i have an 87' monte carlo ss, 64K on 305 w/ cam, headers, roller rockers and springs. ive been seeing blue smoke out of my exhaust ALOT during start up, but it also continues to smoke at idle, i've been told it's a good chance i need my valve seals replaced and was wondering what the general ballpark was assuming there was no other complications in the process of replacing these?
they're not expensive at all, it's the labor that's going to kill you.
well,if your valve seal,do go bad look for oil,in tail pipe,to check for bad head gasket,pressure check spark plug,with a pressure gauge,full charge battery,ingition coil off,stop from starting,remove all spark plug,strew in gauge ,checking one at a time,if two spark plugs close together read low gasket is blown,between the two,also try over flow pipe on car take off,from reservor white container,put end in a clear ,water jug,start car,run for awhile,see if you see air bubbles,in clear jar,blown gasket,but.be carful doing these tests,u-can also watch u-tube,to see how these.thing are done..
budget $300-400 probably to fix the stem seals. if you have ANY thoughts of replacing the heads with a performance set now is the time...
Hate to say this but Chevrolet never put *valve seals on top of the valve guides in a stock OEM engine. Standard Chevy engines depended upon the umbrella shield that fits around the top of the valve springs held in place by the spring retainers and valve split locks as shields to keep splashing pushrod oil off the valve stems. Any time you have smoke at start-up and at idol you have worn or struck rings in the piston ring grooves or mis-shapen cylinder walls. Typical valve guide wear delevers blue smoke put the tail pipes on *deceleration when vacuum pulls oil down the increased clearance between the valve stems and the honed valve guide holes.
