Focus Fanatics Forum banner

Have you experienced the SPI valve seat failure?

  • Yes

    Votes: 9 47.4%
  • No

    Votes: 10 52.6%

Poll: Has your SPI dropped a valve seat?

15K views 47 replies 36 participants last post by  sailor 
#1 ·
We all know of the dreaded valve seat failure. And we see a lot of posts about it. Common knowledge seems to indicate that it is not a matter of if but when.

I want to know if that common knowledge is true. I wonder if it is really as common as we believe, or if it seems that way because we only see posts about the failures.

So post your answer to the poll, and reply with your milage at the time of failure, or current milage if you have not had a problem.
 
#5 ·
Mine has dropped a seat in Piston #4 at 130k!!
My father's dropped at 62k, which is ridiculous.

For those still driving, don't rape your car and watch that heat. Make sure your cooling system is working as it should.

Also, only the intake seats should be replaced on these engines or the exhaust seats drop too ?
 
#7 ·
Malim, are you familiar with putting car in diagnostic mode so after your rebuild you can keep an eye on your heat?

I hope so, if not, allow me to school you on it real quick.

Turn key to on, not run, hold in button on cluster that resets trip-ometer. Turn key off, keep holding button, turn key to run again, continue holding button, then release button and diagnostic box pops up. If you press it three of four times you will see a Celcius symbol, that is for your temp.

After rebuild, I left it on for two days just to be sure. It shouldn't go above 88 for any reason.

Good luck dude.




Malim is a @#$#$ing pimp....
 
#10 ·
Is this really a question we need to ask? Is it rhetorical just for humors sake? Lol.
It is not a rhetorical question. Posts on internet forums tend to magnify problems because people with problems are more likely to post than those without. I am not saying the valve seat is not an issue, I certainly believe that it is. I just want to know how frequent of an issue it is. I want to know if it truly is inevitable, or if it is only very probable.
 
#9 ·
#12 ·
I am quite sure that some engines make it to the junkyard without dropping a seat, but then again some Chevy Vegas went the distance without screwing up too, even so, that car developed such a bad rep that GM first changed the name of the car and then dropped it from the line.

It may not even be half, but even 30 or 40% will get you bumped into Consumer Reports no man's land.
 
#13 ·
My 03 SPI is at 155,000 miles and going strong [woot]

I really baby it while the engine is cold, and use 2 oz. Lucas upper cylinder lubricant at each fill up. The UCL seems to give me an additional 1 MPG, but may also help keep the valves clean. May need some luck to get to 200,000 miles with out the inevitable valve seat drop.

I will be taking my chances for now, but will consider pulling the head and bringing it to a shop for the usual service (hardened seats, etc.)
 
#14 ·
My SPI Escort did @ 173k miles, dropped #4, fixed it by adding a USED piston/rod from a JY motor, did not remove motor, new bearings, etc. Running good now

My 2002 SPI Focus that I just picked up a few days ago for $400 did the same thing, dropped a vlv seat on #4 @ 98k miles, ordered 4 new pistons and remaned head, again doing a motor in car rebuild. Total cost for BOTH cars will be $1000 to fix ($500 each). This car will be worth $4k when im done with it but I may keep it as a DD or sell the escort.
 
#26 ·
My '02 dropped #4 intake at 170k miles. Yes, I was a skeptic and believed that only those engines that weren't well taken care of were susceptible. I always ran clean synthetic oil, cooling system flush every year and kept up with t-stat replacements. I was wrong. Ironically, three months ago, I seriously considered pulling out the head in a preventative effort. I was skeptical and decided against it. One week ago, it happened to me. Now I'm tearing it apart.
 
#27 ·
I replaced the head with one from headsonly.com at about 110k miles as preventative maintance. It cost ~$1000 altogether since I replaced quite a few other things while I was at it, but well worth it in the end. I especially like the fact that I no longer worry about when the valve seat will drop!

It's been running for 15k miles or so now. :)
 
#28 ·
143K. I just swapped a new head on, due to a valve seat loose enough to keep the valve from closing part of the time. Had a shiny mark around the edge of the valve relief in the piston, where the valve/seat was making slight contact, and the seat is visibly cracked at the point it is closest to the exhaust valve.

No, it didn't drop a seat, but it was about to do so.

I purchased a new head casting from J&C Enterprises, ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/350998600428?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 ) extremely pleased with it. Highly recommended.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top