Will this valve spring compressor work with K series engine

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digi

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Will this overhead valve spring compressor work with the k series engine, if i have to change the stem valve oil seals i want to do the job with the head on.
 

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It *is* possible to do a valve job head on, but it's very, very difficult.

The force required to get the collets out is quite high so you risk some serious damage.

IIRC there are two methods to do head-on change, one involves wrapping rope around the valve stems, the other is resting the valve on the top of the piston. Both of which are dangerous.

By the time you've done it, you'll have wished you just whipped the head off...
 
I've ordered the valve spring compressor above along with a set of stem valve oil seal pliers.

It's got some good reviews on amazon.com so fingers crossed it will work on the freelander.

I plan on feeding a length of rope into the top of piston winding the piston to the top to stop the valves falling then locking the crank with a breaker bar stuck on it so it doesn't move, doing the valves one piston at a time.

I've got my fingers crossed that it goes smoothly.
 
why not get a spark plug and take the middle out and put a valve in then fill the cylinders with air that will hold the valve up ,this is how we used to do it
 
The old fashioned way was to feed a good length of garden string into the cylinder then turn the engine so that the string presses onto the head of the valves. Obviously the cylinder needs to be on its compression stroke and you need to make sure you have a loose end of the string so it can be removed again afterwards. This way has got me out of trouble a couple of times over the years.
 
The old fashioned way was to feed a good length of garden string into the cylinder then turn the engine so that the string presses onto the head of the valves. Obviously the cylinder needs to be on its compression stroke and you need to make sure you have a loose end of the string so it can be removed again afterwards. This way has got me out of trouble a couple of times over the years.

This is what we used to do on our old Ford xr2's and xr3's back in the day
 
on my old pinto engines in the likes of Cortina's I had a special tool in fact two one for holding the valve up and the other for compressing the valve spring I will find them and take pictures .
 
The valves were cleaned and lapped 7 months ago when i had the head skimmed and replaced the head gasket, i also replaced the stem valve oil seals but the ones in the kit didn't look to be as good quality as the ones i removed, i'm getting good psi readings of 180 when doing the compresion tests so i'm assuming it's just the oil seals that have failed so only want to replace the seals with quality ones i've got from the engine reconditioners.
 
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I get a puff of blue smoke when i first start up then it runs clear on tickover when it's warmed up, then starts to smoke again when i rev it at around 3000rpm, but the smoke isn't massively excessive.
 
I K series shouldn't visually smoke at all and shouldn't loose much between services. There are some very cheap and nasty valve stem seals about. Get some quality seals in there and it should improve. You might need a new cat as oil contamination ruins the substrate.
 
I got some quality valve stem seals from an engine reconditioners, i should have put these on first time round.

The overhead valve spring compressor and pliers came today, the one in photo above but i can't get enough compression on the spring to remove the collets, i manage to get half a collet out by fluke on one of the exhaust valve on cylinder 4 but can't get the other one out, i just can't compress the spring enough with this style of compressor.

I'm going have to get the head off tomorrow and do the work on the table, it's a shame because the head gasket was a quality victor reinz and is still good, i didn't want to disturb it but it looks like i'm going to have to.

I'll have to get a new head gasket and set off bolts, i'll give the engine shop a call tomorrow and see if they've got them in.

I'm kicking myself because i've been waiting since last thursday for the tools to come then don't work when i could have had the head off and done the work.

My lesson learnt from this is don't use head gasket sets as the only parts i used from it was the stem valve seals and don't look like they lasted they looked poor quality at the time, i got the kit mail order before i took the head to get it skimmed at the engine shop and while i was there i got the new gasket from them, if i'd got the new stem valve from them aswell the job would have been a good'en. Make sure you use quality parts the first time or you'll end up doing the job twice.

Once i've redone the head work and got it back together, i'll get another cat as this is what it failed the MOT on, high co2 and lambda reading.
 
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