Valve stem seals

Do i have to remove the head to replace these? I'm really getting sick of burning oil after idling for only 5 minutes..its really embarrassing too so i think i'm going to take a look in the morning finally. I just really hope its something that won't be out of my skill range, i can't stand not having my car while its in the shop..and i hate spending the money.

And one more question. When i reinstall the valve covers i remember someone mentioning that i could use silicon instead of a gasket and its easier/quicker to do. Does anyone know what kind of silicone it is that i could use? I think Silicon212 mentioned it a while ago but for the life of me i couldn't find the thread.

You can leave the heads on the car.

You have to remove the rocker arms, compress the valves and remove the valve keepers. Then you can get to the seals.

The trick here is to make sure the valves do not fall into the engine when the keeper is removed. There are 2 ways to do this:

1. Pull all the spark plugs. Remove the rocker arms, them rotate the engine so that piston is at the bottom of the stroke. Then screw in a compressed air adaptor in the spark plug hole and apply compressed air from a shop-type compressor. The air will hold the valves up while you remove and reinstall the keepers.

Be careful. The piston must be at the bottom, or else the engine will roll over when the air is applied.

2. The alternative is to remove the rocker arms and spark plug. Feed in a soft cotton rope through the spark plug hole, until no more will fit, the gently roll the engine until the rope is gently compressed against the top of the combustion chamber. Hopefully the rope is also wedged against the valves and will hold them up, while you remove the keepers.

You can use silicone in place of a valve cover gasket, but you need to have completely grease-free gasket surfaces (use brake cleaner). You have to apply a uniform bead (not too much) and let it set up until it is pretty nearly dry, then install the valve covers.

But, I am no fan of this method. Inevitably, some silicone gets pinched and squeezed out of the gasket area. Eventually, this excess silicone breaks loose and is washed into the oil pan, where it gets sucked up against the oil pick-up screen and partly blocks oil flow. IMO, stick to conventional gaskets.

Good luck :)

when idling and you start to get the oil burning I would not suspect that these seals are bad...

with a worn engine you get excessive blowby and this then is causing the crankcase gases to be injested into the intake by way of the pcv venting system....


with the engine running remove the oil fill cap with the engine hot ....does it smoke out the oil fill hole ??? if so the engine is worn...piston rings etc....


these older engines are well known for bad , defective valve guides....if the seals are bad the heads should be removed and have the valve guides machined,,,with the new seals...

now if you do this and the rings/cylinder walls are worn you will burn more oil...so you have to determine whats bad first before doing any work...

when idling and you start to get the oil burning I would not suspect that these seals are bad...

with a worn engine you get excessive blowby and this then is causing the crankcase gases to be injested into the intake by way of the pcv venting system....


with the engine running remove the oil fill cap with the engine hot ....does it smoke out the oil fill hole ??? if so the engine is worn...piston rings etc....


these older engines are well known for bad , defective valve guides....if the seals are bad the heads should be removed and have the valve guides machined,,,with the new seals...

now if you do this and the rings/cylinder walls are worn you will burn more oil...so you have to determine whats bad first before doing any work...


did you check out the engine yet ???
this vehicle has a lot of expensive failures...its your money..

did you check out the engine yet ???
this vehicle has a lot of expensive failures...its your money..

I plan on checking the engine as soon as i get it back from the transmission shop. I'm not really sure what to do if i find that it needs some deep internal work. I'll probably call my local junkyard and hope they have a 350 that works, or maybe a fuel injected 305/350, although last time i went there they wanted about $150 or $200 for a friggen blinker arm which i got at a different yard for $5.

Yes, this thing needs a lot of work, but i kind of like the learning experience and most of the failures i've had are expected for a car that sat around for a while and then was given to an adolescent :iceslolan.