davidc1

Thanks. Picked it up 2 days ago. Pretty frustrating right now breaking it in for about 500 mi cause I can't' rev it past 3k or so!

buaan

Excellent write up, very inspiring. Great work!

agthad

Update - The car is still running great. It's like having a new S again. Fuel economy has been as good as 26/27 mpg with easy/highway driving. It's been as low as 20/21 mpg when I've hammered on it. (Worth every penny by the way!)

tan0116

I just adjusted my valves today because my car has beeng idling a bit rough and sometimes stalls with the A/C on while the engine is cold. This has been going on for the past 5K miles and I've cleaned the IACV and cleaned the throttle body (especially the air passage to the MAP). It's a 2005 with ~75K miles so I decided it's about time to change the spark plugs and check the valves lash since the other checks did not resolve my issues. I was really surprised to find all of my exhaust valves were tight. Four were 0.001 in. to 0.002 in. tighter than Honda's spec and the other four exhaust valves had almost no clearance at all!! I purchased the car used with only 7K miles on it 5 years ago, so I doubt the valves were previously adjusted before me. Half of the valves on the intake side seem to have a lot of drag fitting a 0.008 in. feeler gage so I loosen those a bit.

I ended up setting the intake side to 0.009 in. and the exhaust side to 0.011 in. because I am worried they would get tighter as the engine continues to wear. I don't think I've ever mechanically over reved the car, but I do AutoX the car so I hit the rev limiter every now and then. This is the 4th Honda motor I have done a valve adjustment on and a couple timing belt changes to give you an idea of my experience level. I am also Mechanical Engineer too, so I'd like to think I am pretty competent under the hood.

Just sent Bill a PM to see if he has encountered tight exhaust valves on these cars before I stumbled upon this thread. What's weird is that the valves that had no gap between the tappet and valve stem were the left valves (closest to the bulk head) of each cylinder if that makes any sense. I did not check the compression of each cylinder, since I had no other issues than the perceived roughness at idle and stalling with the A/C on. Hopefully, I did not burn any valves.

This looks clean for a 75K mile motor. I love Amsoil.






-Brian

Billman250

In many hundreds of s2ks of all years I have never found an exhaust that tight. .007 was the tightest I think i've found but I could tell it had been done before.

I would try to ask the owner before you if any engine work was done. Those clearances are unheard of in my experience.

tan0116

Wow thanks for that was a quick response. Didn't think you would still up at this hour Bill. Anyways I will check the compression when I get a chance to see if damage has already been done, unless you have any other suggestions. I honestly didn't think the motor was in bad shape because there were no CEL's prior and it seemed to rev smoothly other than stalling I mentioned.

I have a few maintenance records from the previous owner who got the oil changed once and brake fluid replaced (for HDPE events) when I purchased the car. All of the work was done at Hudson Honda in NY. I would be very surprised if he adjusted the valves with less than 7K miles, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask.

agthad

Update - It's been about 4000 miles now since the valve job. I checked the valve clearances last weekend. Everything was still within spec. The car has been running great. It does put out a small puff of blue smoke occasionally on startups after sitting overnight. Based on what I've read from others I guess this if from a slight valve seal leakage. It doesn't smoke at any other time that I'm aware of. I've only added about 1/2 quart of oil since the valve job so I'm not too concerned with the amount it is burning off. If anyone has any other thoughts on the smoke I'm always open to ideas.