Anybody ever seen a loose valve guide? I started rebuilding a head i bought for my 22re last night and although the casting looked like a new casting, one of the valve guides was REALLY loose in the head. As in i can wiggle it and push it in and out about 1/2 an inch easily. Any way to fix this? Oversize valve guide? The rest of them look great.

 

Anybody? From what i've read, they're a pretty snug press fit into the cylinder, how could it have possibly just come loose? The valve was never crunched by the piston, and no weird wear on the valve stem or rocker... Weird!

 

Needs to go to the head shop for repair.

 

Thanks, I figured that was probably the case. Bummer. What could have caused that? If it was something that just happened, fine, but if something caused it that i can prevent, i'd like to.

 

I've no idea what would have caused it. Maybe it was marginal to start with and normal operation wallowed the metal. The valve guide helps the valve go straight up and down but there is some lateral motion induced by the operation of the rockers on the valve stems.