Valve stem seals

[richardharmon]

I’ve just had my valve stem seals replaced and the smoking on start-up and after idle has been completely cured, fantastic! I thought it might be useful to list the symptoms I had as it might help other people diagnose this type of smoking. The car is a j-spec TT with full decat.

 

Symptoms:

 

• Large plume of blue smoke on start-up, especially if the car has been standing for a period of time, like in the morning.
  
• The smoke clears completely after about 30 seconds running.
  
• There is much less smoke on the next start-up if the car is switched off without idling, this means driving gently/slowly however (as per the owners manual).
  
• There is *always* more smoke on the next start-up if the car has idled down regardless of driving hard or gently that run.
  
• If the car is left idling for a period then the throttle is blipped there is some visible smoke (without re-starting).
  
• (edited to add) There was no measurable loss of oil, never had to top it up between oil changes, guess a very small amount of oil can cause a lot of smoke!
  

 

Hope this might help someone,

Richard

[Kev.O]

How much did it cost?

[richardharmon]

How much did it cost?

 

It cost me just under £900 for parts, labour and VAT. I also had the front crank seal, both cam seals timing belt and tensioner changed at the same time. Obviously I also had to buy valve stem seals, rocker cover gaskets and rocker cover bolt washer seals.

[Kev.O]

[michael]

Who did it for you?

[richardharmon]

Who did it for you?

 

A place in Cambridge called Barr-Tech, in my experience they are very good, they always do a professional job plus they're as honest as the day is long. Be aware they just put their labour rates up by £5 an hour so the next one they do will be more expensive

[Homer]

IIRC Dude was charging £400 to do these.

[Scrote]

Hi, this thread caught my eye, just a lurker on here so far but I currently have the same problem. I put my decat pipes back after the supes mot & it's now smoking it's tits off. My local has quoted the book time of 23.5 hours for the job, which includes the head coming off. That's too much for my liking, I'd rather it was done with the head in place, but not sure if they're up to it (done ok on everything so far, but you never know).

Does anyone know anywhere near(ish) to Poole/Bournmouth that could be recommended to do it for me? Sorry for jumping into the thread.

Cheers.

[richardharmon]

Yes I think Dude was quoting £400 + the seals to do the job.

 

I paid £520 including vat in labour charges for the seal change, there ware some other small labour costs too as I had the front crank seal changed as well as the timing belt and tensioner. Plus the place I went to is literally 10 minutes away from my house.

 

Parts wise I bought 24 stem seals (they come to nearly £100 a set including VAT), 2 new cam seals, a new front crank seal, 2 new cam cover seals, a timing belt, a new timing belt tensioner and the 16 rubber washer seals that go on the cam cover bolts.