well from the looks of things i'm in need of a head rebuild or a new head for my 03 svtf. i Pulled my plugs out the other day and have oil in cyl 4. Now I say it's probably comming from a bad valve guide in the head due to the fact i smell oil on warm starts after it sits for about 10 min from the last run. So it seems like it's dripping down into the cyl while the car is off.

Now to the point. how hard of a job is it to replace the valve guides? Also does anybody have any instruction on how to do it and if they are the same for the svt and the standard focus. As I found these while doing some searching, http://redhat3.admarkonline.com/~nippon/product.phtml?p=456&var=8206&mmk=179&msg=Good+news%21+This+part+is+available+for+your+Ford%21%0A%09%09%09%09%28%3Ca+href%3Davailability.phtml%3Fp%3D456%26skip%3D1%3ECheck+other+make%2Fmodel%3C%2Fa%3E%29

Or if someone can do it I would not be opposed to shipping my head out to have it rebuilt and possably a 3 angle grind and a mild port would not be out of the question for the right price.

The oil on the plug when you pulled it was most likely from the valve cover gasket and not a guide. The gasket will allow oil to puddle around the plug and drenches the plug when you remove it. Looks very bad but is only the gasket. If it were me, I'd put a gasket on before worrying about the head.

It's not the gasket as I have oil on only one plug. Plus the tops are all dry, and the gasket is new itself. I did a minor rebuild on the head over the winter and replaced the valve seals but not the guides. I may have got some valve grind grit in one of the guides which I'm assuming is my current problem.

anybody? how about a rough cost of what it should cost to rebuild if no parts are needed other than the valve guides?

Is the oil on the threads or on the inner part of the plug , got a picture? I have rebuilt about 60 of these heads and have only ever found 7 bad valve guides , they are not bad to go bad , You changed seals I would look there first , grit wont ware out a giude

Tom

well thats good to know. I'll look at redoing the seals again. I recall one of the springs getting "poked off the seal when I puit it on but upon replacing the spring it looked just fine. i may not have been. and for the record, I have bought 3 different compression gauges and NONE came with a fitting that fits thew zetec, where the hell can I get one so I can read my compression?

I just had my head worked and it was $150.

I've never seen a compression gauge that didn't come with a fitting that fit out cars, 14mm.


Does the location of the oil leak happen to correspond to the valve seal that the spring jumped off of?
How gentle where you installing them? (can tear one pretty easily and it will leak).

But puddling oil while not running sound more like a HG issue than valve stem seals. Residual pressure in the oiling system bleeding into the cylinder. It can't bleed while moving because the pressure is not high enough to overcome combustion pressure, and combustion pressure may be leaking into the oiling system. Dipstick pop out ever or excessive air out either breather?

There is no place that a blown HG can get to the oil passage , there is the feed oil hole that feeds oul to the cams but if the HG was blown that bad it wouldnt even run

The fitting you need for the compression gauge has to be for a 3/4 reach plug fitting

Tom

i have the exact same problem... i found oil on plug on cylinder 4... and the car hesitates sometimes..