82 3.0L Pics of exhaust valves

[RD911T]

I bought this 3.0l from someone on the list to put in my 71 Coupe. I just got it on the engine stand last night and pulled the exhaust. When I flipped it over and looked in to the exhaust I was surprised at how gunked up with oil several of the valve stems were. The shop on the east coast that had pulled the engine for the seller said the compression was good and all the cylinders had leak down numbers in the 3-5% range. Is this normal? Supposedly one of the respected independents on this board rebuilt the top end about 30K miles ago. What am I facing here? Here is a pic of one of the worst:



Following is a pic of one of the best:

[CorsePerVita]

Wow. Valve guides? I mean things can happen, even at 30k miles on a rebuild. But still, eek. That sucks man.

[RD911T]

Wouldn't a leak down show a poor result if the valve guides are worn?

[CorsePerVita]

Not necessarily. Valves are closed when the leakdown test is performed. Leakdown will show loss if there is loss through the intake or exhaust valves, or the piston rings, etc. The whole idea is to test the ability of the cylinder to hold compression. So it is possible that a valve can seat and close properly, have a worn or messed up valve guide that leaks oil like crazy. You would think, however, that that amount of build up would cause some sort of issue with seating... but, then again, maybe not.

[RD911T]

How bad is this? Would it be foolish to install and run the motor with this going on? What kind of cost is associated with fixing this if I do it myself? Ive rebuilt 2 stroke motorcycles before, but never anything like this. I bought this motor as a plug and play solution and I'm concerned about my budget.

[howard freeman]

Could be a stem seal came loose & is moving up & down with the valve stem. The Victor Reinz stem seals don't fit as well as the old o.e. Goetze seals did. Pull the lower valve covers & have a look at the position of the seal.
Howard

[RD911T]

Thanks for the suggestion Howard. I'll do that.

[copbait73]

Install it and run it.

[RD911T]

Cyl #3 below



Cyl #3 Spark Plug below:



Cyl #5 Below:



Cyl #5 Spark Plug below:



Cyl #6 exhaust valve below:



Cyl #6 Spark Plug below:



These are the best pics I could get, the shot of #5 exhaust valve is the best and I would say #3 and #6 are very similar in terms of condition. All the spark plugs were very similar too. #1, #2 and #4 are bone dry. I'll pull the valve covers tonight and look for seals sliding up the valve shaft as mentioned above. I could get a leak down tester, but if the valves are sealing and the leaking is around the guides, that wouldn't show on a leak down, would it? In fact, isn't this just a matter of oil consumption? Please correct me if I'm wrong. Any and all advice appreciated!

[howard freeman]

Valve guide wear alone would not show up on a leakdown test. Was the engine sitting up for a long time before you got it?? Did the previous owner pickle the engine. If it was pickled, that may explain the oil on the plugs & ports.
Howard

[Guardsred911]

Hey Howard, what do you mean by "Pickled"? Haven't run into that term as it pertains to engines...

[86911tlcab]

are the plugs indicative of running fuel rich?

[tharbert]

Pickled as in... When you know an engine will be store for a while, you can pull each plug and squirt some oil in each cylinder and turn the engine over a few times. You could also use fogging oil to do basically the same thing via the carburetor. This coats the walls and helps the rings seal. Later down the road when you go to start it, there is the initial lubrication factor and the chamber has been sealed from humidity thereby blocking condensation. When you do eventually start it, the oil just burns away. That may explain the oily plugs but maybe not the exhaust ports.

[Guardsred911]

Got it.... it's the boat winterization process....

[ClickClickBoom]

Question?
How often and for how long is the car driven?
Porsche heal thy self!
I posted a thread on the restorative nature of Brad Penn on my 2.7. Most of my plugs and valves looked like yours, after multiple oil changes at 2k intervals, and plenty of hard running, all 6 plugs and valves were clean and dry. For additive packages in oil to work they have to get up to temperature for more than a few minutes. All my drives were in excess of an hour, and usually in the mountains with lots of 915 stirring.
Good luck!
Eric

[RD911T]

Good question, I don't know the answer. The PO had this motor in his car and sold it to fund a 3.2SS build on another engine. I sought out the person that did the top end about 30,000 miles ago and he said that he would install it and run it and see if it was consuming huge amount of oil or putting out a lot of smoke. He thought it looked like it needed to be run. That's what I'll probably do. I'm in the middle of the project and probably several months from installing the motor, so it will be awhile before I have answers.

[Dodge Man]

Back in the day, GM used to sell a "Top End Cleaner" to blow out the build up around the valves. Maybe a similar chemical could help you to clean things out.

Most oil burning issues are valve train related not piston ring related. I bought several oil-burning V-8 motors over the years that just need valve guides & seals. The big question is that did the PO knurl the guiles to be cheap for a quick sale or actually replace the guides & install proper valve seals? My old 100K mile plus 80 SC heads in the garage look white glove compared to your pics. Make sure it was not a mixture issue first. Maybe you want to check 1 head to "wiggle" the guides before sending the heads to Otto? Easy check. Put a cylinder on TDC with compressed air connected through the spark plug hole before removing valve spring and checking the wiggle of the valve in the guide at low pressure. However, the valve seal may need to be removed. Best of Luck.