While doing a valve stem seal job, I dropped a valve into the cylinder
 

Embarrassing, but nevertheless it happened. I called my mechanic friend who came over and was able to pull the dropped valve up and out through the valve guide with a small SnapOn magnet. He also came equipped with a bore scope, but that was not needed. I really thought the head would need to be pulled. Needless to say how relieved I was. I wanted to post this as it might help someone.

With the right tools there should never be a need to pull the head if a valve gets dropped in.....heck, they can do complete surgeries on people through a teeny incision!

congratulations.... i hesitated for at least a year... to do the valve stem job..... i finally did two...

what did you do to get the passenger side valve against the firewall... what type of tool?

I used the cheapy valve spring compressor tool from NAPA. It worked great on all cylinders. I had to disconnect the AT filler/dipstick tube.

How did the valve fall in? Did it drop completely into the chamber or did it remain on the valve stem? I thought the compressor air would hold it all together until you were done. Maybe the rope trick is more dependable after all.

I turned off the compressor off because it began running and the phone rang. I couldn't hear the conversation. That particular cylinder leaked a little and then the valve dropped out of sight down into the cylinder. I freaked a bit and then called my friend.

Nice recovery - where do you find friends like that?

Oh and rule #1 in life:-

Leave the bloody telephone to ring - if it is important they'll ring back!

Yeah my wife freaks out over the phone too, particularly the cell phone. If the house phone (land line she insists on keeping) rings she will pick it up sometimes before the first ring is done. My cell phone rings, if it's not next to me (usually it's in the kitchen, an area not really frequented by me too much) I'll just let the damn thing ring. I refuse to be a slave to a cell phone. She'll yell at me "YOUR CELL PHONE IS RINGING!", and my reply is usually something like "yeah, well, I'm not really expecting any important calls....". "YOUR CELL PHONE HAS RANG THREE TIMES! GET IT!". "Nah, I'll call 'em back, the number will be on the phone, I won't get there in time now anyways, and it's probably no one I want to talk to anyways".

Gilly

Wives get extremely excited when someone wants to talk to them...

...perhaps we should talk to them more often?

Nah! Just kidding chaps!

Phew - that would be ridiculous...

Just to add.. that was the only cylinder that did not hold the air. Some luck, but then my mechanic friend rescued me and helped complete the job. Oil consumption went from 1qt/1000 mi to 1/2 qt/1500 mi. I know 1 qt/1000 miles is not excessive, but I was worried about the catalytic converter. Oil burning decreases the life of CC. Car runs perfect even though I probably have a burnt valve in this one cylinder.

IMHO thats still pretty bad consumption....its getting tired. My gasser can go 5000 miles and needs none....despite a couple tiny leaks. Before the valve seals it was sucking down a qt per 700 miles. :eek:

What type of oil are you running? I am using 5w40 synthetic diesel oil....engine has 153k What engine is this? Diesel? gasser?

I run Delo 15W-40. I kinda think the oil consumption may be due to a bad valve guide on the cylinder that loses air if the air loss is not due to a burnt valve. Then again, I've read on this forum that some say even 1 qt/1000 mi is within "normal" for the m103. So, I don't feel too bad about 1qt/3000 miles. I have no leaks.

qt per 3k on the 103 is good...

on the 104, maybe not quite as good.

Hello, I am new to the m103 engine, I also have a m103 consuming oil, is the valve seal a major cause of the oil consumption or is it better to replace the valve guides?

Yes the valve stem seals are a known problem. If you are sure the seals haven't been done, you probably are OK in doing just the seals. If the seals have been done once, usually the next time it will need guides, just as a general rule. You do want to do a simple "wiggle test" on the stems to check for any excess looseness (worn guides) any time the seals are removed.
You can do just the seals with worn guides but the seals won't last very long, if it is bad enough you will be right back where you were after only a few oil changes (10-20,000 miles at the most)

My 190E 2.6 (m103) had bad compression in #2 and #4. Pulled out the head, sent it to machine shop, and did head job w/ new guides, new seals and new valves (as well as a new head gasket).

All cylinders now have good compression, 185 psi.