Need some advise on what to do next
 

Just got done pulling the head on my 86 NA. She has 194/K miles and it looks like this is the first time she has been opened up.

She smokes quite a bit when you stay on it at higher RPMs. I also suspected head gasket problems because of coolant under the intake. I figured a new head gasket and some head work were in order.

Is there an easy way to tell what the "smoke" problem is? I suspect valve seals, but how do I know if the rings are OK? Is it worth the extra effort to tear the motor apart further?

I was hoping to get by with just the head. I have a place that will do the valve guides and re-seat the valves for around $400 as long as the valves don't need to be replaced. How hard of a job is this? I was thinking about doing it all myself, but I just want to make sure it's right.

Any advise would be appreciated.

Tim

OK

I finally found a thread that talks about the same problem. It sounds like the smoke from acceleration is probably going to be rings. I guess I should get ahold of a hoist and stand and go ahead and drop the rest of the motor out, replace the rings and bearings and whatever else I can find.

You dont Have to pull the motor out if you dont wont to, Get a brace and brace the top of the engine and remove the front suspension cross member then the oil pan and you can get to the pistons from there if you want. Also did you do any compression/leak down tests before you took the head off??

No, I have already kicked myself for not doing the compression/leak down test. From what I've seen on the other posts though, I probably have ring issues (smoke at heavy accelleration). The cylinder walls look good. I have one very small line less than an inch long at the top of #2. I can feel it with my fingernail, but it doesn't seem too bad.

I have been scrubbing down the head and removing the old gasket material. I may get ahold of a spring compressor and pull the valves out. (It looks like you need a heavy duty one) It never got hot, and the surfaces all look OK so I don't think I need to machine any of them.

How hard is it to lapp the valve seats? Maybe I should still have that done by an expert?

What about bottom end bearings? Can they be replaced without pulling the engine?

Im not to sure on the head work, I sent mine out and had it done. As for the bottom end once you remove the cross memeber (with engine suported) and remove the oil pan you will have access to everything Rod bearings and carnk bearings. The crank bearings I wouldnt be to worried about, But it is always good to change the connecting rod bearings since they are know to fail.

Hey Tim,

I like to do everything myself, but having the valves done by a professional with the tool to make those perfectly flat and at the right angles makes all the difference in the world with regards to the valves sealing (meaning compression). That said, my mechanic used to turn the heads upside down and pour gas on them and if they held gas overnight, his theory is they would hold air as well. I am not sure how good of a test that was but I have seen valves leak the gas through and hold it, so there was at least something to it. With the head off, it's difficult to tell what the smoke was. The first indicator though is color. Black smoke is gas smoke meaning it's dumping a high volume of gas in the cylinder and burning it causing smoke...all this work won't fix it if that was the problem. Blueish/white smoke is oil. A good compression test determines that story. Of course compression leakage can be caused by rings or valves and there are ways to test that, but at this point sounds like it doesn't matter. Bad valve seals usually smoke when the car is first started after it has set though more than at high rpms. What happens is after you run the car and you turn the ignition off, oil runs down the valve seals into the air intake chambers and when the valve opens the next time, the oil runs into the cylinders which is why it happens at startup...there is no time for this process at high rpms and what oil does run down the valve stem is usually burned immediately. In that situation, there is only small amounts of oil and it doesn't make much smoke. It's after you turn it off and it runs down the stem and forms a puddle because it isn't being burned that you notice the puff of smoke. High carbon deposits in the heads and on the plugs will indicate this problem as well. The plug(s) will be black in color instead of tan. My suggestion (and it's just an opinion) is to send the head to a shop for resurfacing the valve seats (possibly valve guides) and then if you still want to rering it you can. I would however suggest that as long as you are there change all the bearings and not just the rod bearings. Weak main bearings can cause low oil pressure if nothing else and I don't think they are that expensive. If it were me, while I was doing, I would do it right. You may also want to consider changing the oil pump, but I'm unsure how often those fail on these cars, someone else might have a better idea about the failure rate. At 194K, things are starting to wear a bit though. BTW, if your head gasket was leaking and dumping coolant in the cylinder, that smoke will be white as well, but again that shouldn't happen much at high rpms because if there were a leak between the water jacket and a cylinder, the cylinder would be putting compression in the radiator because it's at a higher pressure (hopefully) than the coolant pressure. Smoke from this type problem also happens at startup.

Thanks for the advise Tom. As much as Id like to do it all myself, I think bringing the head to the experts is a good idea. I've got plenty of other things to work on anyway.

I think I'll go ahead and rering and change bearings while everything is apart. That way I should be in good shape for quite a while.

I also found the "clunking" noise that has been driving me nuts for the last week or so. Bad ball joints. I hope I can save them. I am going to do a search and see if I can find pictures of what an unfixable control arm looks like. Hopefully I can get the SSI repair Kit and not have to replace the arms.

Sounds like you are going to be busy for a while. If you need free advice, shoot me an email. Good luck.

Tim,
You have PM

My opinion, if your gonna get into the engine THAT FAR.........pull it OUT OF THE CAR! Don't do it in the car! Why would anyone want to put themselfs thru that kinda of extra hell, is beyond me!

Yep, ya screwed up. Ya should have done a compression/leakdown test BEFORE taking it apart, so as to have a much better idea of WHAT is the real problem. Now that you've gone this far, ask yourself this......HOW MUCH AM I WILLING TO SPEND ON THIS? BEFORE....ya go much further. Check it out, prices, parts, machine shop costs..........it ALL adds up very quickly! You can expect at least a cost of $3500.00 for a total rebuild of this engine, IF you do most of the assembly work yourself......and probably much more. Used engines, are another option. Good luck!