i r teh noobz

iTrader: (4)

Changed my oil today and found some bits stuck to my drain plug. Engine is a 2002 LM7. ~5k on a H/C package from Texas Speed (224/228 112 cam, ported oil pump, stage 2.5 heads, stock compression). Oil looks like glitter, there was nothing large enough to grab inside the filter. Car runs fine and has ~60psi cold idle and nearly pegs the gauge at WOT. No strange noises other than the sewing machine noise its had since the swap. Parts all have blue silicone on them, I don't use blue on anything so it much be factory sealant. Any ideas? Assuming I need a motor but hoping otherwise.

Compression was tested a few hundred miles ago. ~180 on 7 cylinders. #8 is buried and I cannot get the compression gauge in there (swap car). Engine runs fine and pulls hard. Went 12.83 @ 113 about 500 miles ago.

jsteele90

iTrader: (13)

that my friend looks like a valve seal. or what is left of one.

jsteele90

iTrader: (13)

i r teh noobz

iTrader: (4)

Looks right to me. I'll go pull the covers and see what I find.

i r teh noobz

iTrader: (4)

Number 2 and number 5 exhaust seals are gone. Intake number 6 is starting to go. Thanks for the help.

truckdoug

iTrader: (26)

daaaaaaaaaayum
what caused that? not enough springpsi/ floated valves? too much lift for the set-up?

i r teh noobz

iTrader: (4)

A couple people have claimed similar issues with Comp branded seals. My heads came assembled with double springs. Lift is only .581/.588" and redline is set at 7k.

Old Geezer

iTrader: (3)

A couple things could be involved.
1. The guides are too small, or the seal too big, to keep it down.
2. The retainer hit the seal, deforming it. The spring took care of chewing it up. Valve float/bounce?
3. The seal is of a questionable quality.

I'd pull the heads, and start over on the assembly, checking for fit, etc.

i r teh noobz

iTrader: (4)

I believe the heads came with GM seals. I'm finding alot of posts saying not to run them with dual springs, but the heads came assembled as a package.

It will be a week or so before I get a spring compressor so I can start inspecting things. I'm going to see if I can find an obvious problem before pulling the heads.

Any chance pushrod length caused it? I don't remember what my preload was but I remember it being on the high side of what was deemed "acceptable" by the community.

03Sssnake

iTrader: (20)

This happened to me last year with patriot golds on 853 heads...was actually a good thing, motivated me to change my whole (H/C) setup, which I was not happy with anyways. At the time I attributed it to high RPM valve float with the golds.

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

The same thing happened to my when the machine shop set my heads up wrong and I had bad valve float. My install height wasn't correct which caused my valve float. The inner spring spins and acts like a cork screw pulling the seal off then the retainer hammers the hell out of it.

i r teh noobz

iTrader: (4)

Wouldn't I have felt valve float? The car pulled strong all the way to redline.

thunderstruck507

iTrader: (18)

My car just did the same thing. No signs of float but the car slowed down a little in the 1/4 and I decided to change springs, found 3 smashed seals.

The thread about it will either be on the first or second page of this forum section as a matter of fact.

I would test the springs on the valves that had seal failure.

You might also want to be sure your need to rev that high. If the cam peaks in the low 6000s you can likely drop your shift point without slowing down in the 1/4 and not be so hard on the engine parts.

i r teh noobz

iTrader: (4)

I'm finding several threads across the internet with similar failures, some were from float and others from faulty seals/poor installation. Current plan is to replace the seals and inspect everything while its apart. Assuming all appears well, I will run it for a few hundred miles and see what happens. If the problem persists I will look into other options, and I will start setting aside money to fix it now.

I will update with results. Thanks for the input/advice.

i r teh noobz

iTrader: (4)

I replaced all seals with FelPro parts about 600 miles ago. I just dumped the oil tonight. I found the last spring that was missing from my pile of old seals, but nothing fresh. Oil looks nice and black, no glitter this time. Car is running great and has stopped smoking entirely. Wideband readings are much more consistent as well.

I suspect that the seals were never right. I remember finding a small chunk of steel when I spilled the oil after idling for an hour with the new heads/cam/lifters, but I chocked it up as debris from the engine sitting open for a week at the time. Oil consumption since I put the new seals in has been negligible and it was drinking a quart/500 miles before. I have been driving the car very hard since installing the new seals, so its not my driving.