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[tigers_gonads]

Give darth bottom groomer a pm

he did mine on the old car 

[Sir Tigger KC]

What are the long term issues of having leaky stem seals apart from the puff of smoke at start up? 

I had a 2ltr Sierra a few years ago on which the stem seals were shot and it ran fine. A friend of mine did them for a few beer tokens and to be honest I'd have never paid a garage to do them as the car wasn't worth much.... 

[dbdb]

What are the long term issues of having leaky stem seals apart from the puff of smoke at start up? 

I had a 2ltr Sierra a few years ago on which the stem seals were shot and it ran fine. A friend of mine did them for a few beer tokens and to be honest I'd have never paid a garage to do them as the car wasn't worth much.... 

You'll get oil burnt in the cylinders which will foul up the plugs but worse than that the burnt oil will damage and shorten the life of the cats (as will misfires caused by fouled plugs). They still might outlive the car though.

I'd try a 10W50 oil, won't make a difference on cold oil but may reduce hot oil seeping past the stems.  It wont damage your lifters as it is within VX spec.  Arguably 10W60 is within spec too: "Only the following viscosity classes are permitted: SAE 10 W-30 (or higher than 30)". 

All that will cost you is an oil change.

[omega3000]

What are the long term issues of having leaky stem seals apart from the puff of smoke at start up? 

I had a 2ltr Sierra a few years ago on which the stem seals were shot and it ran fine. A friend of mine did them for a few beer tokens and to be honest I'd have never paid a garage to do them as the car wasn't worth much.... 

You'll get oil burnt in the cylinders which will foul up the plugs but worse than that the burnt oil will damage and shorten the life of the cats (as will misfires caused by fouled plugs). They still might outlive the car though.

I'd try a 10W50 oil, won't make a difference on cold oil but may reduce hot oil seeping past the stems.  It wont damage your lifters as it is within VX spec.  Arguably 10W60 is within spec too: "Only the following viscosity classes are permitted: SAE 10 W-30 (or higher than 30)". 

All that will cost you is an oil change.

10/50 it is then for starters then if that dont stop it its time to break out the spanners 

[Grrrrrr]

So, 20/50 out. 10/40 the best and 10/50 might be worth a go.

Good suggestions but surely as the oil cools it'll just start sliding past again? I'm a bit of a stickler mechanically. If something isn't right it niggles at me. Based on that I'm going to have to do something!

First off though is stop the other leak.

Cheers,

J

[omega3000]

So, 20/50 out. 10/40 the best and 10/50 might be worth a go.

Good suggestions but surely as the oil cools it'll just start sliding past again? I'm a bit of a stickler mechanically. If something isn't right it niggles at me. Based on that I'm going to have to do something!

First off though is stop the other leak.

Cheers,

J

+ 1 , so thinking mite be best putting the effort into taking the head off and doing the stem seals 

[symes]

does head need skim-someone told me they do?-if not-when you want to do head?? can offer help on weekends-if any good

[Grrrrrr]

Would the head need skimming? Just clean it up and put it back, isn't it? Bit beyond my ken at this stage. Never had one that far apart before.

[JamesV6CDX]

Would the head need skimming?

NO

Does that help?

Head skimming on V6 causes all sorts of issues. There are no problems with leaking, pressuring, or anyhing to indicate the heads are warped. It's simply just the stem seals inside it. Best bet is just carefully clean all surfaces before reassembly.

Easy job, just time consuming

[symes]

Would the head need skimming?

NO

Does that help?

Head skimming on V6 causes all sorts of issues. There are no problems with leaking, pressuring, or anyhing to indicate the heads are warped. It's simply just the stem seals inside it. Best bet is just carefully clean all surfaces before reassembly.

Easy job, just time consuming

james-we on about veccy-not v6 but you right if v6-

[Grrrrrr]

Veccy? Mine's a V6 mig.

Had the inlet manifold off today. Didn't seems too bad. Slight sign of leakage from the cam-covers as suspected but very little. Cleaned the breathers as I had it off. On reassembly I noticed something a little odd. The big breather pipe at the back that splits into a Y (outer pipes on the plenum) was twisted round 360 degress blocking it off. I paid someone to do the cam-belt last November-ish and it looks as though they twisted the pipe to keep it out the way and forgot to untwist it. Could this have produced enough back-pressure to cause the cam-covers to leak slightly? I'm hoping so.

I'll run it a while and see if the oil leakage drops. If it does then that's a relief. If it doesn't then it'll be cam-covers and then see where we go from there. While we're on the subject of cam-covers, are the standard GM plastic ones the way to go or do I remember someone saying you could get alloy replacements that were superior?

[CaptainZok]

Veccy? Mine's a V6 mig.

Had the inlet manifold off today. Didn't seems too bad. Slight sign of leakage from the cam-covers as suspected but very little. Cleaned the breathers as I had it off. On reassembly I noticed something a little odd. The big breather pipe at the back that splits into a Y (outer pipes on the plenum) was twisted round 360 degress blocking it off. I paid someone to do the cam-belt last November-ish and it looks as though they twisted the pipe to keep it out the way and forgot to untwist it. Could this have produced enough back-pressure to cause the cam-covers to leak slightly? I'm hoping so.

I'll run it a while and see if the oil leakage drops. If it does then that's a relief. If it doesn't then it'll be cam-covers and then see where we go from there. While we're on the subject of cam-covers, are the standard GM plastic ones the way to go or do I remember someone saying you could get alloy replacements that were superior?

Not on here you won't. General opinion is that ally covers cure the gaskets leaking but the pressure has to go somewhere and the next weak point is the crank seal which compared to cam cover gaskets is a real pain to do. Just use the plastic covers and make sure the breathers are cleaned properly.

[symes]

Veccy? Mine's a V6 mig.

Had the inlet manifold off today. Didn't seems too bad. Slight sign of leakage from the cam-covers as suspected but very little. Cleaned the breathers as I had it off. On reassembly I noticed something a little odd. The big breather pipe at the back that splits into a Y (outer pipes on the plenum) was twisted round 360 degress blocking it off. I paid someone to do the cam-belt last November-ish and it looks as though they twisted the pipe to keep it out the way and forgot to untwist it. Could this have produced enough back-pressure to cause the cam-covers to leak slightly? I'm hoping so.

I'll run it a while and see if the oil leakage drops. If it does then that's a relief. If it doesn't then it'll be cam-covers and then see where we go from there. While we're on the subject of cam-covers, are the standard GM plastic ones the way to go or do I remember someone saying you could get alloy replacements that were superior?

sorry mate-mind wondered-- and alloy covers are from veccy-need modifying though iirc

[dbug]

The number before the W is the viscosity of the oil cold, the number after when hot. So 20W50 is thicker (slower to drip down your valve stems ) when both cold and hot than 10W40.

If you're getting oil burnt mainly at startup it will likely be the oil left overnight over the valves draining down them into the the cylinder (though obviously as soon as you switch off there will be some hot oil there too).  So I would try upping the first rating say to 20W50.  If its oil being burnt during normal running  but you still want cold start protection then up the second rating eg to a 10W60.

20W50 might reduce your oil leak too, worth a try and the cheapest fix for both if it works.

Bad advice again from the "oil king" 

[dbdb]