Well I have to replace my valve stem seals this weekend and I have some questions/ concerns. My car is a 95 CX with 215,000 KM on it. I'm planning on using an air compressor to hold the valves in place while I replace the seals but I'm not sure what pressure to use. Any suggestions?? My compressor is also a small 5 gallon and I'm not sure that it will be able to keep up. Does anyone have experiance using a smaller compressor or should I stick with the rope method. My big concern with using the compressor is blowing seals because I assume there will be some blow by the rings and I don't want to blow my front or rear main crank seal. Is it a good idea to remove the PCV while doing this job? I replaced my head gasket about 3 months ago and knew that the stem seals were on there way out. Hindsight being 20/20 I should have done them with the head off the car. I have the manual and also the team integra tutorial so I'm comfortable with the job itself it's just the fine details that I need to iron out. How long does this typically take for a first timer. My head gasket took about 12 hours so I'm expecting about 6 start to finish.

 

I did this to my car. Let me start by saying it ended up being a total waste of time and money as it didn't reduce the oil burning at all. If you have oil smoke that gets worse when you floor the gas, that's from the rings and not the valve seals.

So if you want to continue here's what I did. I didn't use air. I don't think I even used rope. As long as you're sure to TDC the piston first, the valves can't go anywhere.

With the valve cover off, air can leave the crankcase freely though the two big holes that let oil drain out of the cam area back down to the pan. So no worry of overpressure. I still suggest not using air just TDC the piston it's a lot more foolproof.

Mostly I mention those oil holes because it's important to stop them up with rags before you begin, or you will lose some of the valve keepers upon dropping them and having them fall down into the oil pan. It's easy to lose them otherwise in any case. If this is your only car, have some spare keepers on site before you begin.

Overall not a complicated job at all as long as you are patient and have the right tools. Take only one valve spring off at a time.

 

Well I did the job over the weekend. It was a big PITA and as warned a total waste of time and money. My seals were probably bad but it didn't have one affect on my smoking engine. I guess my rings are probably cracked because the compression test I did a while ago was good. The moral of the story is that if you're engine is smoking and buring oil valve stem seal are a waste.