Hey guys, I'm going to be replacing the valve stem seals on my brother in law's 95 LX. I'm wondering what parts I would need to do the job. I will be leaving the head on the car and using compressed air to hold the valves in place. I figured I'd need 16 valve stem seals, spark plug tube seals, valve cover grommets, and a valve cover gasket, correct?

 

Ya I just got done doing this. Watch it on You tube first. Haynes manuel and Chilton Suck. We didnt use any compressed air and didnt drop any valves. Just make sure your at top dead center and If you never did a timeing belt or water pump the books also suck at explaining that. Get a Telescopic magnet to, you will drop the valve keepers and definently buy a valve keeper remover tool.

 

yeah, changin out keepers with the head on is all fun & games until one of those sum o bitches falls down an oil hole... pull the pan... hope to find it... maybe its on the windage tray...<sigh>

anyways, air is good (just make sure that cylinder is at BDC, or that thing will hit half an rpm real quick and scare the **** out of you!), definitely keep one or two telescoping magnets handy, be really careful with the keepers, and have fun with those damned stem seals...

I've got a couple stem seal pliers etc, but they're always a bitch. tap the new ones back into place with a 10mm socket, make sure you put the black springs on the exhaust and the silver springs on the intake side (springs being the tiny round spring that squeezes the seal around the stem). make sure you lightly lubricate the valvestem when re-installing into the new seals...

it's pretty cut-n-dry. it's very tedious, it's helpful to have an extra buddy around to help reinstall the valvesprings...

have fun gettin the old seals off without marring up the guides. i hate it lol

 

If You buy the Fel-Pro brand valve seals the springs on the top are all black. It says in all the books To use extreme caution. so i called the company directly and they said that was there new improved version so if you get somthing like that dont freak out and get scared about which ones. Also make sure u plug all your oil passageways with Those Shop towls. (the thicker then your everyday napkin or paper towls)

 

Yea, I know when you remove the keepers that you have to be very careful since they are so small and could easily get dropping into the oil pan. lol Are there any other parts I'd need besides what's listed above? And from what I can tell, I'd just need the valve spring compressor and a stem seal pliers for special tools?

 

I would also suggest buying lucas brand oil supplement. That stuff is hell thick and its good to coat all your rockers etc with while the valve cover is off so when u start it your not dry starting. Also do a valve adjustment.

 

Yea, I'd do a valve adjustment also.

For parts:

16 valve stem seals
Spark plug tube seals
Valve cover grommets
Valve cover gasket
Hondabond HT
Assembly lube

Things to do:

Remove and replace valve stem seals
Replace valve cover gasket, grommets, and plug tube seals
Perform valve lash adjustment

Anything else?

 

i use a small flathead with some wheel bearing grease on it to stick the keeper to, to set each keeper in place, when re-installing the retainers... a lil dab l do ya

 

Yea, that's a good idea. I've done that before and it works really well.

 

Well, besides what I listed above, anything else before I go to work?

 

not to be a thread jacker but where do u get ur valve stem seals??? n which are good/should buy??

 

OEM Honda. Those are the ones with the black or silver springs as stated by Shawn C and are specific to intake or exhaust side.

you may need a little pick as well to help you clean off any of the old valveseal crud when you remove the original ones. it's a tedious task for sure.

 

I suggest spreading an old bed sheet on the floor and/or around the rest of the engine bay so that when a keeper goes flying you can keep it from getting lost in the bay or spot it easily on the floor.

 

I realize that this thread has been dead for 3 months now but I was curious as to what this fixed. My B16 starts blowing smoke at about 4500 RPM and have been told it could be that the valve seals are bad. Has anyone corrected the smoking issue through replacing these seals? Thanks for any help!

 

I'm getting this done at a machine shop as we speak

I also want to know what was solved through perorming this to the valves

 

Yeah this usually helps if you're burning oil. Typically oil in the head will soak in through cracks in the valve stem seals, and when the valve opens it enters the combustion chamber and burns off.
A trick to determining if valve stem seals are the culprit is going down a steep heel in second gear without using gas, and around the bottom press the accelerator and watch for smoke.