Awhile back there was a tear down video posted that showed someone using vice grips to remove stuck valves. I was unimpressed with that procedure as it pretty much requires new valves not to mention it makes a forensic analysis of the valves tough to do if they are all chingered up by vice grips.

So when I got my core 230 to build it I decided to find a good way to unstick the valves that would not render them useless in all but the most hack builds. I tried a few things like penetrating oil, heat on the valve guides, cycling the valve up and down with a plastic faced hammer (down) and the cam (up). It worked on three of the five stuck valves but the last two were recalcitrant.

So then I picked the brains of guys older than me and have BTDT. I was given a possible solution. This morning I implemented it. Success, the last two valves now function as they are supposed to.

Brake fluid was the solution. I used a precision oiler to put the fluid on the top of the guide and the valves stems. I put brake fluid on the top and the bottom of the stems and rolled the engine over with a socket and ratchet. When the tappet was fully seated I hit the open valve with a plastic faced hammer till it seated. Took maybe 10 minutes of rolling the engine over, tapping the valves and adding more brake fluid.

I no longer have any stuck valves and they go up and down as designed. So, next time you have a stuck valve to deal with maybe this will help.