while doing my head gaskets in my 88 GTA, i found a small (maybe a little under an inch) snap ring that seemed to fall out of one of the heads. based on what i've had to take apart to get the heads off, the only thing i can imagine it being is the retaining clip for one of the lifters. i hypothesize that one of the pushrods got caught on it and pulled it off.

now of course i didnt find this retaining clip until AFTER i have most of the car back together, and of course i've misplaced the damn thing through the course of cleaning up the garage last night.

my questions are:
1) after i get the intake apart again, will it be very obvious to me which lifter is missing the clip
2) will i have to remove the lifter to put the clip back on or should i be able to compress the lifter while its still in the motor
3) if i cant find the clip, is it safe to just buy a new lifter and steal the clip off it, or do aftermarket lifters vary in dimensions from the factory ones. i dont think its a good idea to replace the whole lifter, cuz i'd have one oddball lifter and i really dont want to buy 16

 

I though the lifters had a square wire retainer instead of a snap ring.

Do you have stock rocker arms or after market ones?

 

i'm not the original owner, but to my knowledge, stock.

the pictures of the lifter disassembly in the chilton's book shows a circular ring at the top of the lifter where the pushrod would sit.

and i call it a snap ring, but i apologize if that might not be the technical term... i dont have the book infront of me, but i believe they call it a 'retaining spring'.

 

Was the piece you found round or square?

I just looked at a stock lifter, and the retainer piece is a square-shaped piece of wire with a section cut out on one side so it can snap into place.

 

its round.

if its not a lifter retainer, what on earth could it be? it definitley fell out of the head when i put the head on the ground to clean the gasket surfaces. and i was working on a clean piece of cardboard, so its not like it was just a stray ring sitting on the ground already.

it looks too skinny to be part of the spring assembly

 

Find it and post a pic.

Are you sure it was a snap ring, and not just a washer?

 

it was a round ring (not flat like a washer) with a slit in it as if it would be opened or compressed. Reminded me of the ring that goes on the steering wheel shaft to hold the lock plate down, except skinnier.

i'll look for it again when i get home

 

Could be from a valve stem seal.

 

I think we have a winner!!

 

ok, so hypothetically it is from a valve stem seal (and i still cant find the thing BTW), what is the worst than can happen? will the valve seal just be prone to moving and allowing oil to blow by and cause smoke?

in other words, is it serious enough to make me have to totally redo a head gasket job that is just about done.

FWIW, the car didnt smoke at all on startup. the original owner told me that the the valve seals were redone at some point (i dont know the mileage or year), and based on how it just fell out when i pulled the head off, i'm betting it was loose already.

 

It is probably off an old valve stem seal. It shouldn't just fall off on it's own, and if it did it would still have to open itself up and go around the valvestem. However, you might want to check both heads to see if any more old ones are floating around.

 

five7kid, you were right. i looked at a new valve seal, and it has a ring on it just like the one i found.

hopefully its really just been bouncing around in the head for the last 10 or so years and not off an existing seal... but if it is, im sure it would have been loose already. and since the car didnt show any of the typical signs of valve seal problems, im not overly concerned

this is my first time doing head gaskets, and its taking 4 times longer than i'd hoped, since every day there is some problem or delay. i really appreciate the experienced advice guys!