I'm burning some oil, recently the oil control valve has gummed up, there's been residue burned onto my oil dipstick since I bought the car... At my last oil change the mechanic said in his notes that he detected a leak (but I wasn't able to catch up with him to ask him where).

I'm running Seafoam through the crankcase this week, which hopefully will help (but may cause another leak), but I was thinking, if my valve stem seals are bad, or maybe the headgasket...maybe I should pull the head and send 'er off for a refurb? A good cleaning, new seals, gaskets, etc, and while its being worked on, maybe a port/polish, 3-angle valve job?

• Any thoughts on what should be done to the head? Maintenance-wise AND performance options?
• Any shops familiar with the 1uz that are recommended?
• Dumb question, but is there a good place I could buy a reliable high-performance head and send them mine as a "core"?

 

http://www.lexuspartsonline.com/

Allegedly, they can find any part you need.

 

I think this is what your should do if you have to rip the heads off. Is there any local machine shops up by you? We have Borchards in Milwaukee and there are plenty in Chicago area. I think my drag (not drag as in drag queen but, drag racing.. ) Buddy's go to a place in between Milwaukee and Chicago, called Fast Times or something.. I can get you the exact name if you want.

Or how about this... as you know these guys are our engine experts..
http://www.lextreme.com/Lexus-Toyota-heads.html

 

I would definitely be willing to make the few-hour drive to find a reputable, reasonably-priced shop to drop off the heads and pick 'em up all refurbished and opened up a week later. I'll check into Borchard's -- I'm about 1.5 hours away. (I found the Fast Times shop & e-mailed 'em). That's along the lines of what I was thinking I'd need to do...I'm not against shipping the heads somewhere, but I can't imagine that'd be cheap.

 

Cool. Keep us posted on your findings.