hey guys, long time lurker, no poster with his virgin post. Finally got tired of smoking out all the Priuses behind me and decided to tackle the infamous Valve Seals on my 3.0 SOHC motor. (179,000 miles)With my friend a mechanic in town for the holidays we got it done. Took two days, but NO SMOKE! its like a new truck!

There are several technical walk throughs on this site, but I thought I would throw a few non-technical things about the job>
Started Christmas eve at 2:00 PM mistake number one. Waking up christmas morning with gifts under the tree, and parts all over my garage was no fun.

Things that have to come off:
Air cleaner
Alternator
Plenum
Valve covers
Rocker Assembly
Fuel rail intake

Mistakes I made:
Buying a cheap Valve spring compressor from Kragen. Biggest peice of junk ever, got one from Ace auto parts and worked like a champ. Dont skimp on this, nothing more friustrating than a cheap one. Those Valve springs are powerful!

thought it would take a few hours. Nope, took about 10 hours.

Things I did right:
Get a mechanic type person to help you. Dont think a newbie mechanic can pull off this job.

Replaced spark plugs, cap and rotor, she purrs now.

Bought a magnetic stick. Saved me about 20 times.

Read the following post (over and over)
Valve seal post

Overall thoughts:

If your going to use the rope technique, (to hold the valve up) we found it was easier to stuff the rope in while piston was at bottom, and crank the piston upwards until it stops. You might be better getting the 60 dollar compressor cause its not easy stuffing that rope into the spark plug hole.

The first Valve is the hardest, they get easier from there.

the Spring retainers are suprisingly easy to remove, just tap with something

Overall I learned a lot and my beloved Montero is back! i almost sold it for parts because of the horrible smoke. Now its ready for more surfing trips and Snowboarding trips. If you are puffing smoke out the back when you hit the gas get this done!



thanks

Brian

Good job! Gives you that confidence too, for tackling the next job!

Welcome to the Site. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

" its not easy stuffing that rope into the spark plug hole " kinda like an aligator eating spagetti

I have the same problem with my 95 SR, I need a mechanic friend to help me with mine too, but I don't have one lol.

I can think of a bunch of hole jokes....:) but I aint going there! hehe. Yeah, my mechanic friend was shocked that it worked, but like I said, an air compressor would be the better way to go.

i rent the tool to do this with a air compressor

Do you also have a mechanic friend you can rent to help me with the job? haha

There's always a sense of satisfaction when doing a DIY successfully and saving all that money. Also congrats.

Your Monty is identical (color/trim) to my 1992. If you ever want to sell it for parts, let me know. I used the valve seal disassembly opportunity to send the injectors out for testing/cleaning to Witchhunter and to replace the PCV valve.

You can easily use the hose from a hose style compression gauge to hook up a compressor. I also made a shut off ball valve adapter with plumbing fittings and an air gauge to do leak down test at the same time, but this is an option. If you have excessive leak down you'll need a good size compressor to keep the pressure up. You'll also find that water will enter the combustion chamber from the compressor so make sure you change the oil afterward.

Hopefully I wont be selling her for parts any time soon. She is purring right along nicely now. Took her down to Mexico for a dive trip this weekend.