Cracked valve spring retainers on 200tdi?

wreckhunter · May 25, 2008

Headgaskets gone on my 200tdi so while the heads off i decided to clean up the head/valves and fit new stem seals,however before i started stripping the valves out i noticed all 8 of the valve spring top retainers had cracks in them

.spoken to few people locally who've said they've never seen anything like it before so was wondering if any of you have had a similar problem? I don't really want to build the head back up using the cracked caps even though they would proberbly be ok.Is this common on 200's do you know?

david451 · May 25, 2008

wreckhunter said:
Headgaskets gone on my 200tdi so while the heads off i decided to clean up the head/valves and fit new stem seals,however before i started stripping the valves out i noticed all 8 of the valve spring top retainers had cracks in them .spoken to few people locally who've said they've never seen anything like it before so was wondering if any of you have had a similar problem? I don't really want to build the head back up using the cracked caps even though they would proberbly be ok.Is this common on 200's do you know?

I have seen it before on another engine and it was common for it to do it, think it was a merc van, metal fatigue, an excuse for ****e materials, change em.

James · May 25, 2008

Do you mean they are cracked, because they are two half's that fit together?

david451 · May 26, 2008

James said:
Do you mean they are cracked, because they are two half's that fit together?

The valve spring caps I meen, you talking about the collets cause they are in two halfs as you know.

wreckhunter · May 26, 2008

I'm talking about the spring caps themselves not the collets,none of them have actually broken yet luckily.I will try and get a picture of them so you can see what i'm on about.

david451 · May 26, 2008

wreckhunter said:
I'm talking about the spring caps themselves not the collets,none of them have actually broken yet luckily.I will try and get a picture of them so you can see what i'm on about.

Metal fatigue, just change em, make sure yer valve guides are ok, and do a quick parrafin test on yer valves before you pull them out, that way you will know the ones that have a bad seal.

Line all your valve springs up and check that they are all about the same height, if they are iffy change the fookers as well, you dont want it dropping a valve.

I think that you know all that anyway.

wreckhunter · May 26, 2008

I'll be ordering new spring caps,springs and the little caps that sit on top of the valve stem tommorow as even though its more time off the road i'd be stupid to take a chance on them failing and dropping a valve as you say.Also noticed after looking in the manual there should be spring seats (like big washers) between the spring base and the head

but theres nothing on mine?

david451 · May 26, 2008

wreckhunter said:
I'll be ordering new spring caps,springs and the little caps that sit on top of the valve stem tommorow as even though its more time off the road i'd be stupid to take a chance on them failing and dropping a valve as you say.Also noticed after looking in the manual there should be spring seats (like big washers) between the spring base and the head but theres nothing on mine?

Yep a lot of alloy heads have these to stop the springs eating into the head.

Cracked valve spring retainers on 200tdi?

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