has a lot of kit like it!

[Mike E (uk)]

Valve stem oil seals appear to last much longer in the 16V engines, I don't know why. Possibly better oil cooling?

When my valve stem seals went hard, in an 8V GTI, the exhaust smoke was normal until the car had warmed up, then lots of bluey smoke.
Oil consumption was noticably high.

Fitted 20w40 and it was only slightly better.

New seals solved the problem completely.

[Anonymous]

I did the seals on mine the other week and I'm glad i took the head off.
They could be done in situ by bringing the piston up to TDC but the problem is the lack of space around the valve. The old seals were really tight to get out and i dont think i would have been able to get a decent grip on them with the valve in the way. Also theres the problem of getting the collets back in. I dropped more than a few of them and ended up having to hold the head upside down and shake it to get them to fall out. This, coupled with the fact that leaning over to do anything on the top of a 16v engine leads to me having a bad back for a week i'd just bite the bulet and take the head off.

[Timmo]

your not wrong about the back ache!! is a killer!
i htink the best plan maywell be to rebuild the spare head and have that ready and get the relevant supplies sorted so if it comes back ont he road it will be a swap over job and a happy boy again!!!