Valve seals unseated
Valve seals unseated Doing a cam swap on my LS6 and noticed 5 of the 8 valve seals on the drivers side have slid off the seat. These are BTR platinum dual springs that have about 10K on them. The pass side are all good and there is 3 intake and two exhaust. PCV is stock except for a catch can routed from the valley cover to the can to the nipple on the side of the intake. Line from the valve cover is routed stock. These were also installed wit the kent-moore tool. Seals are not molested.
Any ideas or just re-seat and check periodically ?
Any ideas or just re-seat and check periodically ?
The seals are still completely intact, and just popped off? Are the springs shimmed? I had a similar problem with Comp 26926 springs that were shimmed a little too close to coil bind, but that crushed some of the seals. Other than that, you may have worn valve guides, or perhaps the inner spring is moving somehow that it is lifting the seals off. Were the seals easy to put on? If you can slide them on by hand without tapping them on then the valve guides are most likely worn.
Thanks for the reply.
After talking with BTR and my local machine shop it may be the Kent Moore tool causing the issue. The bottom of the failed seals has a small lip that may be due to the tool being designed for the stock valve seals. When I tap it down it may be seating it too deep and causing the lip that gets caught on the inner spring. New seals on the way and hopefully that fixes the problem.
After talking with BTR and my local machine shop it may be the Kent Moore tool causing the issue. The bottom of the failed seals has a small lip that may be due to the tool being designed for the stock valve seals. When I tap it down it may be seating it too deep and causing the lip that gets caught on the inner spring. New seals on the way and hopefully that fixes the problem.
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Interesting...
I purchased that Kent Moore tool in preparation of installing BTR springs...
Is that tool the J-42078 GEN III?
Did Brian himself state the Kent Moore tool was "possibly" the problem?
Looks like most people use a 12 point 12mm deep socket and gently hammer them on but I figured the Kent Moore tool would be safer.
Has anyone else out there used the Kent Moore tool and had issues with aftermarket seals?
I purchased that Kent Moore tool in preparation of installing BTR springs...
Is that tool the J-42078 GEN III?
Did Brian himself state the Kent Moore tool was "possibly" the problem?
Looks like most people use a 12 point 12mm deep socket and gently hammer them on but I figured the Kent Moore tool would be safer.
Has anyone else out there used the Kent Moore tool and had issues with aftermarket seals?
Last edited by me wanna a v; Sep 13, 2014 at 11:21 AM.
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Are the seals beat up at all? I had a similar situation where all most all of my seals had pulled up and were destroyed. The cause was the machine shop set my install height up incorrectly and I had valve float. When the inner spring float it acts like a cork screw and pulls the seals up. I'm not saying this is your problem just throwing it out there.
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Verdad Gallardo Figured it out. The Kent-Moore tool actually did not seat the seals deep enough. It bottoms out on the new valve seat. I will modify the tool to get it to seat them deeper. I used the 12mm socket to get them seated lower.
Tool
Socket
Tool
Socket
OK I am at a total loss here. Just checked because I smelled a little oil and bam...5 were off. Only the driver side and a combo of intake and exhaust. WTF could be going on ? Valve float ? Should I pull a set and have their pressures checked ? Buy new springs ?
Looks like I found the problem. I have sent two springs back to BTR for testing. You can see the end spring is down a bit on height and may have other issues as the inner spring is jammed in there and is difficult to remove unlike the others.
Well I am at a TOTAL loss here. Purchased new platinum springs from BTR and still had 4 from the driver side pull up. Put the seals back in and cranked the motor with the VC off and with just about 10 sec of cranking the rear cylinder had pulled the seals up from the intake and exhaust. WTF ?!?! am I doing wrong ?
Original 243 heads with 38K on the motor. 7.4 pushrods, comp trunion upgrade.
Original 243 heads with 38K on the motor. 7.4 pushrods, comp trunion upgrade.
All checked to .505. This time I made sure to really smack the valves with a mallet after they were all back together to seat everything and make sure the springs were all centered. I have sent Brian Tooley two PM's since this started hopefully he will chime in.
Are you hammering them down too far and causing them to "ballon"? It kind of looks like they're expanding? Or is that just me.
Maybe try the Blue Viton seals?
weird.
Also, do you have good clearance between the inner spring and seal when your first sliding the springs on?
Maybe try the Blue Viton seals?
weird.
Also, do you have good clearance between the inner spring and seal when your first sliding the springs on?
Mine was puffing smoke as well. BTR valve seals as well. After reading your thread I decided to pull the valve covers. Same issue as yours to the tee. Except mine had about 12 pulled off. Two of them were really smashed. All others riding like umbrella style. I shimmed mine as well this past winter to bring back to proper pressure specs. Had good clearance though. The last two sets of seals I used before this issue were Fel-Pros. Put a new set of those back on and installed dry after wiping the guide with brake cleaner on a rag. Been back together for about a month and I daily drive it. No more smoke. I called BTR about this and the person I spoke to claimed to have never seen this issue.
Mine was puffing smoke as well. BTR valve seals as well. After reading your thread I decided to pull the valve covers. Same issue as yours to the tee. Except mine had about 12 pulled off. Two of them were really smashed. All others riding like umbrella style. I shimmed mine as well this past winter to bring back to proper pressure specs. Had good clearance though. The last two sets of seals I used before this issue were Fel-Pros. Put a new set of those back on and installed dry after wiping the guide with brake cleaner on a rag. Been back together for about a month and I daily drive it. No more smoke. I called BTR about this and the person I spoke to claimed to have never seen this issue.
I checked the other seals and they match ID and OD. But they were only on for a few days.
I assume you are running the BTR springs also ?
Last edited by jmargo; Oct 14, 2014 at 11:23 PM.