What Is a valve Adjustment?
07-23-2006, 12:59 PM
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What Is a valve Adjustment?
Sorry for the rookie question, but what does a valve adjusment exactly help and do? What valves are adjusted? How do valve adjustments help my car?
07-23-2006, 01:08 PM
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Well... if you would set your Koni valves a bit tighter you get a bumpier ride.
But I guess that is not what you are asking.
Your cams are pushing your valves open.
Not directly, there are rockers following the cams and those rockers push the valves.
Those 3 itmes should have some play between them.
That play is measured when the engine is cold and should meet certain specs.
To much play and your valves are not pushed open enough = less power.
Not enough play and that may cause your vavles not to close = blow by = not good at all!
Proper valve adjustment sets the gap (play) at the right spec.
But I guess that is not what you are asking.
Your cams are pushing your valves open.
Not directly, there are rockers following the cams and those rockers push the valves.
Those 3 itmes should have some play between them.
That play is measured when the engine is cold and should meet certain specs.
To much play and your valves are not pushed open enough = less power.
Not enough play and that may cause your vavles not to close = blow by = not good at all!
Proper valve adjustment sets the gap (play) at the right spec.
07-23-2006, 01:14 PM
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ok thanks. I suppose the Honda dealership will do a good job right? Also, how often is a valve adjustment needed? I dont think my car ever had one. Has 50K miles on it now. My buddy told me he hears my valves kinda loud and that I need a valve adjustment. How can I tell if I need one?
07-23-2006, 01:51 PM
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I can not make comments about your local Honda dealership 
My (German) manual states to check valve clearances every 40.000 km. (25.000 miles).
I don't know if your buddy can make that call by just listening.
How do you tell if you need one?
Well.. things that change very slowly sort of grow on you.
It takes someone who knows what your engine should feel like to tell you that you need one.
That happened to me.
I went to my local Honda dealer to ask about allignment / steering and we went for a ride with the mechanic driving.
He told me I also needed a valve clearance check, just because "it didn't feel as a S2000 should feel".
I took his word for it, to be honest I never noticed it before (grows on you) and I did not really notice anything major afterwards.
I do trust them doing a proper job, they service S2000's regularly.
(as far as that goes in the Netherlands, lets say 1 a month?)
Checking valve clearances isn't a lot of work and there are no parts needed as far as I know so for piece of mind (and your milage) I would get it checked.
Remember :the engine needs to be cold so your car needs to stay overnight or dropped of in the morning.
My (German) manual states to check valve clearances every 40.000 km. (25.000 miles).
I don't know if your buddy can make that call by just listening.
How do you tell if you need one?
Well.. things that change very slowly sort of grow on you.
It takes someone who knows what your engine should feel like to tell you that you need one.
That happened to me.
I went to my local Honda dealer to ask about allignment / steering and we went for a ride with the mechanic driving.
He told me I also needed a valve clearance check, just because "it didn't feel as a S2000 should feel".
I took his word for it, to be honest I never noticed it before (grows on you) and I did not really notice anything major afterwards.
I do trust them doing a proper job, they service S2000's regularly.
(as far as that goes in the Netherlands, lets say 1 a month?)
Checking valve clearances isn't a lot of work and there are no parts needed as far as I know so for piece of mind (and your milage) I would get it checked.
Remember :the engine needs to be cold so your car needs to stay overnight or dropped of in the morning.
07-23-2006, 02:10 PM
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I got my first valve adjustment since I owned the car a few months ago and I noticed a HUGE difference. Mine must've been way off, because my midrange opened up in a gigantic kind of way
07-23-2006, 02:43 PM
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VTEC motors commonly have more issues with valve adjustment problems. i agree with spitfire, if you trust your dealer to do a good job take it to them. your probably gonna get charged an arm and a leg so check around with reputable mechanics in your area for an estimated price.
BTW, (i know this will sound stupid) how many valves does the S2000 have? im thinking 16 but we put out alot of power so it could be more.
BTW, (i know this will sound stupid) how many valves does the S2000 have? im thinking 16 but we put out alot of power so it could be more.
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07-23-2006, 03:16 PM
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Down here in South Florida, we hold tech days every 6 months or so. After fluid changes, valve adjustments are the most common procedure that we do. It is not a difficult procedure if you know what you are doing.
Most of the cars we've worked on have betwen 20 and 60k miles on them. I've performed adjustments on about 20 cars, and in general, I have found that exhaust valves are usually within specification and intake valves are near the maximum specification or slightly (0.001-0.002") over spec. After a precision adjustment where we set the valves to the low end of specification (0.008" intake and 0.010" exhaust) my friends report improved power (very slight, if at all) and smoother idle. Reports of "HUGE" power gains are grossly overstated.
In North America, a valve adjustment is not required under the maintenance schedule until 105k miles. The valves in the F20C (and F22C) are noisy and noise by itself is not a reason to get an adjustment.
A Honda dealer may charge as much as $300 for this procedure, including a $25 valve cover gasket. Be sure that they set the valves to a specific setting (not just a range) to get the most benefit.
Most of the cars we've worked on have betwen 20 and 60k miles on them. I've performed adjustments on about 20 cars, and in general, I have found that exhaust valves are usually within specification and intake valves are near the maximum specification or slightly (0.001-0.002") over spec. After a precision adjustment where we set the valves to the low end of specification (0.008" intake and 0.010" exhaust) my friends report improved power (very slight, if at all) and smoother idle. Reports of "HUGE" power gains are grossly overstated.
In North America, a valve adjustment is not required under the maintenance schedule until 105k miles. The valves in the F20C (and F22C) are noisy and noise by itself is not a reason to get an adjustment.
A Honda dealer may charge as much as $300 for this procedure, including a $25 valve cover gasket. Be sure that they set the valves to a specific setting (not just a range) to get the most benefit.
07-23-2006, 03:27 PM
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Originally Posted by PilotKD,Jul 23 2006, 02:58 PM
16 valves. 4 per cylinder. The reason we make alot of power is high-compression and variable cam timing.
variable is the stuff.....im a horrible vtec-aholic.
07-24-2006, 02:50 AM
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Just for a little perspective.........my valve adjustment was not grossly overstated. It made a huge difference. A long time ago my local Honda dealer adjusted my valves. The car was feeling very slow and I dyno'd it at 160 horsepower. I took that dyno to Honda and they claimed the valvetrain was just tight and everything was within spec and they were done working on the car. I had the valves readjusted by a local tuner and redyno'd at 207 horsepower 143 torque. According to the tuner the valves were either way too tight or way too loose and nearly all were severely out of spec. I took the car back to the dealer and told them about my new valve adjustment and now the car ran good and all they kept saying was that non-Honda work performed on the car would void the warranty blah blah blah. The local dealers around Tampa Bay Florida are so bad I'm feeling jaded and I never wanna buy another Honda.