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Oily exhaust ports

ozzie alpine

Bronze Level Sponsor
G'day folks,

Its been a while, I still have the Alpine and its been running great for a couple of years, although it hasn't seen too many miles I admit.
Pulled the engine/trans today to replace the clutch and give the engine a little bit of love.

Engine has been running fine, and has good, even, compression (180 psi) but the rocker gear is very worn so that was going to be my main task before putting it back in.
However, once I removed the manifolds and looked down the ports I see that 3 of the 4 exhaust ports are quite oily (one is just sooty) - see attached. Inlet ports are squeaky clean. One of the plugs showed signs of oiling too, although not extreme.
No real-life evidence of oil burning or consumption, just a bit of over-rich running perhaps and little use for the last year or so.

I'm tempted to leave it alone as its running OK and doesn't see too many miles at the moment, but I may not be able to help myself...

What are your thoughts, valve seals or oil rings or just lack of a good run to clear it out? I may pull the head tomorrow to have a look, but perhaps I should try some further tests before I do that? Leak-down test?

sooty #2
IMG_9111.JPG
oily #1

IMG_9110.JPG
 

Gordon Holsinger

Diamond Level Sponsor
G'day folks,

Its been a while, I still have the Alpine and its been running great for a couple of years, although it hasn't seen too many miles I admit.
Pulled the engine/trans today to replace the clutch and give the engine a little bit of love.

Engine has been running fine, and has good, even, compression (180 psi) but the rocker gear is very worn so that was going to be my main task before putting it back in.
However, once I removed the manifolds and looked down the ports I see that 3 of the 4 exhaust ports are quite oily (one is just sooty) - see attached. Inlet ports are squeaky clean. One of the plugs showed signs of oiling too, although not extreme.
No real-life evidence of oil burning or consumption, just a bit of over-rich running perhaps and little use for the last year or so.

I'm tempted to leave it alone as its running OK and doesn't see too many miles at the moment, but I may not be able to help myself...

What are your thoughts, valve seals or oil rings or just lack of a good run to clear it out? I may pull the head tomorrow to have a look, but perhaps I should try some further tests before I do that? Leak-down test?

sooty #2
View attachment 18512
oily #1

View attachment 18513
That looks like more than running rich. Worn valve guides, or more likely valve seals
 

beamdream

Gold Level Sponsor
Agree with Gorden,you're looking at worn valve guides in the second pic.

What to do ?? Pull the head replace the guides which will inevitably turn into a head overhaul - valves etc.

Leave it ?? It's running OK, worst that can happen in the short term is a little more oil consumption, perhaps a puff of smoke after deceleration, maybe some plug fouling. If you're not using it much then it could well keep going for quite some time
 

ozzie alpine

Bronze Level Sponsor
Thanks guys,
I pulled the head today to investigate. Mostly good news, I found that the seals on the 3 oily ports were all "faulty", whereas the others are all OK. 2 of the seals were distorted and out of place (as if they are oversized but they could have just ben installed badly), and the third has a damaged valve cup/spring retainer (old damage I think) which gives the seal an oval shape.
The guides and valves seem good, not much wear so I'll leave them alone. I'm glad I took the head off as I found some blocked waterways...

So, I need one replacement spring retainer (no longer available at SS according to catalogue) and a set of new seals.
Can anyone help with a spring retainer?

My original Rootes Parts List shows 2 part numbers for valve seals, one for Series 1&2, another for Series 3&4 (the List doesn't cover Series V).
My head is, I believe, original Series 2 (early) but the engine has a bit of history so who knows what the valves are.
Is there any variation in valve seals or are they interchangeable?
I've got a head gasket set on its way which has some valve seals in it apparently, and it was listed for all Alpines, so I'm hoping they will fit.

Damaged valve spring retainer
IMG_9141.JPG
Hard to see properly but the valve seal is folded downwards on the left side, as if its too big.
IMG_9140.JPG
 

bernd_st

Bronze Level Sponsor
Never noticed any difference between early and late valve seals. Always used the rings which came with the normal Top end rebuild kits and never encountered any problem...
 
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