Rebuilt engine, Drinking oil...

[dookeye]

Well I pulled the head out this morning, I got it all out but have not got the springs out yet, I hope I don't have to buy some special tool to compress those springs, they are kind of submerged in there. I don't have any kind of actual valve spring compressor, I am hoping I can make do with a brake caliper vice-grip or wide mouth clamp. I am guessing maybe you can compress them with even a large socket, and maybe kind of shake the keepers off even if you can't really get at them? I'll see.

On a side note, I guess because of all the oil burning, the EGR port was clogged stem to stern. I also noticed carbonization on valve faces, top of chambers, and a little on the top of the pistons. The carbonization seemed worst in number 2 cylinder, which also seemed to have the most oil fouled plug when I would pull the spark plugs before pulling the head.

I also hope no one tells me its a good idea to go ahead and replace the lifters while I have it apart as they seem to run over $20 each.

I have been comparing prices and was quite surprised at how much cheaper Kragen/Advance auto was on a head gasket set, for the felpro and especially the beck-arnley. As far as I know they both make good gaskets so I will go with the beck-arnley cause its a few bucks cheaper; unless somebody has some horror story about their product.

[Crvett69]

if your just going to leave the valves alone and not lap them or grind them you can probably just put the head back on but if you do lap them or grind them you should replace the rings at the same time. they make a special tool for doing the springs on metros and if you can't get them in and out another way i can sell you the one i bought since i probably won't use it again. if you want it will sell it to you for $30 plus shipping. i decided it was just easier in the long run to replace the motor with a jdm one

[dookeye]

okay I'll keep you in mind
but I don't plan on messing with the valves other than cleaning them

do lifters have to be put back where they came from like valves or does it not matter?
thanks

[91Caprice9c1]

Keep your lifters with their bore. Have fun =)

MechanicMatt

[dookeye]

found out after some googling that you don't need a special tool to get valves out on a Metro; you just take a big tool ( I used a screwdriver, there's nothing really fragile right there ) shove the spring down and grab the keeper- I used a needle nose and a magnet was helpful.

Then I could apparently see the seals from the top, do I have to knock out the valve stems to replace the seals? that's the way it looks.

I bought all the stuff I will need to reinstall head:
gasket set $90 with valve seals
head bolts $20
plus timing belt and seal $30

if I pull this off and can get maybe another 100K out of the engine it will be a score

I payed $400 for the car.

[dookeye]

replaced all the valve seals last night, none of them were destroyed, but if you compared them to the new seals you could see they were stretched out a bit.

[dookeye]

OK, so I am putting the camshaft back in last night, and my gasket kit has what is apparently the replacement for the camshaft seal- the doughnut seal at the passenger side end of the camshaft.
What I am wondering about is why does there seem to be a gap underneath the #3 camshaft holddown/bearing ( on the distributor end ), a gap that looks just like it could fit a seal about the same size as the one on the timing belt side.
Is that gap just there for oil to flow through?
and the only oil seal on that end is the O-ring on the distributor?
just hoping that there is not a seal there that I missed

[taracka]

There is definitely something to this oil drinking issue. I have a 96 metro which was using a quart every 40 miles. I removed the engine and disassembled it to find nothing to indicate cause of an oil consumption problem. What I did find was the number two piston and plug heavily oil fouled and a slightly bent exhaust valve. The stem seals seemed ok and the rings were fine. I was suspicious of the small hole in the head gasket which covered a larger hole that the oil passes through. This hole had some crud in it which could've been blocking it. Also, the little brass valve was installed and appeared to be functioning properly.
So my theory is that under high rpm/ load conditions such as highway driving more oil is pumped into the head than can escape and the level rises until it begins to get sucked out by the pcv system. Since the pcv outlet in the intake manifold is very close to the number two intake the oil is immediately sucked into the number two cylinder and is burned with the fuel.
Since I'd just purchased the car, it's possible the seller had installed an improper head gasket with a undersize oil hole which could cause this problem. Unfortunately, if i'd known all of this I could've gotten away with just replacing the head gasket and maybe a valve job and been back in business. If some of you are wondering why I pulled the engine it was because the clutch was bad too (broken pressure plate) and it made more sense to me to do everything this way.
I hope my findings may prevent someone else from going through all of this. Even so it was still worth it though up here in WA where gas is a ripoff $3.45 a gallon (thanks gov't).
Rich