A very belated thanks for that link! I never would have attempted this job without it. But replacing the valve stem seals did do the trick. In my case, it was a lot harder than that site would have you believe. After cracking off a corner on one of the pry points, I did the unthinkable: I started hammering in paring knives around the periphery. It took three weekends of careful tapping/hammering before the cam cover gave up and separated from the lower part of the head. It took another weekend of scouring the surfaces with a 3M pad and Permatex gasket solvent to get the surfaces clean. A couple of weekends for the seals, and I finally got it all done. I have to admit to being a Nervous-Nellie; I do everything in slow motion and double check it all, as well. Glad I wasn't totally dependent on getting the car going again! Passed inspection with no problem, and it's now leak free after several hundred miles.

Oh, and I used the RHJones (?) method to find the "true" mileage, which was only about 10K above the odometer. I have to wonder about these cars needing valve stem seals after 160,000 miles, though. I don't think this car had very good care, but the seals were all hard as rock, much like Mr. Crimmins' experience at the same mileage. On the other hand, the '96 with 200K has had mostly synthetic oil through it's life. It does show some blue smoke on startup, though. Inspection coming up for that one this month! Hoping for the best!

Thanks again!


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'96 850T and '83 244 DL both at about 200K, '97 850T5; gone but not forgotten '81 245 and '64 Amazon