Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and franklin2
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- Vehicle Year
- 1984
- Make / Model
- Bronco II
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To anyone changing their valve seals on the 2.8 v6, I would like to add my experiences in doing this today in addition to what's contained in this tech article here. https://www.therangerstation.com/tech/ford-2-8l-valve-seal-replacement/ Maybe it will help someone.
I recommend you have these tools on hand in addition to ones listed in the article;
-A small screwdriver or some other small tool with a strong magnet on the end.
-Some thick wheel bearing grease
-A short piece of heat shrink or the official "condom" sleeve to cover the valve stem grooves.
-A deep well socket, about 11-12mm.
-A very good flashlight
I was able to make an adapter to hook my air compressor to the sparkplug hole by using pieces from my compression tester. All I had to do was take out the schrader valve assembly out of the tester hose, and it hooked right up using the test sparkplug hole adapter.
The valve spring compressor tool I used was not very suitable for this job. I had the tool with the wheel/grip on the end. I noticed in the above article their tool has the tee handle pin and then a hex on the end. I am assuming the tee handle pin comes completely out when you need it. For this job you need it out, over there at the A/C box on cylinder #3, there is very little room for the compressor. I ended up taking a grinder and taking the handle off my compressor, and then modifying it so I could turn it with a wrench. Even then, it barely fit on the valves on cylinder #3, but it worked.
When using the compressor, you need to make sure you get the arms down as low as possible on the spring. If you don't, the few coils you have compressed will bind up and you won't have room to get the keepers out. I found if I got the compressor arms started in the coils, and then while squeezing them together, I could turn the compressor on the spring, and it would spiral down the coils. I would go as far as I could, and that would force the arms in the middle of some of the tight coils, and get the compressor low enough so I could properly compress the valve spring.
Once you get the spring compressed, most of the time the keepers were stuck on the spring assembly. You can take a hammer and strike the top of the compressor to free it up, but keep a hand on the spring/compressor arms so it doesn't suddenly drop too far and the keepers go flying.
This is when you need that strong magnet. Carefully let the spring/compressor assembly down. If the compressor did it's job, the keepers will be loose and they are easily dropped. Have the magnet ready and use it to retrieve them. This is a very fiddly operation. Sometimes the compressor barely did it's job, so you might have to push down on the compressor/spring assembly and or move it to one side to have enough clearance to remove the first valve keeper. The 2nd usually comes out easy.
Pull everything out of the way and take the old seal off. You will notice the old seal gets caught on the grooves on top of the valve. You do not want this to happen to your new seal and tear it up. Some valve seal kits come with a installation tool, which is a very thin plastic sleeve that covers the grooves over so the new seal is not damaged. I didn't have one, so I found a piece of heat shrink tubing that just fit over the valve stem. I cut it longer than I needed, and then heat shrunk just the very end, so it was tapered to help me start the new seal. You just slip the tubing over the top of the valve, then slide the new seal on.
This is when you need the deep well socket. I found all my old seals were just floating up and down on the valve stem. These seals are made to lock onto the guide on the cylinder head. Once you push the seal all the way down, you take the deep well socket that just fits the seal, and you can use an extension, and a few taps of a hammer will seat the seal and lock it onto the cylinder head guide.
Put the compressor/spring back in place. Before you go to install the keepers, take your finger and dip it into the wheel bearing grease and get just a tiny bit of grease and put it into the grooves of both of the keepers. Get your magnet and stick one of the keepers on the magnet and install it in on the valve. The grease will help hold it in there while you are getting the other keeper with the magnet. You can pull up on the compressor/spring to help keep the keeper from falling out. Again, a very fiddly procedure requiring some patience. I dropped and almost lost one of the my keepers. After that I started using the grease and didn't have any more trouble losing any of them.
Once you are ready to re-install the rocker assembly, you need the flashlight to shine up under the intake to make sure you are putting the pushrods back on top of the lifters. Sounds simple, but some of the holes are very large and it's easy to place them in the wrong spot. I did one side of the engine at a time, and once I got it back together I turned the engine over by hand using a socket on the crankshaft damper, watching all the rockers to make sure they were all working properly.
I recommend you have these tools on hand in addition to ones listed in the article;
-A small screwdriver or some other small tool with a strong magnet on the end.
-Some thick wheel bearing grease
-A short piece of heat shrink or the official "condom" sleeve to cover the valve stem grooves.
-A deep well socket, about 11-12mm.
-A very good flashlight
I was able to make an adapter to hook my air compressor to the sparkplug hole by using pieces from my compression tester. All I had to do was take out the schrader valve assembly out of the tester hose, and it hooked right up using the test sparkplug hole adapter.
The valve spring compressor tool I used was not very suitable for this job. I had the tool with the wheel/grip on the end. I noticed in the above article their tool has the tee handle pin and then a hex on the end. I am assuming the tee handle pin comes completely out when you need it. For this job you need it out, over there at the A/C box on cylinder #3, there is very little room for the compressor. I ended up taking a grinder and taking the handle off my compressor, and then modifying it so I could turn it with a wrench. Even then, it barely fit on the valves on cylinder #3, but it worked.
When using the compressor, you need to make sure you get the arms down as low as possible on the spring. If you don't, the few coils you have compressed will bind up and you won't have room to get the keepers out. I found if I got the compressor arms started in the coils, and then while squeezing them together, I could turn the compressor on the spring, and it would spiral down the coils. I would go as far as I could, and that would force the arms in the middle of some of the tight coils, and get the compressor low enough so I could properly compress the valve spring.
Once you get the spring compressed, most of the time the keepers were stuck on the spring assembly. You can take a hammer and strike the top of the compressor to free it up, but keep a hand on the spring/compressor arms so it doesn't suddenly drop too far and the keepers go flying.
This is when you need that strong magnet. Carefully let the spring/compressor assembly down. If the compressor did it's job, the keepers will be loose and they are easily dropped. Have the magnet ready and use it to retrieve them. This is a very fiddly operation. Sometimes the compressor barely did it's job, so you might have to push down on the compressor/spring assembly and or move it to one side to have enough clearance to remove the first valve keeper. The 2nd usually comes out easy.
Pull everything out of the way and take the old seal off. You will notice the old seal gets caught on the grooves on top of the valve. You do not want this to happen to your new seal and tear it up. Some valve seal kits come with a installation tool, which is a very thin plastic sleeve that covers the grooves over so the new seal is not damaged. I didn't have one, so I found a piece of heat shrink tubing that just fit over the valve stem. I cut it longer than I needed, and then heat shrunk just the very end, so it was tapered to help me start the new seal. You just slip the tubing over the top of the valve, then slide the new seal on.
This is when you need the deep well socket. I found all my old seals were just floating up and down on the valve stem. These seals are made to lock onto the guide on the cylinder head. Once you push the seal all the way down, you take the deep well socket that just fits the seal, and you can use an extension, and a few taps of a hammer will seat the seal and lock it onto the cylinder head guide.
Put the compressor/spring back in place. Before you go to install the keepers, take your finger and dip it into the wheel bearing grease and get just a tiny bit of grease and put it into the grooves of both of the keepers. Get your magnet and stick one of the keepers on the magnet and install it in on the valve. The grease will help hold it in there while you are getting the other keeper with the magnet. You can pull up on the compressor/spring to help keep the keeper from falling out. Again, a very fiddly procedure requiring some patience. I dropped and almost lost one of the my keepers. After that I started using the grease and didn't have any more trouble losing any of them.
Once you are ready to re-install the rocker assembly, you need the flashlight to shine up under the intake to make sure you are putting the pushrods back on top of the lifters. Sounds simple, but some of the holes are very large and it's easy to place them in the wrong spot. I did one side of the engine at a time, and once I got it back together I turned the engine over by hand using a socket on the crankshaft damper, watching all the rockers to make sure they were all working properly.
