peterjcb

I found out that I have a broken valve spring on the #4 cylinder.
How bad of a job is this going to be?

xsboost90

insert air compressor fitting that holds pressure on bottom side of valve...
remove cambox.
use trus spring tensioner to remove spring lock and spring, replace
installation is reverse of removal.

jmporsche944

Yeah, your better of putting the pressure on the valve to keep it up then removing the head.

joseph mitro

pardon my ignorance, but i don't know if that procedure would work for a 16-valve head, but nonetheless a broken spring indicates potentially something more significant is wrong, as we have communicated via PM.

peterjcb

Dan,
I don't quite understand what you're describing. Are you saying that it's possible to replace the spring without removing the head on my S? I have no compression in the cylinder, would the piston hold the valve up...compresses air? ALso, what is the "cambox"?
Please explain.

Rock

how the hell do you find out if you broke a valve spring

TRWright

I didn't know until I actually compressed the spring to take the valve out. (Mine was an inner spring, though.)

peterjcb

We did a compression test on all the cylinders starting with #1. We had great consistant compression...230 on each cyinder except when we got to the 4th cylinder...nothing! Pulled the valve cover off and felt the spring and we could move it around with our fingers where all the other springs were tight.

Dilberto

Ouch.....There's nothing worse than a three-cylinder Por-suzuki.

Zach

xsboost90

sounds like a different problem maybe. Shops use a fitting that screws into the spark plug hole that pressurizes the cylinder and holds the valves closed while your pulling the spring so you dont drop it into the piston. Ive never worked on an S so i couldnt tell you if its harder on one of those.

black944 turbo

xs, I know exactly what you are talking about. On the S there is no way to get the tool to the top of the valve though.

peterjcb

Richard, thanks for your help yesterday.
I've got the flywheel lock on and started pulling belts off yesterday afternoon.
From what I see on Joseph Mitro's website, timing the cams back in place doesn't really seem that hard. Hopefully I'll be able to get the Cam's out without too much trouble. THen after the head is out I can access exactly what I'm going to do.
I foresee a head install GTG coming soon.

black944 turbo

Sounds good Peter, good luck

peterjcb

Here's an update on the job. The good news is that I got the broken spring out of the head and installed a new set of springs with my home made valve spring compressor. I used a 2" piece of PVC coupling that was just the right diameter along with a big screwdriver levered under the rear cam bridge assembly. It allowed me to compress the spring about 3/4 of an inch or so while with the other hand I used a pair of tweezers to drop the retainer into place.

The bad news is that I lost the second retainer lock somewhere down in the oil pan... I hope, and I had problems removing the 10mm cheesehead bolt from the exhaust cam pulley and later discovered that I cracked a piece off the end of my intake cam. Not a good day......

fezz

Peter,
I'd love to come over and lend a hand but this weekend is out. I will check in for next weekend and if you're still at it I'll come by. Good luck in the meantime.