Hi everyone. Just finished an article from the general forum that discusses maintenance. In it, it says the engine valve retainers in AP 1's are a ticking time bomb and should be replaced as soon as possible. It links to a posting from an owner who, at just 20,000 some miles, was saved from an expensive engine repair by an alert mechanic. The article was dated 5/13. Any AP 1 owners here who have done this?
Is there any validity to the claim that the stock engine valve retainers in the AP 1 are flawed or are these isolated cases? Thanks much Stan

 

They are only flawed if you have over revved your engine, other wise they are perfectly fine and wouldn't worry about it. If you do not know the history of your car you can pull the valve cover and check your retainers to see if any are cracked. There are a lot of good thread on here discussing this.

When I had my AP1 I did over rev it (went from 3rd to 2nd), checked my retainers and had cracked all of them in the intake side.

 

I changed my intake side retainers asap after purchasing my ap1 a few years back. The upgrade is very well worth it since its cheap and not very time consuming to do. I wasnt sure how the previous owner drove the car and I did overrev it so I felt I had to.

 

Like others have said it is definitely worth inspecting and depending on your driving habits you could replace them for peace of mind.