Stuck valve...AGAIN!!!!

[Morris]

Same cyinder, different valve.

I never pulled the head after my first bout with valve sticking issues, but the car has been running perfectly.

Do you think this is still just an issue of incorrect clearances on my new (from Moss) stainless guides? Is it a coincidence that both valves have stuck on #1 cylinder when there have been no problems with the other cylinders? Could I be sucking trash into my intake and gumming the valves? Could there be something that is causing #1 cylinder to run leaner than the others thus causing the guides to heat and expand beyond tolerances?

Tune in next time for "As the Valve Sticks" for answers to these and other questions...

 

[DrEntropy]

This is discouraging! You have oil up there now, yes? What kind of clearances (stem/guide) were used?

You may wind up pullin' one of my "tricks": "Here he comes again... for another six-pack of head gaskets." /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Morris]

[ QUOTE ]
What kind of clearances (stem/guide) were used?

[/ QUOTE ]

I used my stock stems, bought the guides from Moss, dropped em off at the machine shop and said, "Stick em in."

It's getting a lot more oil top side than it was. Is it enough? I dunno.

 

[aeronca65t]

Darn!
I guess you can un-stick it and keep running to see if it eventually breaks in......hard to tell.
In all likelyhood, you'll have to pull the head and have the guides reamed to size. I know that with some cars, you are supposed to ream them after pressing them in, while other engines will work fine without reaming.
You shouldn't have to ream them on a 1500, but I have no experience with those SS guides.
Are you running seals? I don't run any kind of valve guide seals on mine (original guides) and it doesn't burn any oil even at race speeds.

[edit] It just occured to me: is your car running super lean with that home-brew FI system? Or do you have a vacuum leak around #1? Lean mixtures can cause high temps that can cause valves to stick.

 

[GB1]

Good point on the [edit]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/iagree.gif

 

[Morris]

I will "Spray Check" the intake port on #1 to see if there is a small leak. It would have to be pretty small, though, cause the car runs purty durn good and does not have any of the usual vaccum leak symptoms.

As far as the FI system goes, according to my wide-band O2 sensor, I was running about 14.5-14.9 to 1 when the valve stuck. That's the area that most modern cars run in, but mebbe that's just too lean for one of these cars.

Also, there are no valve seals on my car.

 

[GB1]

Morris, 14.5-14.9 is not super lean, it should actually be fine.

 

[Dave Russell]

[ QUOTE ]

Do you think this is still just an issue of incorrect clearances on my new (from Moss) stainless guides?

[/ QUOTE ]
Pardon the intrusion:
Do you really have stainless steel valve guides? This would be a very poor choice of materials unless the guides have liners such as K-Line installed. Plain stainless would not work well against most valve stem materials. If the guides are actually unlined stainless, I think you need to have liners installed in them. If they have liners, they should be very hard to stick.
D

 

[Morris]

Hmmmm. I don't know that they are stainless. They are just what VB sent me. (I said Moss before, but I think I actually got them from VB) I don't know why I said they where stainless. I think someone told me they where in another thread. But... my brain, she don't work so good.

 

[Bugeye58]

Morris, if you got the premium guides, they're Manganese-Bronze.
Jeff

 

[jlaird]

If he has pleanty of oil the only reason I can thing of is a bent valve however this is not the same one as before.

I must assume they were fitted by the machine shop.

 

[Morris]

It don't think it's a bent valve. I can usually repair these stuck valves on the road side and enjoy days of driving before the problem occurs again.

 

[RobSelina]

[ QUOTE ]
But... my brain, she don't work so good.

[/ QUOTE ]

She don't work so good???

Hope that's not a freudian slip - one of those woman trapped inside a man's body moments? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif

 

[Morris]

I am a man trapped in a big fat hairy gorilla's body. And this gorilla has real bad gas, too. Pew.

 

[aeronca65t]

[ QUOTE ]
I am a man trapped in a big fat hairy gorilla's body. And this gorilla has real bad gas, too. Pew.

[/ QUOTE ]

Too much information! Waaay too much! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif

How hard is it to run around 13.5:1 instead of your present ratio? I'm running around 12.5:1 with excellent power and decent (race) mileage. Rich is always safer (within reason).

 

[DrEntropy]

Yup! Better fat than lean. I'd have aimed for the 13:1 area/range meself. 14 would be too lean for me... but then again; superstition and paranoia guide many of my decisions. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif