I noted the importance of making sure the seals are well lubricated.
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Take care in removing the old seals: you don't want to damage the valve guide shaft by applying too much pressure or using vice grips that might cause scarring on the surfaces. Those scars become a threat to the new seals when installing them, because they can cut the seal inner surfaces and cause oil leaks.
"Clean" is always the virtue in engine work. It is self-defeating to allow dirt and yucky grease to contaminate your new parts or girlfriend/boyfriend/faithful dog, and the surfaces they attach to. Steal some of your mother's guest towels and be sure you have plenty of them available to keep your work clean.
Wiping off the stems where the new seals will sit is important. Especially with the faithful dog.
For the 2.4, here is the process I used:
Note there are two different seal-types for exhaust and intake. Intake seals don't have to deal with the higher temperatures that exhaust valves do, so it is important to make sure you place them correctly. An information sheet should have come with your seals/gasket set, telling you which seals go where. Should you have 8 seals of the same type, this is fine. Otherwise, the rubber seals are intake, the brown plastic seals are exhaust.
You also want to make sure your valves are cleaned up, ready to re-install. Wire brushing carbon deposits off won't hurt the valve, and a Dremel tool with a wire wheel is even better. Using your mother's guest towel, wipe off the whole valve before installing. ASSURE THAT THE SPRING RETAINER GROOVES ARE CLEAN AND FREE OF DIRT.
. Before sticking ANY lengthy object into a hole, you want lubrication. This is just a fact of Nature. The Church Of The Helgrimites might argue certain details about this and insist on alternative approaches, but few of us live near such churches, so ignore them if they come to your door and tell you dry insertions are a Rite Of Passage...albeit a painful one.
Attachment 7839
. Have a "dip" cup handy, like the one above, which is not filled with Merlot wine, but Mystery Oil and transmission fluid. 30-weight oil can work, too. Different mechanics will have different preferrences, such as a white wine or Pilsner beer. Never serve Chablis with cylinder head parts: it's De Glose'.
. I dipped the end of the valve into the dip cup and then shoved it into position. Whatever romantic words you choose to use are entirely up to you, but as mentioned before, don't "talk dirty". Not yet, anyhow. That can come later, when the valve spring comes flying off the spring-compressor and landing in a different zip code.
. I then laid the cylinder head flat with a 3/4" socket (on its side) under the just-installed valve's cavity. A short plastic straw should have come with your seal set: this goes over the valve stem itself, all the way down as far as it will go (gently). With needle-nose pliers, I dipped the valve seal entirely in the dip-cup, shook it off (the "more than once" joke applies, here) and carefully lowered it on the shaft. (Is it just me or is it getting HOT in here?) I found, as amc77 suggested, that twisting it downward gave a good result. I also found that sufficient lubrication make tapping the seal into place with a deep socket or sleeve was not necessary, but your experience might be different, particularly if you chose the Chablis. If you can feel a definite "click" when the bottom of the seal is about 1/8" above the cylinder head, the seal is successfully in place. See if you can spin it with your fingers: my experience was the intake seals would spin snuggly, the exhaust seals wouldn't.
. Don't forget the bottom 'washer' that the valve spring sits on. It keeps the valve spring from digging into the aluminum head as it rotates during operation. This washer fits over the seal so don't panic about not putting it on, first...just make sure it's there before compressing the valve spring and installing it.
. The valve-spring-keepers should be clean, and I found that handling them with my fingers was fine. With the compressed spring in place, slightly tilting to one side allows you to insert one of the keepers...you might need to push down on the spring a bit (it will compress some more...that's why the 3/4" socket is there: to keep the valve from slipping down). Position the spring around until the keeper is in its groove, then install the second keeper. You'll need to work with each one as it goes, but again, you can push down on the spring to get things into place. Once they are, let off the hand pressure, and pull up a little bit on the valve spring compressor: you should be able to turn the spring freely while the keepers stay in place. If so, loosen the spring compressor untill the assembly is in place and the compressor can be removed.
. Taking care to remove the 3/4" socket from under the head, either set the cylinder head on wooden blocks (away from the just-installed valve) or off the edge of your workbench (enough for that valve to open and close): what you want to do is allow the valve to open and close without hitting anything below it. I used a few layers of rags to cover the top of the valve, then gave three gentle but firm whacks on the valve. This test will let you know if the keepers are going to stay in place, or if you will only have one eye for the rest of your life. Any variation of this test is probably acceptable, like using a rubber mallet. The objective is to not injur the valve surface or inadvertantly bend the valve itself.
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