Urgently Need help!!!

[Mikeinoregon]

I was doing my valve stem seals on my '90 300E, and when I put the rocker arms back on, it pushes BOTH valves down slightly, so that it won't hold compression now. Before you snug the bolts down, the rocker arm assembly wobbles a little bit, and won't sit flat without pushing the valves down a little bit.

This happened on cylinder 1, and then after turning the engine over with a breaker bar, it seemed like it corrected itself, but it's not correcting itself on cylinder 2. I even tried disabling fuel/ignition and cranking it over a few times and it won't hold compression. What on earth did I do?!?!

I took these pictures, and I don't know if they help, so if you need different photos, let me know what specifically I need to photograph.

If you have any Ideas PLEASE let me know. Thanks!

[duxthe1]

It would appear from the picture that you may have mixed up the cam towers. In the pic it appears (not very clearly) that the tower on #2 has the thread for the small bolt that holds the oiling rail. That hole should only be on #1 or #6 and 1 looks right so maybe you have #6 tower on #2 cyl.

[1960mog]

Hi
Did you assemble the same parts in the same position as before?
The cup washers between the valve and the lifter come in different thickness.
Are the valve keepers in all the way?
Let the lifter bleed out under pressure for a while, that sometimes works.
If not, put the lifters in a vice and push "slowly" the oil out of them.
Or just run the engine as is. If everything is assembled correctly, the problem may fix itself.

[Mikeinoregon]

These are great suggestions. I will try them first thing in the morning and let you know how it goes!

Thanks guys!

[Mikeinoregon]

Well I'm very relieved to report that after finishing the rest of the valve seals, I drizzled oil all over the valves and lifters before cranking it with the fuel pump and ignition disabled, and it seemed like they adjusted themselves. It sounded like there was good compression, not like it does when you've got spark plugs out (which is what it sounded like before), so I decided to try actually starting it, and it runs great! I think the lifters just needed some oil in them.

I've still got blue smoke when idlling/pulling away from traffic lights once the engine is hot though. I guess I probably need a valve job. It was worth a shot.

Well anyway, thanks for the replies!

Mike

[Aquaticedge]

Dont jump out and say you need a valve job just yet. run it put some miles on it. you may be burning residual oil.

[Gilly]

When the springs were off, that's "prime time" to wiggle the valve stems to see if they seem really loose or not.
Typically you can go around 80K-120K before needing seals. The NEXT time it needs seals you will need guides.

[Mikeinoregon]

I noticed when I was doing the job that the stems seemed tight, but that may have been because I had a compressor supplying the cylinders with 80 psi to hold the valves up.

I will drive it a while to see if it is just residual oil. The smoke was definitely lighter than before the repair. I'll keep you guys posted.

Thanks for the help!

[Mikeinoregon]

I had a bit a scare a couple days ago. While taking it out on the highway, there were HUGE clouds of smoke following me like I've never seen from this car. When I got home I discovered that the valve cover gasket was faulty, and it leaked a ton of oil all over the exhaust system. Now that that's replaced, I'm still waiting for all that residue to burn off so i can know if the car's really still burning oil.

I'll keep you posted...

[Mikeinoregon]

Well, after new valve stem seals, and topping it up with some 30w oil and a can of Engine Restore, it seems like maybe the smoking has been cured.

Thanks everybody!

[lee polowczuk]

Originally Posted by Mikeinoregon

Well, after new valve stem seals, and topping it up with some 30w oil and a can of Engine Restore, it seems like maybe the smoking has been cured.

Thanks everybody!

we either run 15w/40 diesel or 20w/50 dino..... the engine seems to like either.