Hello, I am currently doing a valve job on a 94 Accord. The cam bolt snapped while driving down the road 3 weeks after a timing belt job done by an unscrupulous street mechanic who drove the cam bolt in with an air gun! (I literally saw him do it and raised hell but he gave me the "been doin this for 25 years" speech bullsh**) Anyway, I pulled the head to be absolutely sure that there were no bent valves. I did a leak test using brake cleaner to see if any of the valves leaked and indeed some of them did. After taking the valves out however, I cannot clearly see that they are at all bent. Also, i do not see any witness marks at on the valve faces at all, so I am assuming that the leak is just due to bad seat contact between the valve and valve seats? I will try to lap them and see if it seals better.

Anyway, my question is, do I need to replace the valve guides? How do I check them? I already bought new valve seals, I just want to check if it is recommended to replace the guides also?

On a side note, here is my favorite section of the Honda manual so far involving a 2 burner stove and freezer! Ha...

 

So are you actually doing a valve job or just lapping valves?

You can check to see if a valve stem is bent buy rolling it on a clean flat surface. Or place them in a vice and check them for out of round with a dial gauge.

As far as requiring new valve guides, your Honda manual will list the the valve stem to valve guide clearances and there min and max tolerances. If you find that they are not within the specs, or out of round, then you will require new guides.

 

You can wiggle the valve and see if there is any play at the guides.

 

^x2

The manual shows you the valve wiggle procedure as well!