alexf20c

If he didn't sue then, he surely should've sued me when I installed an audio system is his Infiniti. The stupid Bose system was giving me more hassles than I wanted to deal with (had to manually bypass all the built-in amps), so to cheer myself up I rewired his left turn signal to activate the horn.

He said when he was driving to work the next day, he checked his mirrors and was about to switch lanes, so flicked the left turn signal. He heard a horn go off and assumed it was another car, which was in his blind spot and had just cut off. He jerked the wheel back, turned aruond... But there was no car! Weird. It happened two more times before he finally realized what I had done, and called me up...

It was so blatantly obvious, so all I could do was refuse to fix it...

I finally gave in about a week later, though. My friend said he never remembered the 'fix' and was always scared sh!tless every time he used his blinker.

PortugueseS2K

HA! Thats Hilarious Alex
Damn, 15K miles and already had a valve-job done Im assuming it was just for good measure. Mine ticks very quitely, you can barely hear it and at 22K i wasnt even thinking of doing my valves just yet

Gernby

There would be more to worry about if there was NOT any valve noise. It is the reduced valve clearances that will damage them. I haven't heard of anyone finding valves too far from spec at any mileage.

Don't get me wrong. I adjust my valves about every 10K miles to keep them at the smallest safe clearance for maximum lift and duration.

CoralDoc

In a recent Valve Adjustment Tech Day, South Florida club members adjusted valves on 5 cars with mileage varying from 9,600 to 55,000 miles. All cars had valves that were slightly out of spec (loose), so even doing an adjustment early in the car's life may assist with smoothness of operation and give marginal power improvements. If nothing else, it's nice to know that the adjustment is correct.

mikdys

In my opinion you are unlikely to get long-term damage from slightly wide valve clearances. The danger is tight clearances that will cause the valve/seat mating area to burn (=v expensive hassle).

I don't know how the S2000 top-end behaves over time but I have seen other OHC designs where the clearances go tight over the first 20k miles (and need adjusting - usually the inlet valves) and then stabilise for the next 100k+! I suspect the S may be similar.

A good way of checking for tight valves (without dismantling) is to get a 4 gas check. If the valves are tight the HC reading will be up at tickover. A little noise from the valves should be OK but if your motor has never had a clearance check & adjust from new I would recommend getting it done anyway.

The main question is are you sure its the valves making a noise? The tube idea was good but a long screwdriver with the handle pressed into your ear and the sharp end rested in different places on the running engine will work just as well to locate the general area of the noise( and is easier to do). Also, get the spark plug torque checked in case you have a loose plug.