LordMagnet

I tried the ol' DIY valve adjustment... and on the first valve (#1 exhaust) I couldn't figure out how to gap it. Anyways, I thought I had return the valve gap to normal before putting everything back together but it seems I tightened the gap too much, because when I started the car up it made a putting noise and my check engine light came on.

Now I need to regap it, so can anyone give me some help with it then? When I gapped the valve the nut would be loose and then when I tightened the nut the gap would close. Can someone guide me on how to do the tightening/loosing of both the screw and nut? Thanks

Asura

First of all, make sure your feeler gauges are not bending under tension. They need to be perfectly flat. Use two fingers to get a more accurate sense of the clearance.

See how much the set screw moves when you torque the nut down. Please tell me you are using a torque wrench.

Then adjust the set screw back a tad. So when you torque the nut, the screw is right where you want it. Another thing that worked for me is to get the nut hand tight with the set screw in the right place. The nut will need very little movement to be torqued down, and the set screw, as a result, will move very little, if at all.

Hope that helps.

CoralDoc

Good advice. Valve adjusting requires patience and persistence, but is a task any shade tree mechanic can accomplish.

mxt_77

I hope the noise that your engine made wasn't due to valve-to-piston contact.

I'd recommend getting a special valve adjustment tool (like the one offered by marcucci). It allows you to hold the set screw in place while you tighten the nut. Then you can torque the nut down and verify that the adjustment didn't change.

Good luck.

ninegrand

I pm'ed marcucci regarding the tool and it's no longer for sale.

Anyone have another idea?

I've been trying to work up the nerve to do this also..

Gernby

I thought marcucci had a bunch of them...

Before I had marcucci's tool, I would loosen the lock nut, then retighten it a bit, so that the screw was difficult to turn with the screw driver. That made sure that the locknut wouldn't move while adjusting the screw, and it took very little turning to retorque it. Most of the time, the screw wouldn't turn at all. Another thing I tried with good results is to bend a regular 10mm wrench (on a vice with a torch) so that I could tighten the nut while holding the screw in place with a screw driver. No matter how you do it, you MUST recheck the clearance again after torquing the nut.

ninegrand

thanks for the tip gernby

On the TDC sensors, the one to remove from the valve cover is the one closest to the driver correct? (US car)

Wish those pics from destiny were still up

mxt_77

You might do a search on "valve adjustment" or "valve adjustment tool". I'm pretty sure someone posted a picture/link of another tool that is available. I'm sure there's something available at Sears for this job... basically just a hollow socket type tool.

Why do you need to know about the TDC sensor? Just unplug anything that's attached to the valve cover, since it has to come off to do the job.

ninegrand

From memory I recall one of the steps that says the TDC sensor #1 need to be removed from the valve cover since it interfers with the cover removal.

If not, all the better.

mxt_77

I see. It'll be easy to figure out. The TDC sensor doesn't actually need to be removed... just unplug it. It's a tight squeeze to get the cover off, but you can manage. I've never taken the TDC sensor off.