ATF TO CLEAN VALVESS?????? misfires....

[kapaduch]

Hey guys its me again,
So i had these misfires, really strange i know. It happens not all the time but only sometimes when i go about 70mph or so down the highway, the car starts jumping and the check engine light starts blinking at me, i slow down to about 45 and it stops, and then i can accelerate back up to speed and it usually never does it again, and then eventually the light will go off a couple days later, but then back on and does the same thing a few days after that. I have replaced plugs and wires, used motor flush when i changed oil, used a bottle of seafoam in the tank, in the crankcase, and ran a bottle and a half through the induction. It seemed to get better, and i took it to the dealer and they said, maybe the cpu was messing up so they cleared the codes and said it shouldnt happen again, and it was fine for a few days, but now its happening again, and they said well it must need a valve job then. so unless anybody can think of anything else to try, i heard you can drain your oil and run automatic trans fluid in the engine for about 30 min at idle then drain and add new oil. Will this do anything for my valves, i heard it would clean them better than an induction cleaning???????, i really cant afford the 2500 dollar vavle job. ALso if worse comes to worse, i found a guy who would exchange my heads for refurbished head for 300.00, does anybody know if it is possible to replace them myself? and if so is there a good procedure anybody knows of online??, or if i have to get them put on at a shop, about how much it would be??
THanks so much guys, lovin the rover, while it works, too bad thats not too often.
Kevin P.

 

[Slam]

Could maybe need a throttle cleaning..... Any other ideas?

 

[ayavner]

vacuum leak?

 

[Sergei]

Kevin - where you found guy who can replace heads for 300? Thats pretty good price.. (if that includes heads )

So which year it is?

Yes you can use ATF to do some cleaning for oil but it wont really do as much as you think. First of all i'd suggest to pony up 120$ for motorvac (BG cleaning procedure , can be done at most car shops) - that will clean up induction, injectors as much as it can be done without direct intervention. So they would really take crap out. Rest of stuff is sort of depends on what year we talking about. And also - what codes you had/have?

 

[kapaduch]

Hey thanks for the suggestions guys. It's a 2000 disco II. I have heard of the BG products but i have also heard that if seafoam doesnt do it, nothing will. Maybe I didnt say it right, I wish i had found a guy to do it for 300, that would have been awesome. But what i meant was that there is a guy who will sell me refurbished heads for 300.00 (with the exchange of my old ones). Then i could either try it myself or find a mechanic to do the actual swap. But im not exactly sure how much a mechanic would charge around here which i will try to find out tomorow. The vaccum hoses all appear fine, The misfire codes were all individual cylinders the (P0...) codes, and one for multiple random cylinder misfire. I just hate to keep pouring my money into these cleaners and such if im going to have to get a valve job anyways. But if you think it really will make a difference im all for it. Thanks for the help, any other help would be greatly appreciated.
Also does anybody know of a website or such that has a head removal/installation procedure, so i can see how indepth this might be??
Thanks guys,
Kevin P.

 

[Sergei]

Well my exp. with Seafoam products is pretty negative - they never managed to do squat for me trucks. Whereas BG and 3M really worked. Anyway..

Hacking out header covers is about as far as i went so far inside engine - its not that ******* my 3.9L, but with 2000 you better off asking Mike, as he got same engine.

On 3.9 its going like this:
- remove air lines from plenum cover, remove air sleeve with MAF on it to somewhere in garage . Undo electrical connection for IAC.
- undo 6 alien head bolts on plenum cover.
- whack cover with rubber mallet to get it moving
- pull cover off, if you lazy like me - you will still have all linkages attached to it, but there is enough slack to put it upsidedown somewhere aside and still gives you enough space to work on whats next.
- undo 4 of 12pt 8mm bolts that holding your valley covers. Tight work, but there are thin wall 12pt sockets even for 3/8 drive .. Make sure you didnt loose them.
- remove those covers, check how bad gaskets are (altough on 2000 they should be ok)
- now you nearly there.. you need to just start undoing bolts & etc.. remove push rods and rockets to make access easier. Mark pushrods so they would be put in same places where they came from. If you see gunk there - clean.
- then you can get to head covers & etc...

In fact that would be first good indicator on how your oil cleaning went, and how badly gunked engine is. If there is crap under valley covers that is.


However i wouldnt even go there yet, if i were you. I doubt you need any of valve jobs or header replacment or things.. I'd suggest to check out VSS first. Your problems do sounds like issues with it.

 

[kapaduch]

Hey,
Thanks alot for the info. Sorry for my ignorance, but what was VSS?
THanks, sorry again,
Kevin P.

 

[kapaduch]

Ok, sorry, the vehicle speed sensor, right??, well actually the vehicle just typically has those misfires at highway speeds 65-75, but it has misfired at around 35mph too, so i really doubt its the VSS. It doesnt misfire or atleast the light has never started blinking at me, when im idling. But i can tell that it is idling a bit rougher than it should, you can feel the engine kinda miss in idle but no real surges, like when it misfires while im driving. So, im thinking it is probalby still the valves, ive heard of tons of people having these valve problems, but i dont know if my "symptoms" are pointing to a valve job or not. Also which BG and 3M products do you believe work best. Ive heard that BG44K is supposed to be very good, but i also can't find it anywhere around here. Also on most disco's that need valve jobs, is the carbon build on the intake or exhaust valves? if it is exhaust i dont think any additivie will do much. I really hope something other than a valve or head job could be done, but im really running out of things to try.
Thanks,
Kevin P.

 

[Jeff Discos]

Unlikely the VSS. I don't think you get misfire codes when the VSS lets go. Other than that, I can't offer much...except advice on how to pull the heads.

Some of those cleaners are definitely worth a shot.