Hi my name is Jesse and I live in San Bernardino California in the USA. I wanted to request this video because my valve seals are leaking. I was wondering if this can be done without taking the heads off and whats would be the easiest way to do this job at home. Thank you.
Hi jesse
Welcome to the forum. It is possible to change the valve seals without removing the heads but I wouldn’t recommend it. When the seals leak, it allows oil to travel down the stem and burn around the valve seat. This stops the valve from creating a tight seal which allows hot gasses to travel up the stem and do damage. I would strongly recommend removing the heads and doing the job properly. I will be covering this in the future. It is not as scary as it sounds and wel worth the extra work.
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I’m sorry for reviving an old topic but I was just about to tackle this job myself and I was wondering if you happened to make a video on how to do it properly yet. I looked but I don’t see one on your channel. I recently purchased my '97 VR4 and just started really digging into it. My alternator needs to be replaced and when I started to unbolt everything I noticed there was a lot of oil behind it. When I finally got the alternator removed there were actual clumps of old burnt oil falling off the back of it. I was planning to just replace the gaskets but if you say there’s a better way to do it then I’m all for it!
I am assuming that the oil is leaking from the rocker cover gaskets onto the alternator. This is different to the valve stem seals. I hope to do a video this week on rocker cover gasket replacement but the valve stem seal replacement may have to wait until next year because the cold weather has now arrived.
I’m with on that. I started the job and ended up with a valve going for a holiday down the cylinder head. Actually even getting the valve springs off was a mission even with the tool. And you can risk damaging the head with the tool. I also got to clean the carbon off the top of the pistons and the cylinder head dude shimmed the cylinder heads and did the valves and stuff.