It looks like I left off on Jan 19th.
--Valve Seals--
Jan 21-25: Due to a work trip, I am out of town all week. Because I had started working on the valve seals during the previous weekend, I'm ordering some parts to help the process go smooth once I am home and able to work. I order 10 keepers, 24 hydraulic lash adjusters, 6 spark plug tube gaskets (not sure why I waited so long to order those). Most importantly, someone on the board contacted me about a valve spring compressor tool that I rented. I can't imagine trying to do this job without the proper tool. This tool bolts down to the valve gasket bolt holes, and rocker arm bolt holes. It is a little fiddly to get into place, but makes it as easy as it can be to compress the springs and pull the keepers.
Jan 26 (saturday): USPS says the package with the special tool is "out for delivery", well come 11pm (after being out for delivery for 12+ hours, the package has not arrived. Basically I now have a wasted weekend, because without the tool, I can't do the work. I think the package was on the weekend delivery driver's USPS car. The weekend guy pulled up to our mailbox, put the normal mail in (without exiting the vehicle), they then took a look at how steep our driveway was, and the size of the package.... and then just drove off, because they didn't want to walk up the driveway. The driveway isn't long, it's just steep.
Jan 28: The tool is finally delivered, but I have some out of town business guests that I take out to dinner, I don't get home until after 8pm. I think I check out the tool and size it up, but I don't have any time to work.
Jan 29: I get home around 6pm, start working around 7 and am able to do the entire passenger side of the valve seals. I had previously done 4 valve seals in about 5 hours (with the wrong tools). With the right tool, I did 12 (re-did the first few) in about 4 hours.
Jan 30: We have a hospital tour for our up-coming bundle of joy, and I don't get home until 9. I setup the tool on the drivers side and do the top row of valves (all intake valves)
Jan 31: Again, I'm not able to start until about 9:30pm, I reposition the tool and finish up the exhaust valves. I finish up around 12:30 am and call it quits for the night.
Throughout the process of doing the valve seals, I was SHOCKED at how difficult the old valve seals were to remove. With the right tool, the keepers came out in just a few seconds, but pulling the seal would take several mins. Also, replacing the keepers was quite a challenge at times. I ended up losing 3 keepers. 2 of them shot out into the engine bay and I didn't find them. 1 of them fell into the top of the head on the passenger side and I couldn't find it. All of my oil returns were plugged, so it didn't fall down there. I used compressed air to pretty much clear the area of oil, directing a high pressure stream of air in all directions, but still not able to find it. Although I know it fell into the top of the head, but perhaps one of my blasts of air shot it out. I'm not sure.
Feb 1: I know all I have left is to prime all of the lash adjusters and put everything back together. I get home from work a little early and start around 4:30pm. The lash adjusters prime just as the FSM states they should. I use the tips of all of the rubber gloves I've been going through to keep the adjusters in place. It works well enough. I can't think of anything better (maybe rubber bands). Rockers all bolted down to the proper torque, valve covers on.
I'm thinking that right now would be a good time to do a compression test. So I get the compression testing tool I rented from autozone. I run the tester with a hose that doesn't have a check valve. So it's a little difficult to get a clear reading. I realize that the hose from Autozone has a check valve, so I proceed to test cylinder #1. As I'm screwing down the hose into the spark plug hole, I feel the hose threads come to a stop, but I then also feel the hose that I'm holding onto continue to spin. The compression test host is stuck in the spark plug hole. I can't back it out, I can't make it tighter. I test cylinder #1, and get a reading of 150psi on a cold engine. I'm finally able to use a long standard screwdriver to spin the end to a point where the hose will finally turn it. I don't test any of the other cylinders. It turns out the tester kit was missing a piece that would have allowed me to attach a socket and back the tip out. I move on to the lower plenum.
As I'm hitting the bolts around the backside of the lower plenum, I'm forcing my 12mm deep socket between a couple of coolant lines. The extension I'm using, has one of those locking collars where the socket won't release from the extension unless you slide the collar toward away from the socket. Well, as I'm pushing the socket down between the coolant lines, the lines slide the collar back and my 12mm falls down behind the engine or into the valley. I search for the socket with a flashlight, I get up into the engine bay, practically go prone across the top of the engine as I search for it, but It's gone, I can't find it. Stinks too, because this entire engine job can be done with just about 3 sockets 10mm, 12mm, and 14mm.
I continue with the upper plenum, vacuum lines connected, electrical connectors, and I'm finally ready to turn the engine over to start things up.
Engine turns over, starts up quicker than it did after the first start after head gasket change. One of the lash adjusters is ticking quite heavily. I let the engine idle for a few mins, do the 3k rpm for 15 second trick a few times and the ticking pretty much goes away. I have my wife goose the throttle while I check for smoke coming out of the exhaust. I see no smoke. Go for a quick drive around the block, everything is looking good. I call it quits for the night around 11:30pm.
Feb 2: The final major hurtle for me will be to pass smog check. I'm under the impression that without] a smog pass, I can't get the title transferred or the vehicle registered in CA. I check for smoke in the morning before heading off, and everything is running great. No noticeable ticking, engine is running like a top. I go to the smog station, have some small talk with the owner, first thing he does is check for the smoke after goosing the throttle at idle, and is impressed that it is gone. He compliments me for doing a good job on the work, and getting everything buttoned back up under the hood. He plugs in the ODB2 reader, and two of my "monitors" (as he called them) have not registered enough data for me to be able to pass the test. He suggests that I go for a drive, let it sit for 30 mins, then come back.
At this point, I have no license plates, no registration. I have a title signed over to me, as well as insurance. But because I believe I have to get smog before I can register I take the Montero for a 30-40 mile round trip drive down the freeway. I stop by the smog shop for a 2nd time. This time, only one of my monitors doesn't have enough data, but 1 of 3 without enough data isn't enough to fail me (in 2014 it will be). The tech pulls the Montero up onto the dyno, he goes through his barrage of tests and is reassuring me that everything looks good, and he expects me to pass.
After the computer crunches some numbers, the code comes back and I've failed. My hydrocarbons are too high in the 25mph test. I pass in the 15mph test by 1ppm with a measurement of 45 out of a max of 46. In the 25 mph test I score a 31 with a max of 29. The shop owner is quite surprised, as a score of 31ppm is quite good. He then goes on to quickly show me that another car 2007 model year scores a 33 and passes because the max for that car is 35. So the Montero, that is 8 model years older has a higher standard to follow. I don't quite understand.
Even though I did fail, I'm pretty confident that I can pass. From what I read, high levels of hydrocarbons are an indicator that unburnt fuel is exiting the exhaust. I think the Montero sat for a little while, because it did have some engine problems. So likely the gas in the tank for this test is a few months old. Additionally California has their special gas blends, I'm thinking that after running out the old gas, adding California gas, and maybe some type of fuel additive I'll be able to pass smog.
In California, you are required to register a vehicle 20 days after bringing it into the state. However, I am now at 31 days. So I call AAA of Souther California and find out what options I have. As it turns out, I can get a temporary registration without any vehicle inspection. The temp registration is good for 2 months. Had I known this was an option, I would have gone a few weeks ago and picked up a temporary registration. Now with this temp registration, I'm good to operate the vehicle on California roadways. This will make it much easier to burn out the old fuel! With the registration in hand, I head out (with wife and dogs) on a 100 mile round trip drive. I can tell there is something that needs to be tended to in the steering or front suspension. I can feel that some bushing or something isn't 100%. But other then that, it drives well, and about as much power as I expected.
Final things to do are drive it around, perhaps check the o2 sensors, as they may have been fouled up by the blown head gasket.
The End (almost)
