How can I remove severely bent inlet valves?

[Albie 0]

Thanks to the incompetence of the previous owner who changed the timing belt just before I bought my 2.0L 16V but saved money by not changing the tensioner, I now need 8 new inlet valves. Fortunately the tensioner seized causing the crank pulley to strip the belt at relatively low revs so there seems to be no damage to pistons or cams. The head is off and 6 of the valves are out. The last 2 are a little tricky though.

 

They are both in the same cylinder and are so bent that when I compress them the springs crush before I have enough clearance to remove the collets. I thought of just using my angle grinder to cut across the valve face to take a slice off the edge. This would let the valve drop back closer to its normal closed position and give me more clearance to work. This does smack of butchery though and may risk damaging the valve seats with the sharp edges left on the head. Does anyone have a magic method for getting over this problem?

[Bobby 0]

how close it is to allowings the collets to be removed? if very close the use a standard socket on the back of the spring retainer , socket side down and give it very quick tap with a hammer , this allows the collets to drop out if done quick enough saves faffing around but really depends on how bad the valves are bent, any pics?

[rarak69 0]

hit the valves(piston side) with a hammer, it should just break off. that how i did a head not too long ago worked great for me.

[Albie 0]

Thanks for the response guys. The valves are so badly bent over that they are locked over the lip of the head and are just catching on the flat face. This means they have compressed the springs so much that there really is no travel left to be able to further compress them enough for the collets to drop free. When you compress them the springs just reach the point where their coils physically press together. I tried compressing them then gently winding the compressor up more so that they gave every iota of play they had left. Still just not enough, the collets will come loose but just can't get their bottom ridge out of the groove.

 

I'm going to try tapping them with a hammer to see if I can slightly straighten them which will make them clear the head face and drop back towards their seats a little. If I can get them to bend back this way it should give me just a little more room to compress them which will get things sorted. My real worry was whether using a "fitter's friend" on them was going a tool too far.

 

I'll report back on progress and try to post some pics of the job to show how bad it was and in the hope that someone else can benefit in the future. After all, I can't be the only one with this problem.

[Albie 0]

At last, after illness and travel, I can update and go further. The valves came out easily with a little gentle tapping with my fitter's friend to straighten them out. Thanks for the advice on that, it was spot on. Mind you, straighten them out is not the right description, they ended up S-shaped, but it gave me enough play to remove the collets.

 

The head has been tidied up, no other damage was found, (phew!), and the valve guides were remarkable with new valves in. The only thing I came across was the cam sprocket had sheared the key. I was surprised to find this was not a separate woodruff key but seems to be an integral part of the sprocket. So now I assume I need to source a cam sprocket from somewhere. GSF don't appear to have one, any other advice or suggestions for this item? Is there an affordable variable timing sprocket set out there which would be easy to set up?

 

I have new valves in now and have built the head back up again, but have hit the same problem as often before, my CD version of a workshop manual is based on the American models, and doesn't include any mention on the 16V engine. So no advice as to setting up the cams. As it seemed the most logical, I have it currently set so that the 2 small "O"s on the outer face of the chain cogs at the back end of both cams are aligned together and both level with the top face of the head. Can anyone confirm whether this is correct? (I would hate to have to go through all this hassle again because I got such a simple thing wrong).

 

I am waiting for new piston rings and big end bearings to arrive, it seemed stupid to not replace these as the head was off. Once again I am amazed at the longevity of the VW engines. The cross hatching in the bottom 3/4 of the bores is still visible at 135000 miles and there is still no wear lip that my finger nail can detect around the tops of the cylinders.

 

Lastly, I seem to be having a bit of a problem getting a new sump gasket. It looks as though this should be one of the rubber and metal type rather than just a cork one, but GSF don't do them, and no one else seems to have any available for a 9A. I am assuming the 1.8 KR is a different gasket all together. Or is there a chance that the old gasket is to be reused? It has come off without any damage but I don't really like reusing gaskets like that. Once again any advice is welcome.

[Jim 1]

Bits and pieces for the engine i'd generally suggest buying from your local VW dealer, especially things like gaskets and whatnot. Worth dropping by your local dealer parts dept.. they should be able to get sump / gaskets, etc without any problems!

[Supercharged 2]

GSf do sell them and also there is the MK3 TDI windage tray...

 

Or try here if not VW as Jim suggested...

 

http://www.vwspares.co.uk/corrado_other.php

[Albie 0]

Thanks for the link to VWSpares, GSF seem to have gone a little strange recently. They have just told me they do not stock Corrado conrod bolts and nuts yet they are currently listed in their online catalogue. They don't stock sump pan trays, (windage tray), yet people here discuss having bought them from GSF. They can't help with the sump gasket, or at least they don't know enough about them to suggest which one is correct. It's not like them to be so vague about their stock.

 

VWSpares stock sump gaskets and my own is the Pre-009000 type which is a fair bit cheaper. I assume this means it is the older fibre/cork type. Any advice on whether it is possible and useful to change to the new neoprene rubber type if this is the case? I know I will need different sump bolts at least.

 

Are windage trays universal for the VW engines? There are sites out there suggesting that these do fit a range of motors but they don't list them. As they put it "Application: Too many to list! If you know what this is, then you'll know whether it will suit your engine!!" They do offer VOLKSWAGEN Part Number (for reference only): 037 115 220 B. This is offered as "All 4 Cylinder, Factory Unit, Replaces Pan Gasket" but will this fit the 9A Corrado engine?

 

I'll try my local VW dealership for some of this, they should be able to help, but often at a price! Thanks again.

[VEEDUBBED 0]

Right,first you won't need new sump bolts when fitting the diesel model's windage tray with rubber gasket incorporated,i fitted the same article to my 9A valver mill without any problems.The only thing that's now not needed is the brittle plastic oil pump baffle that was hopeless anyway,i coated both sides of the rubber gasket with copper ease grease so that next time i drop the sump the gasket wont stick and possibly rip,meaning another gasket to buy...Be carefull when replacing the camshaft sprocket because it's easy to put the damm thing on back to front,resulting in the cam belt being a few mm's off the edge,a lot of head scratching on that 1.

The camshafts timed as you described sound ok,remember that there's also a scribed line on the (new?) camshaft sprocket that aligns to the edge of the cyl.head,i'd strongly advise you to atleast check the hyd.tappets if you have'nt done so already,they would have been damaged aswell.

Watch out when you replace the small half moon rubber bung things on the end of the camshafts as they are easliy dislodged and coat the camshaft cover gaskets with a smear of vaseline so next time you remove the cover you won't have to change them again,they cost 70+euro from the stealer..EACH :shock:

HTH,cheers.