LAC Valve stem seal renewal without removing head.

[rob hod]

   Hi listers,

       Having a problem with our little VW Golf 1300 from 1990. It's using a
bit of oil. Now let me say that the upside is that the problem is not where
it is going....it's coming out the exhaust in the form of blue smoke!

      Given that it's on 173K miles I guess it's forgivable for a small
engined car and although the value of the car is not worth it I thought I
might do rings and stem seals. At the weekend I got a set of gaskets and
seals, but it seems these days nobody keeps ring sets on the shelf so they
would need to be ordered in.

 So in the meantime I wondered if it's possible to replace the stem seals
without having the head off. The head design has hydraulic tappets and is
very similar in design to the beloved I5, do I recall correctly that the
stem seals can be replaced with the head in situ on an I5? if so how?

 TIA Rob.



rob