Valve stem seals

[Pussyhorse]

Hiya guys

Numptie question time

Can you replace the valve stem seals on an XRV without taking the heads off the motor?

Ta

Rab

[jabba]

Nope

[mal]

I think you have to remove the engine if it's the front cylinder head I' m sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong.

[Pussyhorse]

Bugger. Yeah, you have to drop the motor to get the front head off.

Bugger. Do I repair it or do I just keep throwing oil at it? Decisions, decisions....

Cheers

Rab

[YEN_POWELL]

How much oil does it use?

[Pussyhorse]

A lot. It's done it for ages, but I couldn't be bothered to fix it.

If I rev it above 6k it uses an alarming amount. Once booted it to Oxford from West london and it drank a litre!!!

If I keep it under 6k it uses a lot less. I've been up to Scotland and back keeping the revs down and used about half a litre. Although it's been a lot worse since it was layed up in the garage for a year with a wounded front end.

I think it's the seals. It doesn't smoke at all, so I don't think it's getting past the rings into the combustion chamber. I had a mate following me for a while and it coated the front of his bike and him in a light coating of oil. He won't do that again...

Wasn't such a problem when I lived in London. Now I'm out in the sticks and commute into town it'd be nice to rev it a bit harder. Oh, and not have to check the oil level every couple of days.

I'd like to keep the AT as it is such a good commuter workhorse.

[jabba]

I think it's the seals. It doesn't smoke at all

Really I know it gets blown out the pipes but would have thought it smoked especially on start up when the oild has drained into the cyclinder?

[Pussyhorse]

Every now and then it smokes alarmingly for about 10 seconds or so after it's first started. Then it clears itself and the sinking feeling in my gut lifts.

I assumed it was oil that had pooled above the seal after the motor had been stopped that was slowly working it's way into the bores.

Again, this pointed to the seals. If it was the rings gravity wouldn't pull it up into the chamber.

[Rolo]

If it's the seals it'll smoke like a good un on overun. Shut the throttle going down hill at high revs for a bit then open up the throttle, you should get lots of blue smoke if its the seals.

[samih]

I don't think it is the valve stem seals if it consumes oil only at high revs. Also it would burn it all smoking like hell, and you say your friend had oil coating. It's too hot for engine oil to come out in exhaust pipe as liquid.

Worn engine would burn the oil more under high load/revs, whereas the valve stem seals would be smoky at startup and under overrun as said by others.

Could it be something like blocked breather system and the bike leaking oil under load because of that? How many miles has your engine covered?