alltoyrev

Hi all - been lurking and reading for a while, finally registered...this is a fantastic resource for a beginner like me!

Truck is an 86 pickup with the 22rte - its a gem but smokin badly...narrowed it to valve seals and am also taking the turbo out for inspection... Question is as follows:

Can anyone confirm one way or another, whether the rocker slides over enough to change valve seals without pulling the head? I want to change them using an air fitting in the spark plug and valve spring compressor...
Searching the site, I have come up with a yes and no answer - has anyone done this successfully?

Thanks!


found this among other info searching...
Quote:
Originally Posted by toy power
i thought that you could just move the rocker for each valve to the side and do it without taking the head loose

nope, they don't move far enough, they hit the lobes on the cam, tried loosening the adjustment screw all the way also, no avail.

alltoyrev

Altight - So Mountaingoat posted this (below) recording a successful job - however it looks as if you have to remove the rocker assy - I doubt he would have gone to the trouble of spacers if it was possible without!!

22RE Valve Stem Seal Replacement

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My 238k 22RE was blowing a bit of blue smoke coming off idle, and consuming about 1.5qts of dino juice between changes, so I decided it was time for valve seals.

...and I was looking for an excuse to drop an EB 261 cam in there, but that's beside the point.

I'd seen a couple mentions in threads about doing the valve stem seals without removing the head, but nothing definitive - seemed like a lot of folks were warning you might pop the HG if you pressure the cylinders to keep the valves up while doing the job, and so on, so I figured I'd just go for it and post back results.

The verdict: it works great.

Long story short, I cut some spacers about the same height as the rocker arm assembly out of some 1/2" conduit that I had kicking around, and used them to run the head bolts back in and clamp the head down a bit once I'd removed the rocker assy.

I did have to ream out the conduit a little bit to get it to slip over the head-to-rocker-assy dowels.

After I had the head good and clamped down with the bolts and spacers, I hooked up a compressor to a compression tester hose with the Schrader valve removed, and pressurized the first cylinder. Slipped on my shiny-new Carquest valve spring compressor, picked out the keepers, and off came the valve spring giving access to the seals.

The seals came off easy enough; the new ones going on were a little more fiddly. I only had the cylinders aired up to about 10PSI, so I couldn't press on the valve stem much without dropping it into the great black abyss of doom. I solved this by oiling up the seals so they would slide easier, and very carefully working them onto the stem, then gently pressing them on with a #3 common screwdriver.

Note: take a minute and plug all the oil passages in the head with rags or something, especially oh, say, that left rear drainage passage. It's just in the perfect spot to swallow a valve spring keeper if you were so clumsy as to drop one back there. DAMHIK.

Bottom line: I won't know for a few weeks if my oil consumption is down or not, but my little puff of smoke on takeoff is GONE! The old seals were in rough shape, should've done them long ago.

And thus far, no sign of head gasket destruction.

Idle is much smoother, though how much of that is due to the new cam I can't say.

If I did it again, I would want a bit more pressure in the cylinders to hold the valves up - 10PSI was pretty weak. Not too much more though, no need to risk HG bustage. Even just 20PSI would make sliding the new seals on the valve stems way less sketchy, without going crazy with pressure.

Hope this helps someone in the future considering doing valve stem seals without pulling the head.

92dlxman

look up the factory compression psi for your motor. i bet its over 100psi. i dont think the head gasket will care much if you set the reg on your compressor down to 50 or so.

keep posting as you go. i'd love to see how this is done

edit: as you can see, i've never done this. i just realized that your head bolts will not be tight unless you create good spacers and torque it down a bit. for this, i apologize. look though i already learned something

alltoyrev

Hey 92dlxman - I will be sure to post results -although I'm having second thoughts now about doing this -

Would loosening the head bolts not compromise the head gasket? Given the condition of the engine, it might be worth my time to remove the head and inspect...

Talking with a shop guy who has replaced seals in this fashion, he said you will want at least 100psi in the cylinder to hold the valve up, otherwise as we know, its dropping in and then I'm removing the head anyways... So I have a couple decisions to make. Picked up seals and a spring compressor yesterday - I'm going to keep adding to this thread on whatever I find out...

Cheers.

abecedarian

to remove the valve seals, you must remove the rocker arms / shafts.
removing the rocker arms / shafts means pulling the head bolts.
removing the head bolts means you may unseat the head.

you may get away with it without issue; you may not.
considering the cost of a head gasket set, you may as well just pull it.
and you'll know you have a good head gasket.

alltoyrev

On a side note - anyone know a part # for the PCV valve on the 22rte? I thought it would be the same as the 22re, but its different...

alltoyrev

Thank-you abecedarian! I figured just loosening the bolts might compromise it. That probably seals the deal so to speak. I'm going to order the gasket set... any advice on where? I know englblder has been quoted a ton on this site..

abecedarian

Some people get away with strapping the head down with ratchet cycle straps when they replace the cam but I'm a pessimistic optimist- prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Murphy will toss his torque wrench in, given the chance.

For gaskets: I'd suggest engnbldr, but you already know about them. And I also suggest ditching the head bolts for studs- engnbldr can help you with that too.

92dlxman

yea. .. . just replace the gasket too. get it from toyota

abecedarian

Silly me forgot Toyota's a great option for gaskets.
What was I thinking?

alltoyrev

well - changed my mind again... got the valve seals the other day along with spring compressor etc.. so going to strap the head down and air the cylinder and hope for the best... this will save me the time tearing it all down.. I have had no symptoms of a bad head gasket to this pt.

Got a quote of $58 for the gasket kit plus shipping from EngBlder. Will likely go oem for this as many of you have suggested, should I end up in this situation..

On a side note, drove sled tracks to a lake in my area to go ice fishing yesterday.. took my hilux (rhd) crew out there and all was good... truck performed unbelievably well in the deep snow.. until the end when I went to remove snow/ice from the rim (outside). I cleared my side out with my hands... but buddy decided to kick it out, in the process damaging the valve stem.. this morning my tire was flat!!

Oh well... but I can't lower the spare! lol bit of pain to say the least.. its seized in there well. Weather is ugly and wet i may spray the thing, deflate the tire, or grind it right off...and eliminate the spare under the truck... any ideas?

abecedarian

ironic isn't it, that you'd go from having a problem with a valve stem seal to having a problem with a valve stem?

alltoyrev

hahaha - yes it is, hadn't thought of that! All I hope to have is one reliable truck running... working towards it! lol

G Tacoma

Wondered if replacing the valve seals on a 5VZ-FE V6 is similiar to the 22RE motor?
Thanks for your assistance to a newbee to the site.