monkeydude3

Hey all~
Well I'm planning to fix the stupid Ford defect problem of leaky valve seals (startup smoke and lots of oil usage) on my 4.6.

Well I ordered the seals today, and I will order the valve cover gaskets soon. I had a few questions. \

First, I need a seal installer and a valve spring compressor. On AllData it gave me a few part numbers for these; would Ford sell them to me? I have a feeling the valve spring compressor will be an engine specific tool, specifically for the modular engines.

Second, in order to hold the valves shut, I am to put compressed air into each cylinder as I go along and replace the seals. My grandpa has a lil 2 gallon compressor that goes up to around 80-100 psi (would this compressor be sufficient) or should I get a hold of a buddy who has a bigger compressor. (we don't own a bigger one YET).

Any ideas let me know, and I plan on making a writeup for this and photographing the process for replacing the seals, as this is a common problem. I will be putting in Fel-Pro seals and maybe those will work better than the Ford sh**.\


George

monkeydude3

anybody? ergh.. I feel so alone in this project lol. 90% of you guys have near mint milage mustangs... just wait till you get significanlty past 50k... haha [8D]

Dragon02GT

Sorry I can't help ya george. I think most of the people on this site (not all of them) do not have a lot of mechanical experience. If I were you I may try talking to some of the guys in the older Mustang forums (the guys with older cars) because they generally have rebuilt their cars and have a good knowledge of motors.

bryanec

Snap on makes a better spring tool than fords. You also have to make an air fitting to screw into your spark plug hole(make sure it is about 8 inches long). Be careful not to use too much air pressure if it is in neutral. Have alot of sticky lithium grease and a small magnet with a long handle on hand to put the retainer clips back in. I didnt use the installer, I just found a socket that fit around them snug and drove them on with it. Some were hard to get off though. It took me about four hours to do it. Might have someone help pull the clips while you hold the springs down.

monkeydude3

awesome! thank you guys! I'm pretty dang confident I can do this, I just like to research repairs before I do them and avoid possible problems. So I guess maybe stay on the lower side, like 80 PSI or so? Or after I move each particular cylinder to TDC, maybe I can put it in gear to hold it in place?

I will look into the snapon tool, thank you guys very much

George

monkeydude3

check this out

http://www.cornwelltools.com/OnlineC...veservice.html

scroll down to OW 7928

that looks like the tool I need... I know a cornwell guy that I bought my tools from where I worked, and he usually gave me deals on stuff. I think I may invest in that at some point

97targa

You wanna lift the valves then throw the air in. If the comp.is in good cond. it'll do if you don't slack off and just
get it done. Your tools can be found in any perf. shop like summitracing.com. roughly 3hr job exp....5hr..inexp...

BBond007

George,

I'm in the same boat although I have only seen it puff a bit of smoke on startup a few times.

I'm using about 1qt of 5w-30 M1 synth every 1000 - 1500 miles.

I think it’s the seals as well because I have dry 155 - 160 PSI on all 8 and I don't detect blow-by when I open the oil-filler with the engine running.

You seem like a competent mechanic from your other posts, I doubt you’ll have a problem and I’d really like to see your write-up on the procedure once you have finished.

Good Luck!

-nate