Hello,

My girlfriend's 1998 V70XC timing belt tensioner went bad at 90K miles. She took it to a shop who quoted her "At least $2500" to fix it. I talked her into letting me take a crack at it instead. She has already gotten a new car, so I'm mostly fixing this one to try and sell it. Her family has owned the car since it was new, and they've always kept up on maintenance, so it's been a very clean job so far, and I don't imagine it will be difficult to sell.

I've gotten the head off, and can see that two valves from the center cylinder are clearly bent, but the rest appear to be fine.

I put the head upside down on a bench, and filled each of the valve chambers with liquid WD-40 to try and see if they were really still sealed. (Not exactly scientific, but the best I could do) After waiting half an hour, none of the WD-40 had leaked out, so as far as I can tell, they're all fine except for the ones in the center chaimber. I also poured WD-40 into the combustion chaimbers on the block to see if any of the cylendar seals were severely damaged. Again, nothing appears to have leaked out.

Take a look at the embedded pictures to see what I'm dealing with.

As you can see, there is some surface damage to the pistons, but several mechanic friends tell me that I shouldn't need to worry about it.

Now my next step is to either have the head rebuilt, or try and replace the valves myself. I found THIS thread, which should have everything I need to know, but the photos won't load.

Can anybody tell me if a valve replacement is a do-it-yourself option? I've done it on OHV vehicles, and have a valve spring compression tool, but I've never done this on an OHC head.

Also, can anybody tell me if I'm crazy to only want to replace the valves that appear to be damaged? Since the other valves appear to be sealed correctly, I'd prefer to not mess with them.

Finally, where would you guys suggest I get the valves to put in?

Thanks, from Maryland.

[IMG]local://upfiles/20578/CCEB5B19C8384B919BC7EA21B4D2B130.jpg[/IMG]

 

Here's a closeup of the bent valves.

[IMG]local://upfiles/20578/09C44CEC462843BD87DFBDE80BC2FB4D.jpg[/IMG]

 

Here's a shot of the damage to one of the pistons. They all look basically the same.

[IMG]local://upfiles/20578/ED81330338194E92B4F5D7496EF5C43C.jpg[/IMG]

 

Here are the combustion chambers holding WD-40. The center one is at TDC, so I didn't try and fill it.

[IMG]local://upfiles/20578/FD4F59B1C78B4EE29CA02F7EA568921F.jpg[/IMG]

 

You should be fine replacing the valves on that cylinder only.

Have you tried FCPgroton yet for the valves? If not try them.

It is a pain to swap the valves because you are supposed to have an adapter to put between the compressor and springs so you can get the keepers back in.

 

Wow, Tech, thanks for suggesting FCPgroton. I've never heard of the site, but their prices for OEM parts beat anything my go-to-parts-guy could find locally, even in after market.

Any thoughts on our putting it back together with that surface damage on the pistons? Is there any chance I'll need to/be able to install replacement valve guides? Can you suggest anything else I should do to check if the other valves are okay to keep? For what it's worth, I stopped by the shop today, and they're still 3/4 full of WD-40, and it's been three or four days since I filled them.

Thanks again.

-Darren

 

Also, WTF is up with the apostrophes on this site?

 

You should be fine going back together with the pistons like that. As long as they are not cracked or have a hole in them you will be fine.
You can inspect the guides when you pull the valves. If it was a minor hit then the guides will be fine and you can drop new valves in and go.