yep, removing the battery isn't technically necessary, but it makes things much, much easier, and since you need to disconnect the battery to reset the ECU anyway, might as well pull the whole battery out, it saves time in the long run

the valve adjustments didn't seem to fix the exhaust smell during cold starts on my fit, though. maybe i need to look at other causes now

 

I did my valves last weekend, 08 MT LX. Never did anything like this before, taking apart an engine. It went super smoothly, thanks to the DIYs on here, Buff Haynes, and Claymore from the other site. I had no problems. Didn't remove throttle body just left it hanging, didn't lose any coolant. Like others noticed the exhaust valves were all around .007 .008, as were the intake valves. In other words, the intakes hardly move but the exhausts tighten up considerably. There were three intake valves which were perfect so I didn't adjust them at all. Replaced plugs and coils with hitachis. When removing the old coils one of them, #4, the boot detached and I had to put a needlenose plier down the hatch to pull out the boot. The spring stretched, and when I tried to retension the spring it broke, so I had to replace that coil, and decided to do all 4 since its 92000 miles and due. Torqued plugs to spec, used antiseize. I'll check the plugs again in a couple of weeks to make sure they're adequately torqued. Removing the airbox was much easier than anticipated. So, to anyone who is afraid of doing this kind of work, know from this newbie that's it's actually not difficult. You have to be methodical. Check your work. Don't rush. Take breaks. Have a friend to turn the crank. thanks everyone. No ticking after it was done. The engine was unusually quiet.

 

No ticking!? Mine ticks like mad. Going to do another adjustment soon, but I've read ticking is normal. Hope it's true..

 

I know. I almost was worried that the no ticking meant I did something wrong. But I'm pretty sure I made no mistakes. Two people, me and my assistant, checked every adjustment.

 

Mine ticks pretty loudly after the adjustment. Judging by the majority of the replies on here, that is normal.

 

I'm going to open it up again next weekend. I'm getting no ticking, and my mpg got worse.

 

No ticking would indicate very tight valves. Are you sure you were at the correct top dead center for each cylinder when you made the adjustments?

 

two of us decided every tdc and checked every valve twice. I'm imagining that since we're both the opposite of "laid back" people, we were allowing too much drag on the feeler gauge for the measurements. When its right does the feeler slide right out with no drag, or is there still some drag?

 

If you are unsure about the 'drag' resistance, try the 'go - no go' method:

Whatever your target clearances are on a particular valve, select two feelers. One should be at the minimum spec; the other should be one increment thicker than the maximum spec.

At the proper adjustment point of engine rotation, the thin feeler should "go". (Pass through with no resistance)

The thicker one should "No Go"...you should NOT be able to pass it under the adjusting nut.


You can make this apply to an exact thickness if you want. Say, you desire to set the exhaust valves at the loosest end of the spec, because they tighten up over time. Your NO GO feeler would be one thousandth OVER the spec. The GO feeler would be one thousandth UNDER the target spec. (NOT at the end of the factory range).



Regards checking your results: The best way to do that is to rotate the crankshaft to each check position AFTER all is said and done. If you had done the adjustment at a wrong point, your results would be different.


Oh, another reminder: NEVER turn the crankshaft 'backwards'. If you miss an adjustment point, rotate the engine in the proper direction until that adjustment point comes up again.

Good luck!

 

^ What he said. And FYI the correct way to turn the crankshaft would be clockwise while looking at the engine from the passenger side, where you are standing when you actually crank the engine.

 

thanks very much Buff. We definitely were doing it wrong. <At the proper adjustment point of engine rotation, the thin feeler should "go". (Pass through with no resistance)> We were measuring 'go' as 'we can get it through, even with considerable resistance'. Oops. Second time will be a charm.

 

I struggled with the same thing. Remember, the valve springs aren't super strong.

Even the go no go method is difficult because you can physically go as large as you want if you push down on the valve spring.

Key is to go with the gauge that has slight to moderate drag. I know that's still a vague suggestion, but it's the best I can explain it.

Done two on our Fit now and will do a third later this year. It's not a silent valvetrain. When adjusted correctly there will be a slight uniform ticking sound.

 

ahh, very tricky. Can't press down on the lifter. Much more sensitive. I'll be happy when I hear that ticking!

 

I was just wondering, what differences are there for this process when done on the JDM 1.3L engine? IE, in terms of taking the intake manifold, etc. off. Cheers!

 

here's what you're looking for. Complete DIY for what I think is your engine. Different removal process.

DIY adjusting valve clearences GD - Honda Fit Forums

 

I redid my valves today, three weeks after doing them the first time, which had resulted in a super silent no-ticking engine. Following the advice of you all, and using the go-nogo method, I totally redid them. I'll tell you the results, but first, a Big problem. I busted a bolt on the reinstall, the shaft of the bolt broke clean in half, and I was using torque wrench to spec. Here's the bolt

It is behind the throttle body, inserted vertically downward, it seems to attach the back rear right hand side portion of the intake manifold. As I was preparing to torque it to 8.7 ft. lbs it was clear that it was turning for far too long, and when I felt it with my hand it was completely loose. The last bit of the shaft of the bolt remains inside. It's behind and below the coil wiring harness, just behind the throttle body.
Here's some questions. 1. Is it important enough to have to pay someone to get the broken part out for me? 2. Will something bad happen if I don't get it fixed? 3. Is it something I can do myself, what tools do I need, how hard is it. Note. It seems that it threads onto a metal insert in a plastic part that is connected to the intake manifold. It's on page 9-6 in the manual, in the picture for reinstalling the intake manifold, coil wiring harness, MAP sensor, etc. It's merely called "bolt". Its 10 mm I believe.

Now onto the more exciting stuff. Look at these measurements for my exhaust valves, three weeks after * adjusting* them. 007s 006s and 009s. Terrible. I *adjusted* them way too tight first time. I redid them with go no go, and rechecked after two full revolutions, and they're good. 006 for intakes, 012 for exhausts. And voila! I hear ticking! And my idle rpm is pretty low. And I'm thrilled with it. I really learned the second time round how loose a loose feeler is, and how tight a *no go* feels. I stopped jamming my feelers in, stopped *getting them in there* because I think it was GAFIT who said "you can get *any* size feeler in them, because they're hydraulic lifters. Well, truedat! Thrilled for the redo.
Now please help me with that broken blasted bolt. I use antiseize, and I def didn't torque it too much, so why did it happen, and what should I do. Btw, that bolt gave me trouble three weeks ago too. I realized I had to loosen the intake manifold bolts to move the whole assembly a bit, to be able to get that damn bolt to line up properly, so I imagine other folks have had some trouble with it. Thanks all.

 

If you used anti sieze, you needed to reduce the torque... Bolts will get a higher net torque when lubricated than when not...

The upside is you might be able to walk broken bit of the bolt out with a scribe,
It wont damage any thing so its worth a try. It looks like this:

They have a hardened tio, Once the bolt broke the torque should be gone, assuming a clean hole and the anti seize on the bolt,, Pretend the top of the broken bit is a old school rotary phone dial and use the pic to press down near the edge of the bolt and sort of dial the bolt out (Counter clockwise) Based on the pic above that bolt has a fracture line across it so you should be able to hook it as a leverage point.. Good luck!

 

Thanks. the broken tip is buried pretty deep in the bolt hole. Won't be able to get a scribe in there to turn, no way no how. Any other ideas? Is this a critical bolt? I realize every bolt has a purpose, but I'm hoping someone can tell me not to concern myself with this particular bolt.

 

One more thing. Is the idle learn procedure necessary after doing the valves? I didn't do it. Will the computer learn the necessary stuff just from normal driving a few times? I can't get reliable info from asking google.

 

Great news on the adjustment redo. Sorry about the other part

Pretty sure that bolt is just to hold the bracket in place that supports the coil wires. Follow the metal part connected to it and see if it has a black plastic square tube connected to it that runs along the back half of the motor and has the coil wires run through it.

If so, I don't think there's any harm it leaving it disconnected.

To be safe, spray some carb cleaner or WD-40 around the area with the car running and see if there's any change in RPM. If no change, you're probably fine without it. It does not appear to be into the plenum area of the manifold. Looks to be a boss off the back side just for supporting the harness.

Looks to be a metal bolt into plastic. Surprised it would break.