I had a look at that today. I love Honda.


Thanks again for pointing that out, Giggles.

 

I forgot about this post. I removed the plastic instead of using the perforated hole. Its good in theory, but it'll take the socket off of the extension and drop it. It's a pain looking for where the socket rolled to in the bumper. Again, unplug and loosen the wiring around the TB and intake manifold. Remove the air box for room. The upper half of the intake mani with the TB attatched can be scooted over to where the airbox was. This allows access to the valve cover. The liquid gasket will be placed where the front timing case cover and the head meet. You will see the seam once the valve cover comes off and you will probably see where the original liquid gasket was placed. It helps seal the oil at the seam on the mating surface where the valve cover gasket sits.

 

Valve adjustment complete. Here are my notes, while they are fresh in my mind. I may add more as I have a chance to drive the car.

1) It took me two days to do this job. However, if you subtract my dumbness, and some unfortunate happenstances (rain, wind, cold, dark), it would have taken me approx. 4 hours. Maybe less next time, now that I know the ropes.

2) All of my exhaust valves were tight on the order of 5-6 when they should have been 10-12. My intakes were close enough to leave alone, except #3, which was a tad tight--approx. an 8 instead of a 6-7.

3) I was able to take the intake manifold (the top half) and the air box out easily enough, but, when it came time to reassemble, I found it easier to take out the battery as well.

4) I haven't driven the car yet, but at cold idle it is now "ticky." That's because I adjusted the valves on the loose side, like a loose 12. I'm a little surprised that it is quite as ticky as it is, but this is my first Honda engine, so maybe they have their quirks. In any case, I'm not going to redo the job. It's better that they are loose than tight.

5) Those lock nuts on the valve adjustment screws were on there tight. I had to use a wrench with a slightly longer handle. Since I have girlie hands, maybe your experience was different.

6) For the first time in 30 years of working on cars and motorcycles, I found myself without the correct size spark plug wrench. Walking to Sears took up a lot of time yesterday.

7) I was able to reach the crank and turn it without removing the right front wheel or the plastic inside wheel cover. I just unfastened the cover (two plastic fasteners) and bent it out of the way.

8) I wasn't sure, because of the compression in the cylinders, if you could turn the crank with the spark plugs in place or not, so I changed them out.

9) Changing the valve cover gasket, applying the liquid gasket to the timing chain cover and changing the gaskets in the half-manifold was easy.

10) All in all, I would not describe this as a difficult job. A difficult job is, for instance, when you have to reach some part that is impossible for normal humans to reach without disassembling the entire car. Of course, if my engine blows up later today, I may have to change this statement.

11) One troubling note: For the life of me, I could not find that part in the Service Manual where it says, "Drink beer now," so I had to improvise.

 

Thanks for all of the helpful info in here. I will tackle this soon and let you know how it goes.

 

At what mileage on the maintenance minder does it call for valve adjustment? I just ignore and reset my minder each time because I change the oil and tranny fluid way more often that it calls for. I know...bad car owner I just went through the manual and it does not give mileage for valve checks. Only tells which code on the minder to watch for.

 

^^^ The manual only says to adjust "if noisy". Problem is, if they tighten too much they will burn! But still be quiet.



Based on my experience, I'll be checking valve lash every 50 - 60K miles.



PS: Marrk, the "Drink beer now" message appears at the bottom of every shop manual page. If you can't see it, you've done the job TOO FAST and should stop for a while to allow your vision to clear.

And have a beer.


PS I didn't remove the plugs and had no problem cranking the engine to the proper adjusting positions.

And yes, why was it that re-installing the air box was a PITA? I thought it was the beers....

 

Hey, Buff.

Well, I drove the car today and I think something is wrong. It runs great but it's just too damn noisy. Like a blown engine. So, I'm going to recheck everything again tomorrow.

I don't know what I missed. All I really did was set all the exhaust valves to .012 in. If they are indeed at .012 in. when I recheck it tomorrow, I will set them to .011 in.

You have any thoughts on it, Buff?

 

Blown engine? All the blown engines I've experienced were quiet....because they didn't work anymore.


If valvetrain clatter is your concern, then re-adjust the ex valves to .011 or .010. Ours were more noisy after we adjusted them properly.

So many times, accuracy of a valve adjustment depends on "feel" (which is an acquired skill).

I think you have just aquired some "skill".



If you are due for an oil change, you might try a 30 Weight rather than 20. (We run 0W-30) The old, thin oil may be a contributor to the valve noise (which, as you learned, is more apparent when the valves are adjusted loose).

 

Thanks for the encouraging words, Buff.

The car ran well yesterday — better, slightly, than before the adjustment — but it is awfully loud. It's conceivable that the car is okay as it is, but I'm going to tear into it again today, just to make sure.

Will update you later.

 

My second valve adjustment in three days is now complete. This time, it took me three hours, from start to finish. I may be getting better at this.

As I was going from cylinder to cylinder, readjusting the exhaust valves from .012+ to .011+ and checking the intakes, I kept thinking that such a small difference in lash could not be responsible for the racket that I had been hearing the day before. Just not possible. Then, as I got to the intakes on Cylinder #3, I thought I noticed that one of them was way loose. Like, jiggle-it-with-your-finger loose. I say "I thought I noticed" because I was moving quickly.

After putting everything back together, I started the car and the engine noise was now quite normal. Quiet even. And it stayed that way on my test ride later during the day.

I am guessing that my blunder on Friday was that I had somehow left one of the intakes on Cylinder #3 too loose.

I lost some skin off my knuckles and some fresh red blood doing this job, but it allowed me to understand a few things a little more clearly, and that is satisfying.

Onward.

 

Your experience sounds the same as mine. adjusted my valves within 3 weeks of each other. I'm am now prepared for the third attempt 50,000km from now.

 

What happened in your case? Did you overlook something, as I did? What seems to be the problem?

 

Often the problem with inaccurate adjustments is trouble with inserting the feeler gauges. That's why I had to buy the "bent-tip" type two years ago. They are easier to position on the later Honda engines.

I thought I posted a pic of the feelers.



The traditional method of doing valve adjustments is to go for a slight drag. This means that there is room for the feeler not not excessive room. (If the feeler moves freely the gap could be proper or wildly larger.) Does that make sense?

With the "GO - NO GO" method I espouse now, the NO GO (too thick) feeler will not work but the next size will be able to be inserted. If there is a range (such as GO= .06" and NO GO = .08" you would be within that range when finished.


Another cause of inaccuracies is that the gap changed when you tightened the locknuts on the adjuster. Double checking again, after tightening, prevents issues from THAT.


Hope this helps understand why the adjustments were not quite right. Believe me, I learned in the School of Hard Lumps, myself.

 

Duly noted, Buff.

It's a little tricky to slide any feeler gauge into the right place on a valve adjustment. You can see why if you get in there and look at the surfaces on top of the valve spring assembly. Some care is required. But it's not impossible. Also, what I learned this time around is that there is some play in the rocker arm, even when correctly adjusted. Hence, the slight valve "ticking" noise, even on a properly adjusted valve.

My screw-up was that something got by me. Inattention or rocker arm play or something. I think one intake valve was loose well beyond tolerances, so it sounded ridiculously loud. Generally, the tolerances on this adjustment are pretty broad. You don't have to hit the dead center of the bull's eye for it to be right.

N.B. I noticed that, unlike other engines that I have worked on, the lock nut did not move the adjuster screw as I tightened the lock nut. But you are right. One has to be on the watch for this, and recheck everything when you think you are done.


In conclusion, I would say again that this is not a difficult DIY. In my case, I only learn by making mistakes and getting some practice. The smart guys around here will probably get it right the first time.

 

My error was partially due to lack of experience and partly due to the feeler gauges selected.

After the initial adjustment I had a noticeable tick. And using a stethoscope determined exhaust valve 3 was poorly adjusted. Then opening the valve cover again I realized all the exhaust valves were loose. And i discovered why, my feeler gauges were contacting the back wall of the engine causing the gauge to read incorrectly.

problem found solution made. for the next adj i will find some bent gauges to help this issue.
Cheers,

 

^^Thanks for that note, Byron.

 

I rechecked my clearances on Sunday because I'm iffy about my #2 cyl. After 30k they were all on the money except for a couple that were SLIGHTLY loose. It will go faster once you know what's ahead of you.

 

^^'boy, are you saying you have 30k total miles on the car?

 

No, mine has 90k. The first time I checked it was at 60k.

I do have a 99 Civic with 65k on it

 

Mark,

I've had positive experiences buying OEM parts from hondapartsnow.com. Their inventory is quite sizeable and the parts prices are downright reasonable. Best of all, the one time I did order a part that was on backorder, the customer service representative I dealt with was VERY attentive and professional. That instilled a great deal of confidence in me about the vendor's ability to ensure its customer's satisfaction.