My truck seems to have a lot of carbon on the spark plugs, and it seems to be burning more oil than it should be. I ran a vaccuum test and it basically said I have a sticking valve. This leads me to believe that my valve guides are leaking oil and that is why the carbon is there. Does this make sense? Is there any sealer product that I can buy to seal the guides?

 

what motor is it? thats step one

 

Oops, I forgot all that info. It is a 1987 22R carbureted with no mods.

 

Anyone have any input?

 

No don't use a "sealer".Adding syrup to your oil wont fix anything long term.If vacuum readings show valve problems ,first verify you have the correct clearance,if so you probably have a burnt valve.If you have high mileage on the motor,you also will probably need new rings or a bore job.Sorry but things do wear out.So go check that valve clearance !

 

I had the mechanic adjust the valves a while back and he did a good job. It seems that the rings are ok because it runs fine. I remember that when he adjusted them he said that I had two loose valves. That would not cause them to burn though, too tight would do that, right? How long would that syrup stuff last?

 

Loose valves would be noisy,mabye lack of power
Tight valves cause rough idle,low vacuum readings,and will eventually burn.
Worn rings(or stuck) will cause oil consumption or lack of compression or blue smoke,each pistion has three rings if the lower ring is bad it will cause excessive oil burning,but you could have decent compression.
Syrup stuff is snake oil.It just thickens the oil and it might use less.I would rather see you change to a thicker wieght oil (straight 30w-or40w-or even50w depending on how cold it is.
What are your vac. readings?

 

The vacuum guage shakes at idle and evens out when the engine is revved. I will need to do another test to see what the vacuum is because I can not remember off hand. What is it suppose to be at? I know the valves are not loose because they were before I got them adjusted. I guess they could be too tight because it will sometimes idle rough, but not always. I have never seen my truck smoke.

 

I did a vacuum test today and it was around 19 at idle and about 21 at around 2000 RPM. It shakes at idle and got steady as I revved it. I checked my repair manual and I could not find anything about running a vacuum test and what the reading is suppose to be. Does anyone know?

 

I just replaced the valve seals on my 87 22re. If you are not seeing any smoke at startup or after a long wait at a stop light then your seals are probably OK. I had smoke on startup and after long periods of idling. Thats my experience with them.
They took me most of a weekend to replace by myself. Not too hard just time consuming. I also replaced the head gasket which is mandatory on a 22r or re.

 

17-22in of vac @idle normal.Intermittent fluctuation at idle -ignition miss or sticking valve.
If it isn't leaking oil then it must be burning it.

 

Thanks for the info. Is there anyway to make a valve unstick without taking apart the heads and replacing it? Could carbon be on the valve seat causing the valve to not shut completely?

 

Not really , and yes .An old trick is to dribble water into the intake while reving the engine,\.I'm not sure how you can do it on a 22r,maybe use a vac.line on the intake manifold to suck in SMALL amounts of water.Did i say SMALL amounts.Try at your own risk. Good luck

 

Thanks for the tip. I actually tried that a while back by dumping some water into the carburetor while revving it to about 2000 RPMs. Maybe I will try some of that Seafoam stuff. Thanks for all of the advice.