Possible Seized Valve Need HELP

[colonelcobb]

My 2000 Taurus with 3.0 FFV engine may have a frozen valve. The cylinder in qustion is on the rear bank, far passenger side.
Symptons:
Gasoline smell is very strong from the exhaust, while running. Cylinder is not firing at all, although it has good spark. Occasionally, gasoline builds up in the muffler and ignights with popping sounds.
Question:
Would it perhaps be possible to remove the rear valve cover, locate the frozen valve, and "tap it" lightly to dislodge it?
At the moment, I cannot afford to have the head removed and rebuilt.
Any ideas and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[65comet]

I'd start with a compression tester. I would think the auto part stores would have that as one of their loaner tools. Then all you have to do is remove the spark plug to screw the tester in.
If you have no compression, then taking off the valve cover isn't going to help much. The valve could have a broken spring or it could be bent. And it might have done damage to the top of the piston.
You say you have spark. But is it at the right time, is it strong enough to ignite the gas, are you seeing it in the plug or just from a timing light showing electricity is going down the wire but may be shorting around the plug? It could be sparking at the wrong time sending the unburnt gas right on through. The plug could have no or extremely little gap. The plug insulator could be cracked and the electrical current could be sent straight to the block.
Lots of stuff to check on.

[capplegarth]

Several mechanic have told me the following to get sticky valves and hydraulic lifters moving again. It works like a charm for those clackety motors that have not been maintained by regular oil changes causing things to gum up in the valve train. Make sure to not overfill the crankcase (drain a litre of oil first if you have to). Add a litre of automatic transmission fluid to the engine oil. Apparently auto trans fluid is is a very fine oil with better detergent additives in it then motor oil. If your problem isn't a broken or bent valve, spring or hydraulic lifter, I have found this made engines come back to normal when I thought I was going to have to do very time consuming work. Drain out the dirty oil and always change your oil folks when it gets dirty.

[shorod]

That's exactly right, ATF does a great job of dissolving sludge and freeing up engine oil passages. My dad taught me that trick, and he learned it from a seasoned mechanic years before.

-Rod

[Willyum]

colonel, be careful about jumping to conclusions about your problem. If what you are assuming seldom happens, then that probably isn't it.