Okay, all this talk of AP1 valve retainer failures is starting to worry me. I have 128,560 on my 01 and I'm wondering what I can do to prevent the failure in mine.

I have heard of some type of air nozzle that fits into the spark plug hole that puts enough air into the cylinder allowing the valves to remain in place when the springs are removed. Has anyone tried this at home and where can I get the nozzle that can hold the valves and the valve spring compressor? Or is this something that I should let the dealer do instead? How much would this cost to do myself and how much would the dealer typically charge?

 

That is definitely a technique that will let you change the retainers without removing the head. If you have the tools and the experience/confidence, it is possible to do it yourself. Snap-on has the air fitting for the spark plug hole...not sure who else might, but I'm sure there are cheaper alternatives somewhere.

You really only need to replace the intake side according to billman. Just use the ap2 retainers...they seem to be tough enough to survive over-revs.

If you take it to a shop, expect to pay $200-300 for just the intake side parts+labor.

Honestly, this is something you will do once...so you will probably spend more on the tools and then they will sit.

Post up in your local s2ki forum for a shop recommendation.

 

Thanks Negcam. maybe taking it to a shop would be the better alternative.

 

Ask (demand !) them to NOT follow the manual = removing the head to replace retainers.

 

Just swap the intake retainers for AP2. I believe the keepers are the same. Exhaust retainers never? seem to crack and fail. There is absolutely no sane reason to remove the head.. thats redonkulous.

 

Since this has been worrying me, I removed the cam cover today and I'm guessing they all look okay. Here is a pic of the retainers from Cyl #1. The others look just about the same too. Don't worry about the dark lines going across the retainers. I don't know what they are from (Sharpie maybe) but they have to been put there by the factory.

Is there a particular cylinder that the retainers have been cracking more often than the others?

 

They look fine. The keeper on the right is clearly protruding up past the retainer, and that's what you need to check for. If the retainer were cracked, the hole in the middle would be enlarged, and it would 'ride up' on the keeper.

dark crap is from the factory.

 

Not sure what you mean by "protruding past the retainer". The keepers are even with or very slightly below being dead even with their respective retainers.

 

Sorry, meant the valve itself.

 

These pics clearly show the valve clearance is way out of spec by at least 0.02mm!

J/K

Those retainers look 100% like in my MY00 F20C2.
What you can do to prevent damage is to not mechanically overrev or (IMO) overaccelerate the engine.

As mentioned in all the other posts about retainers:
the valve clearance is not affected by cracked retainers and the engine will run normally until it blows.