Valve seal replacement without removing the head

SupraTrbo89

Member
Sep 21, 2006
228
3
18
West Chester, PA
Just finished replacing all the valve seals so I will begin putting everything back together tomorrow. During the process I dropped a keeper between the exhaust manifold and exhaust manifold heat shield. I almost soiled myself but removed the heat shield and was able to get it back. After that I covered each side of the engine bay with an old sheet and filled all the holes in the head with cotton balls....I would highly recommend doing this so you don't lose any parts inside the engine. Also, every single one of my valve seals fought me coming out. Removing them was the hardest part of the process. Toward the end I only used a nice pair of needle nose plyers to get the seals out. Even the valve seals I was able to remove in one piece still had a little piece of rubber debris I had to fish out with a Q-tip. The valve stem plyers were a waste of money in my opinion. The 2nd to last seal I went to pull out with the plyers wasn't even seated. I was losing a half quart of oil per 500 miles and smoked pretty bad on start up. I'm pretty sure that's why. Overall I would say the keeper remover/installer is an absolute must. Here is the one I bought and I worked like a charm -Lisle 36050 Valve Keeper Remover and Installer Kit - bought it off amazon. I used exactly 10 ft of rope per cylinder. I put each cylinder at TDC and wound back 45 degrees then stuffed the 10 ft of rope in as best I could then used a skinny screw driver to stuff the rest in. I marked the rope with a sharpie so I used the same length on every cylinder. This was more than enough rope as the cylinder was full before I cranked it back to TDC to tighten it up.

When I go to install the cams should I use my engine assembly lube on each of the lobes of the cams or essentially any part where metal will touch metal during the initial turn over?

Lastly, will I need to purchase a timing light to adjust the timing as mentioned in the TSRM?
 
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SupraTrbo89

Member
Sep 21, 2006
228
3
18
West Chester, PA
Car is not cranking at all....just rapid clicking....all the dash lights in the car come on and my battery charger shows the battery is charged. I am going to pull the battery out of my Acura just to see if it will turn over. In the past when I have had starting issues and I have heard the relay click once or the car does nothing at all, but never the rapid clicking. I almost feel like its a battery connection issue or ground issue. The motor seemed to turn over fine after the timing belt reinstall when I rotated the motor over a few times with a breaker bar so I don't think I'm hung up there.
 

SupraTrbo89

Member
Sep 21, 2006
228
3
18
West Chester, PA
I finally got around to checking my timing and it seems to be at 10 degrees which I believe is where I want it to be. I did notice the timing very slightly before 10 then right at 10 then sometimes a hair after 10.....should it fluctuate slightly like this?
 

SupraTrbo89

Member
Sep 21, 2006
228
3
18
West Chester, PA
So my car was blowing smoke on start up and after replacing the valve seals it completely fixed the problem. I have been driving the car for a few months now with no smoke and when I started it up today I noticed its starting to blow smoke again.

While replacing the seals a few months back I remember one of them was not seated properly and was simply floating on the valve stem. I am wondering if there could be an issue with that valve causing the seal to come unseated. A head gasket was recently done and sealed with ARPs so I'd rather not take the head off. Any thoughts would be great.