poor man's valve job? need suggestions.

[mauijim]

ok, this is a 92 cutlass with a 3.1--just the basic plain jane grocery car. around 150,000 miles on her.

 

so, i'm replacing my head gaskets, and i see that my valves look pretty grungy.

the head's are good and straight, less than .003in run-out, but the stems have alot of (looks like) carbon on em, and the ends of the valves look, uh, weathered? rusty, scorched, just kinda rough looking. cant tell much about the seats. i dont belive they're so far gone they need replacing though. they look sound, just kinda corroded.

the car was running like a champ, very very light, intermittant rattle (obviously these valves causing this), but would crank up and run smooth and strong.

it's all i can do to pay for the actual gasket kit because times are hard around here. is there a way around tearing down the heads and doing a 'valve job' that would be almost as good? i've thought about carb cleaner and some brushes, maybe even a dremel tool with a brush. i have a friend that has a shop with a parts washer.

any suggestions? by the way, what does a valve job usually run anyway(ballpark), if i take the heads to a shop? seems awful labor intensive!

thanks,

eric

[Crazy K]

My thought on the matter? Never do a valve job on an engine if you aren't doing the bottom end too... The new top end may increase stress on the bottom end and lead to failure.

 

But... I feel that a valve job is not necessary on the modern car just becasue you have the heads off. If their really isn't much wrong with it, you could just check for tolereances on the mating surfaces and reassemble.

 

So I ask how do you know if what you see is a probelm? You did hint that the engine seemed to be running fine before you removed the heads.... Being dirty doesn't mean being bad. Buy some quality Carborator cleaner(not supertech for instance!) and spray it as best you can. maybe with the assistance of a stiff brush you can remove some of the carbon of the valve stems.. As for gunk on the bottom of the valves where they would be inside the chamber i would scrape it off.

 

I'm afraid the best thing I can ask so that we here can help you... is to post some PICTURES.

(if you need to...check out photobucket.com for free hosting)

[Robby1870]

I agree with Crazy. If it was running fine before, replace what's bad and go on.