2.7 Exhaust Valve Replacement

My 2004 Taco with the 2.7 is right about to roll 200,000. A few weeks ago I developed a P303 code (misfire, cylinder 3). I had recently changed spark plugs, so figured that wasn't it. I swapped coil packs from cylinder 3 to 4, and the code stayed with cylinder 3.

Took it to a shop. Compression test showed cylinder 3 only had 50psi. Subsequent leakdown test showed that it was the exhaust valve.

The shop wanted $1800 for the work, including machining the head.

I'm mechanically inclined, but have certainly never done that much work to my truck. Is this something that could be done reasonably well by someone following along to the FSM? Should I suck it up and pay the $1800? Get a new engine alltogether? The truck is otherwise in pretty great shape. I have owned it for 7 years.

Thank you!

 

I have lapped my own valves before and if they aren't bad and you have the balls to do it yourself you can do it. you only want to do it enough to see a good shiny smooth even width edge on the valve and the seat. you can go too far so keep checking often and don't do any more then what you need to see that even uniform seal on both sides, then clean the shit out of it to get all that compound off or it will fuck up your engine if you don't clean it well. do only one valve at a time and uninstall your valve spring, relap the valve, then when your done, reinstall the spring so you don't mix up the valve positions springs or parts, each valve stem has formed into its own valve guide so don't mix them up.

just roll the valve in a back and forth motion while pushing the valve down and into the seat

here is a video showing the process:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d-eNJtnawI

 

That seems awfully high. If you completely disassemble the head and just take them a head with valves and nothing else, it should be a lot cheaper.

 

Without the cams and cam bearings the shop can't measure the valve clearances and adjust as necessary. I guess that might save money, but it needs to be done by someone if a valve is replaced. There's no guarantee the shop would do a good job of putting the correct shims in, so the clearances should be checked again anyway.

 

I was assuming you would do the shim adjustments on your own. Theres plenty i can do, such as valve lashing, though i still would rather leave it to a professional to do if they already have the heads to straighten out. What was involved for the $1800 quote they gave?

 

I think the price was for removal from engine and reinstall but I could be wrong.

if OP took the head off with cam still installed and brought it in just like that I bet it would cut the price in half, maybe more

 

I just took my head off from my 99 2.4 because of bad head gasket, the work isn't too bad. Now I am taking all the valves off and clean/lap. PM me and I can send you few pages factory service manual to show how to do the work. I would recommend you take the head off yourself and send it to a shop to clean and replace the valve and check for crack, OR just buy a complete rebuild head with cam on ebay for about $600.

Too bad you are not local, otherwise you are welcome to come check out my work. Best luck!

 

I dropped my head off at a shop this week for a total refresh because of a couple burnt exhaust valves. $350 out the door with new valves, seals, decked, and valve clearances set. Give yourself an afternoon each to take the head off and put it back on. There only special tool you need is a torque wrench to set the head bolts and cam caps.

 

Youre using tap water, arent you?

 

Long story short, the truck has 340K original miles and my father drove it probably 100K miles with a bad head gasket. When I service the truck, I always use distilled water only 50/50 mix, but I know my father been adding water and probably tap water.

 

Thank you for the replies! The shop quote was for everything, including sending off the head for machining and rebuilding.

I'm leaning towards just doing it myself. Thank you all! Anyone have a decent write-up on the work?

 

What do I need to do with the timing chain? Do I need to remove it for any reason?

 

Everything you need will be in the FSM for your model. If you have someone with a shop, their AllData system may have a more thorough repair manual, but its not necessary. The FSM is what the dealer uses.

You should get more quotes for the work, $1800 is way too high for you bringing them a bare head with valvetrain (im assuming you removed the cams). It should be in the $600 to $800 range. Thats what it would cost us for the older Mercedes V6 heads out of the W124 and 210 models.