The V8 Owners Forum -

Rover 3.5 – still puffing smoke on start up after hot - upgrading valve stem seals

Wonder if any bright spark out there can help.

I’m still having issues with my rover 3.5 puffing out a decent amount of smoke on restart after a run. It only seems obvious after a run and its been restarted about 20mins later, I get a decent cloud of smoke and then it clears after a couple of seconds. I don’t seem to get it when starting from cold.

From what I’ve read it sounds like oil is leaking down past the valve stems. When I rebuild the heads 5 years ago (from an early range rover classic - ERC0216) I just fitted the rubber washer types seals that came in the Rimmer rebuild kit, they look useless.

To try to solve the problem I’m planning on fitting the new type seals (ERR1782) but am unsure what modifications are needed to the valve guides, or whether I need to replace the guides that are currently fitted.

Any thoughts?

I’m going to drop them off to my local machine shop and ideally would like to let them know what is required.

Thanks

The valve stems may need machining to accept the new seals, I have had this mod done on my heads, it's also worth checking the breather, I had a John Eales V8 that smoked a bit, it was due to not having a restrictor in the breather tube from the rocker box. Most likely it is the washer type thingys not doing their job. I used Dave Moore in Godstone, machined the stems in the head.