Painted valve springs?

[firerod]

I had my engine rebuilt approx. 500 miles ago. I pulled the intake off to change it and noticed the guy that rebuilt my engine used yellow painted valve springs. Some of the paint is flaking off, should I be worried? I would call the re-builder but he has since passed away.

[RalphM]

No worries, a lot of them are done that way.

[DavidG]

Most NOS valve springs came painted brown, so as RalphM indicated, worry about something else.

[Jack E/NJ]

Google "valve spring" "color codes" with the quotes. Jack E/NJ

[firerod]

Thanks for the ease of mind. All I could think about was tearing it down and cleaning.

[Joe Immler]

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Is there any particular reason that they were painted? Painted by size, strength etc? Seems a waste of time and paint for something that will be immersed in oil its whole career.

[firerod]

Just to be clear, the flaking paint won’t hurt anything?

[RalphM]

I believe the Isky valves springs I last used were painted grey. I have seen entire engine blocks painted inside, why, no one will ever see them. I do not believe there is enough paint on a set of valve springs to do any engine damage. If your worried, change your oil, thats where it ends up.

[hardtimes]

Originally Posted by RalphM

I believe the Isky valves springs I last used were painted grey. I have seen entire engine blocks painted inside, why, no one will ever see them. I do not believe there is enough paint on a set of valve springs to do any engine damage. If your worried, change your oil, thats where it ends up.

The last set of Isky springs that I used were not painted.
As to 'why'...blocks painted inside; glyptol the reddish special paint that is used for that purpose is for 'sealing' porous castings; for shedding sludge and for allowing engine lube to return more quickly to sump. Maybe other reasons that I'm not aware of.

If the paint that you see therein, is other than glyptol , I'd be shaking my head at that...my opinion, your choice !

[itslow]

Originally Posted by Joe Immler

Is there any particular reason that they were painted? Painted by size, strength etc? Seems a waste of time and paint for something that will be immersed in oil its whole career.

The paint is to aid identification during assembly.

Assume you have a number of bins full of valve springs that are visually identical, but with differing mechanical or material properties. What's the easiest and quickest way for an assembler to know which spring is which?

Keep in mind that this method of identification is not standardized. One manufacturer may use green paint on its valve spring while another manufacturer uses yellow for their identical equivalent.

[Joe Immler]

That is kinda what i thought. Thanks for confirming itslow

[pooch]

Originally Posted by firerod

I had my engine rebuilt approx. 500 miles ago. I pulled the intake off to change it and noticed the guy that rebuilt my engine used yellow painted valve springs. Some of the paint is flaking off, should I be worried? I would call the re-builder but he has since passed away.

You could summon him up at a seance........

[tubman]

I was sorting trough some of my stuff yesterday and came across a set of Iskendarian 185G valve springs unused in the original box. They were painted gray if anyone cares.

[RalphM]

This gets me thinking. If springs were powder coated, would the heat effect the spring tension?

[itslow]

The temperature required for powder coating is not high enough to adversely affect the spring. That said, it'd be unnecessary for a valve spring and could be damaging if the cured powder were to flake off and infiltrate the oil system.