valve seal came loose

[saygold]

I had the proverbial blue smoke puffs out of my exhaust pipe awhen changing gears (230SL with a 4-speed). I pulled the cylinder head, and had a good machine shop replace the valve guides while I was at it.  I had the head milled slightly to insure the head was smooth (it was a used cylinder head), new intake valves were installed as well as 3 exhaust valves.  The machine shop re-assembled the valve train.  The car ran great, but there was a lot of blue smoke out of one of the exhaust pipes.

I removed the valve cover and took a close look at the valve train, and one of the intake valve seals came loose.  It was very obvious that the seal set higher than on the others (just like Joe Alexander mentioned in an earlier topic - thanks!).

I'm planning on fixing the valve seal myself, using the procedure Jim Villers posted in a previous topic.  Any other advice would be appreciated as well.  

I do have a couple of questions before I start it.

Question #1:  Can the seal be re-installed or should I buy a new one?  The car has only driven about 30 miles after I started the engine up after the rebuild.

Question #2:  I understand that there was a design change between the 230 and 250 SLs to address the loose valve seal problem.  If so, can 250SL parts be installed in a 230SL cylinder head in the future?

Thanks in advance.

Best regards,
Ken
'66 230SL (white, euro, and it is running)

[ja17]

Hello Ken,
It's best to use a new seal, since you do not know for certain that the old seal has not been damaged. However chances are the old seal is ok. Make certain that the seal and guide are clean and dry before installation. Dan Caron has mentioned that keeping the surfaces free of oil is important to keep the seals from slipping off. Use a solvent to clean everything up.

The later 250 and 280 engines had a groove on the exhaust guide outer surface to help hold the valve seal which had a corresponding bead in the seal. The earlier guides have no groove and the seals have no bead, so the seals are not interchangeable.

There is a bit of valve seal replacement information on page 05-1/1 and 05-1/2 in the BBB if you have one. Check back if you have any difficulties.

Joe Alexander
Blacklick, Ohio

[saygold]

They say that having the right tool makes life a lot easier....

What is the proper valve spring compression tool for replacing the valve seals with the cylinder head in place?  I have a "KD 2078" Universal tool but I cannot get enough room to use it easily unless I remove the camshaft, and I'm not willing to do that if I can help it. I'm not sure that the "KD 3271 Deluxe"  tool would work any better.  

Thanks in advance for all the help.

Ken
'66 230SL (white, euro and running)

[Naj ✝︎]

Ken,
I like this one.



Download Attachment: ValveTool.JPG
14.94 KB

Contact me off line if you want one.

naj

65 230SL
68 280SL