Hello All,
I really hate to throw up ANOTHER thread about valve adjustment, but I am totally lost....what am I doing wrong ?

short version- I loosen the nuts, tighten them, check clearance w/ feelers, remove feeler, turn engine over using 27mm, then recheck clearance... its WAYYY off from where I just had it.

Long version- I have a .302mm and a .33-somethingmm feelerguage (616 motor, exh valve for example), I've been adjusting them so the .302 goes in but the .33 doesnt- is this too stringent a test ? The book says .3mm gap, but there has to a a few .0Xmm tolerance thats satisfactory. For intake I have a .10something and a .12something. I searched and saw someone talk about "make sure the .3 fits through and the next size up (.4mm) does not- thats a pretty wide tolerance.

When I have the nut tightened, and I run the guages, I pull them out, and then bend back down so I can crank the engine around- to double check myself. I crank the engine around 1 or 2 times (doing this by hand after every valve gets annoying, it might be starter switch time). almost every time I do this, I come back and the clearnace is way off from before (if the .33 didnt fit before, it does now -type thing). I have been trying to get the cam back in the same exact position it was when I first adjusted the valve (having the cam positions more than 20deg off appears to REALLY affect valve clearance... are my feeler guages growing or shrinking on me ? I have no tension on wrenches or valves when checking or re-checking them. I try to wiggle the rocker and valve, to be sure they are seated, but this changes little.

I dont know, and there are lots of old school wrenches here that can adjust valves in their sleep. I just know that tomorrow night I'm gonna go back to that 616, and run the feelers through and NONE of the valves will be where I set them before. I just bought the car, 100k miles (origional says PO...we'll see.....) and some of the back intakes were a bit off...and all but 1 exh didnt like my "between .30 and .33 test" method. I think I have them good now... My last MB diesel ('82 300D) had its motor seize, so I want to be darn sure that its not me mis adjusting anything.

Any comments/ideas on the best valve adjusting technique ?

-John

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
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