Valve guides
 

Hey all, most of you know I was asking questions about getting my head o-ringed. I talked to a shop today and he asked what kind of mileage I had. I told him over 300,000 and he recommended I redo my valve seals and guides. I was plannin on doing the seals but do you guys think I should have new guides put in? I would love to get it done but its so darn pricey! Thanks for your opinions
Dan

If you can aford it, go for it........if not just add seal........if there is carbon build up on the valve stem......that's from the oil running down the stem....

just guesssing here.

I would guess that he could tell you wear specs of some sort, couldn't he?

I've heard stories of original crosshatching visible past 300,000 miles, so I wouldn't think valve guides are automatically worn at that distance. But I'm just spitballing there; my expertise and $.50 could get me a cup of coffee...

If you have the head off, thats the time to do it. Check everything first, make sure it really needs guides, check it for cracks, check the valve guides for wear, etc...
Make sure your head is worth putting money into because:
New loaded heads aren't that pricey, though shipping would probably kill ya.
I don't know what a shop is going to charge, but its not cheap to redo heads.

If you need the specs, I have a cummins book at home, I'm sure other people here have them too. But tell use what numbers you want and we'll post them up for you.

Ok thanks JD, I'll have them examined by somebody that really knows what to look for. I'll let ya know if I could use some numbers out of your book :D