Hello,

Today i've mounted almost all of the valve springs. When i looked in the Toyota manual there stated that you have to put the mark face upward. We were looking but couldn't find marks on non of the springs.

Today, yes ofcourse with the last 4 valves i've mounted i spotted a difference. On one side the start of the spring has a bit a of sharp edge while on the other side the end is a bit flatter. Will it be a great problem if they'll be mounted upside down? They look completely the same except for that tiny spot.

Otherwise i have to get the valves out AGAIN . Happily disassembly and assembly is a lot less difficult then when i started on this head

onnaj wrote:Hello,

Today i've mounted almost all of the valve springs. When i looked in the Toyota manual there stated that you have to put the mark face upward. We were looking but couldn't find marks on non of the springs.

Today, yes ofcourse with the last 4 valves i've mounted i spotted a difference. On one side the start of the spring has a bit a of sharp edge while on the other side the end is a bit flatter. Will it be a great problem if they'll be mounted upside down? They look completely the same except for that tiny spot.

Otherwise i have to get the valves out AGAIN . Happily disassembly and assembly is a lot less difficult then when i started on this head

The valve springs are installed only one way.... I'm not sure what you are looking at, but if you look at the spring from the side you will see one end has a tighter winding of the spring then the other. The tighter winding goes down.

The valve springs are installed only one way.... I'm not sure what you are looking at, but if you look at the spring from the side you will see one end has a tighter winding of the spring then the other. The tighter winding goes down.

You're right. Don't know how we could overlook this! Even Toyota in Holland didn't know it can be upside down! I ended up with removing all valves again and check for the correct mounting. I'm getting handy at it

Only thing i wonder about is about the valve spring retainer locks. Sometimes they just don't line up completely straight. So at one side they are side by side while on the opposite side there's about 1 mm distance between them. Some line up perfectly of automaticly line up perfect after valve turning. Sometimes they were lined up perfectly but after a bit turning of the valve they aren;t anymore. Let's do the next picture to the talking:


I was talking about the fact that the upper side of the spring has a sort of an arrow on top. Down it is more flat. Let's show some more pictures to clarify what i'm saying:


Upside (difficult to see but if you take a good look you see an arrow poining to the right):


Down (this one doesn't have an arrow pointing):


@ this picture you can see the difference in windings. Unbelievable we didn;t spot it before :

ideally you want the little keepers evenly spaced/separated on the stem. This will allow even expansion when they are hot, they will also better support the spring retainer if they are spaced equally.


note the incorrect install in the middle panel, spring on the right




BTW... in the future you should specify which 4AG engine you are working on, I ASSUMED you meant 16V and the 16V spring I KNOW are tighter windings down... I didn't KNOW that for a 20V... till just now!

oldeskewltoy wrote:ideally you want the little keepers evenly spaced/separated on the stem. This will allow even expansion when they are hot, they will also better support the spring retainer if they are spaced equally.


note the incorrect install in the middle panel, spring on the right




BTW... in the future you should specify which 4AG engine you are working on, I ASSUMED you meant 16V and the 16V spring I KNOW are tighter windings down... I didn't KNOW that for a 20V... till just now!

You're right i didn't mension the type. But you've now learned some extra again haha

It's almost impossible to get them all lined up perfectly. As told, sometimes they are exactly evenly spaced, but when you take the valve tool off they're not straight anymore.
But you say ideally, but it isn't completely necessary? I know that a friend of mine also encouters the same 'problem' when working on other engines then the 4AGE. My car is and will be almost bone stock, except for a polished head (exhaust side) and a custom alu airbox. Not going to rev it over 8200 rpm and most of the times it'll be a quiet driver