valve job price?

[dinnut]

how much is a valve job cost? assuming the heads wont need much? i dont know much about heads but i know i the heads on my 350 need new valve seats or seals or whatever you call them because i get a bunch of smoke after letting it sit... and my expensive 4 tip platinum plugs are turning BLACK as can be after sitting up for a while and now its not running right..... so how much does a basic one cost.... just looking out for how much cash its gonna take

[Lgriffin]

Bad valve seals are not going to turn your plugs black. How much oil are you using? Is the black on your plugs oil black, kind of shinnie or soot black, dull? If it is soot black you have a carb problem. Do you also have black smoke coming from the exhaust, at any time, like acceleration?

Larry
68 C20 327 daily driver
63 C20 292 Camper truck
65 C10 ? Custom Cab AC,PB,PS,$flasher - Project

[dinnut]

the thing is my truck sets up for long amounts of time and we think its the heads. i can tell u by pulling a plug tomorrow. the smoke is if we drive it after it sets up a while but goes away after driving for a little bit... maybe i also have a carb problem. the carb is going to get replaced when i do the heads....


im wondering how much a valvejob costs also...

[Ogier]

$80-$150 depending on who you take it to.

Ogier

[dinnut]

Originally Posted by Ogier

$80-$150 depending on who you take it to.

Ogier

per head or for both?

[Ogier]

Both.

Ogier

[Tx Firefighter]

For that price, you get a valve grind and that's it. Worn guides or bad seats will make the price drastically higher. It's usually cheaper to buy new heads if any guides or seats need excessive work.

[Huck]

Not saying your heads are bad or good but, swap out the carb first and try it for a while. it's been my experience that black sooty plugs is usually a very rich mixture from the carb and not the heads. You can switch out the carb in 15 minutes verses hours and lots of back ache doing the heads that might be ok!

[dubie]

it cost me $240 to have the valve grind done and have all the seats and guides replaced on my heads. It's well worth it

[dmec]

i had a similar problem but got lucky. i have a chevy converted jag that would smoke on start up then smoke went away after driving for awhile. found plugs oil fould and air cleaner collecting oil. couldnt figure why oil was getting into air cleaner. i put my finger over the end of the air pipe that goes into the valve cover and connects to the air cleaner and found it had pressure instead of suction. replaced pcv valve and rechecked. had suction and smoke went away. might be worth checking before pulling heads.

[crazy4chevs]

plan on spending around 300. for getting the heads rebuilt, and make sure they dont just knurl the guides either have them replaced.

[Grim Reaper]

What color is the smoke?

Blue is oil
White is coolant
Black is gas.

Too rich (black smoke) will make you plugs black. A valve jobe will do zero to stop that. You need to fix that with the carb or possibly ignition.

If oil from bad valve guide seals then the plugs are more likely to have a brown deposit build up if it clears out after being started. If it continues to smoke for quite a while it might be time fore a complete rebuild. If it smokes for a few second and then not noticable then you need some umbrella seal and a set of valve cover gaskets and some education on how to install them without pulling the head. It's a $50 job if you have to buy the hose to connect it to your comperssor. No air compresson and you can do this with some rope.

If it's white smoke and you loosing coolant then it's a blown head gasket or cracked heads.

If this is a pre unleaded fuel enigne and it's anything more then valve guide seals....get a set of vortec heads. It's not going to be much more to do that then get your heads done with hardend seats new guides and good three angle valve job. Unless your motor has big valve camel humps the vortecs will out perform anything you got that is stock.