I have a land rover discovery (96, 4.0 GEMS) with stickie valves. I dont have the time right now to pull the heads to releave the valves so, I am wondering if anyone knows a way to loosten stuck valves while the heads are still attached. In a perfect world I would be able to have them machined and get new internals, but, I dont have the time or the money right now. SO, any suggestions? I am thinking a serious sea foam treatment and pull the valve covers and throw a ton of penetrating fluid down the guides - maybe even some preassurized air to blow as much off as I can, hell I can even vacume some off.

I am just hoping there are some old-school tricks that I dont know about.

Thanks.

 

[&:] yo corporal im not a fan of magic in a can to fix anything so i cant recommend any of the misc. stuff out there. however i have used standard transmission fluid with much success in several cases. this stuff is highly detergent and does a good job of removing engine varnish and other annoying coatings of ****e. i recommend draining a quart or two of oil out and replacing it with atf or dexron and running the engine for a little while ( at least until it warms up and a good jog around the block) you may see a little extra exhaust smoke so dont be alarmed. give it a try and see what happens. keep in mind this wont fix mechanical problems but does great with varnish and sludge. oh and dont forget to drain this now dirty mix out after the drive kurt

 

Thanks. I was thinking that as well, I am aprehensive to because its a 12 year old engine with 168k on it. I have only had it a short time and know nothing of the PO. My fear is that the oil I drained when I got it might very well have been many years and thousands of miles old, so the ATF might clear up some sludge that i might want there which is cloging ahole or two. I heard recently that the mains go out a short time after atf is introduced, then again you only said 'run the engine a short while' so it might not have negative effects on the mill. I ever so very dont want to tear into the heads and do it the right way, but I will in the end. Thanks again, I will try it and let you know how it turns out.

 

me and my budy used that sea foam stuff in his 88 v6 hard body nissan pickup and it made it run a lot smother and it has like no stutter when going up hills shot it even gets better gas milage,but you never know if it works intell you try it.

 

Way back when, before detergent oil was available, people used to degunk their engines by filling the crankase with a 50/50 mix of kerosene and engine oil.Something like t90jetpilot suggested doing by using ATF.

 

i've seen them run the motor up to about 4-5 grand and pour transmission fluid thru the carb and it worked.you might have to pour it slow or it might kill the engine

 

I am thinking that nothing is going to work other than to tear into the head. The sea foam treatment didnt do the trick, this is a land rover motor (GEMS) and the intake plenum is designed such a way that I cant get to all the cylinders by using the vacume port. I also found that sea-foam works only on the intake valves. By the time any snake oil gets to the exhaust valves it is already smoked and doesnt remove any gunk. Compression tests show the intakes are good, vacume test shows exhaust valves are sticky. So I will try the atf and see how it works.

 

[&:] cpl i havent seen or heard of mains having a habit of removing themselves post atf use. atf is also a lubricant ( think about what a tranny has to do, and is used in both auto and manual applications per factory lube specs) I could see how an already shot motor that joe stump threw the magic atf bullet into didnt survive, but then we must remember that were talking a quart or two out of 5 or 6 not straight atf. like most things this cant and wont fix mechanical problems except those that are a result of varnish or sludge build up good luck and let us know kurt

 

I am actually not as experianced as I would like to think I am. I have only heard of it, about how the detergents will remove the 'needed sludge / deposits' that would otherwise be filling a hole, or was it about the stretching of the seal (plastic or rubber) that would seal up a hole then after the chemical was removed the seal would reform and create a hole, or something like that. Anyhow, I will gove it a go and keep you all updated. There is already a leak at the rear of the block so I am thinking seals are going out anyway eehh, hopefully it all works out.

 

So, I am doing the atf trick, just to see what happens till I can tear into it. Just for thrills I put a timming light on it, #2 was sparking at a certain rate, but...when I put it on number 6 the rate was much faster...alot faster. any ideas?