Cylinder Head work help in LA

[Ekins]

Does anyone know A shop or person they trust in Los angeles for head work ? I need to get an issue resolved with my front head that I think is valve related . I originally thought it was the lifter but putting new lifters in didn't help . I don't have the tools or measuring devices to accurately suss out my valves/springs/guides etc. Would prefer someone in the San fernando valley but I'm open to any suggestions . Thanks a ton in advance
J.Ekins

 

[vance580]

What is the issue? They are pretty easy to work on and the only thing you should have to take it in for is new seats. I rented the valve compressor from autozone and rebuilt mine except seats just cleaned all the carbon off.

 

[Ekins]

Once the engine reaches a certain temp the head develops a loud clinking sound . I originally thought it was a lifter going bad and leaving some slop that was causing it but after changing the lifters the sound still came back after a ride long enough to heat up the engine to where it was before. When I took the head off to replace the lifters the exhaust valve looked like it had been replaced at some recent point. There was also signs of the previous exhaust valve making contact and chewing some grooves in the dome (probably what prompted the replacement) my thought was the new valve and guide , spring etc. may not have been plumbed in correctly causing it make the noise . the new valve is not contacting the head ,spark plug or piston (thankfully) so it might be a seal or guide issue

 

[Rhino1]

Have you confirmed that the pushrods are perfectly straight?

 

[Ekins]

I rolled them both on a known flat surface to see if either were bent .admittedly , I should have used a mirror or plate glass to really confirm their strightness but neither seemed to have a perceptible wobble. What was odd was I couldn't really ID them from the color bands . the bands weren't well defined.

 

[vance580]

Did you put them in the correct place? The intake and exhaust are just a tad different in size. You may of accidently switched them up on a head. The two inners towards the center of the motor are the intakes and the outers are the exhaust pushrods. The intakes are the shorter ones. They are only .054 inch difference. I'd maybe check that out.

 

[Ekins]

thanks , but i put them back in the correct place . I marked both with a sharpie as in and ex as I removed them . The intake had a reddish brown band the exhaust was white and was the longer one . I measured them crudely on a 1/100 rule I have ( I don't own a 12" dial caliper yet) . they both appeared to be stock lengths and there was no mushrooming or bad wear on either end of both rods which is leading me to think the valve/spring/seat might be the culprit . I thought and read a bit about the connecting rod issues the 04 's have had but there is no large noises from the crankcase when I put my stethoscope on it . The loud "tink is coming from right at the lower rocker /head area.

 

[vance580]

I would pull the heads and get a valve spring compressor and pull the valve and using a brass brush and some good carbon cleaner (I used Seafoam) give them a good scrub. I did notice build up where the valve goes into the guide so you may have enough there that it is not allowing them to close all the way. I think that is what was wrong with my exhaust on one head cause I had areas where it looked like the combustion was coming up the guide. You can used the brass brush on the seats to get them nice and clean then just put on new seals and call it done. There isn't to much to the head. Once you remove the valve retainers and pull out the valve and spring it's just the seal and seat. You can scrub the seats with a brass brush and not damage them. I'm not sure if there is a spec for between the rocker arm and the valve that may be able to tell you if it is stuck open some.