DIY Valve Adjustment *EASY* Stop the Clicking
10-08-2004
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DIY Valve Adjustment *EASY* Stop the Clicking
I'm not sure if the newer civics are the same way but this is what I did on my 93' to stop that clicking sound when it first starts up. So if your car make the same noise that mine used to, especially on cold days, then it goes away after the car warms up, this is your fix.
Tools needed:
Feeler Guage $5 any auto store
1 LONG screwdriver
Socket set or wrench
Screw-type mechanical valve lifters – those noisy, high-revving beasts of burden that you’ll find working their magic under the valve covers of all Hondas, and 4A-C powered Toyotas (such as the AE86 Corolla), among others. Easily described as a jam-nut on a screw, these simple devices allow hot-tempered camshafts to be dropped in to your docile daily driver to turn it into a fire-breathing beast. Of course, such a performance marvel won’t just run without balking every now and then about maintenance! So if you’re hearing a bit too much clacking when you start ‘er up in the morning, it’s probably time to break out the feeler gauges, wrenches, and flat-head screwdrivers!
The first step in a typical valve adjustment is to find the lash setting. “Lash” is the distance between the tip of the valve and the lifter, or the distance between the cam and the lifter. This lash needs to be adjusted into the system because valve train parts expand as they reach operating temperature, gradually reducing any adjusted-in clearances to nearly zero. The lash setting can be found on the emission control sticker under the hood of your vehicle. Since you’ll need to rotate the engine by hand to perform this maintenance procedure, you might want to remove the spark plugs so facilitate turning of the engine.
Remove the valve cover. Most SOHC motors will only have one large valve cover, but some DOHC motors will have an individual valve cover for each camshaft. Since you’re taking the valve cover off, it’ll be a good time to inspect and replace the valve cover gasket(s). When you’re at the parts store or dealership getting these parts, you might want to verify that the seals for the screw holes come with the valve cover gasket, otherwise you’ll need to order them separately. Also, dab a little gasket sealer onto the head where the new gasket makes sharp bends – this will keep the new gasket from leaking until it settles.
After the valve cover and spark plugs are removed, you’ll need to crank the engine so that the #1 piston is at top dead center. You can determine this by cranking the motor until the ignition marks are sitting at 0, or by dropping a long screwdriver in a spark plug hole and turning the engine until the screwdriver stops moving. Turn slowly, because it’s easy to go too far and miss the timing mark. In this case, if you’ve overzealously turned the motor and missed the timing mark, you shouldn’t turn the engine backward; you’ll have to turn the engine around again, twice>. The reason why you have to go around twice is because the camshafts rotate half as fast as the crank. Also, the lash settings between the intake valves and exhaust valves will likely be different, so make sure you don’t get confused with the feeler gauges, and make sure the film of motor oil that will invariably get all over your hands and tools doesn’t cause the feelers to stick together. We’ve adjusted in an extra 0.09 mm of clearance into our valves more than once because of this, when stacking the 0.10 mm and 0.08 mm feelers together and not noticing that the 0.09 mm feeler managed to sneak itself in there!
On some motors, you check the valve lash between the valve and lifter, such as this Honda Civic. Some other, performance-oriented autos (such as this Honda Prelude) will have a different valve/lifter/camshaft configuration, and the valve lash will need to be checked between the camshaft and lifter. In either case, you might want to invest the extra $5 and get a spare set of feeler gauges that have a slight bend in them. We find that this bend greatly facilitates adjusting those hard-to-reach valves. Note that we used the “screwdriver method” of finding #1 Top Dead Center on the Prelude, because the ignition timing marks are located on the flywheel, on the opposite side of the motor & out of easy visual range of the crank pulley.
Once you’re set to get into the actual meat ‘n potatoes of the valve adjustment, simply loosen the jam nut on the lifter and turn the screw backward or forward as necessary to get the correct clearance between the lifter/cam or lifter/valve. Correct clearance is cited by most service manuals as “a slight amount of drag” will be felt when sliding the feeler gauge through the lifter/cam or lifter/valve. We find that the job is made easiest by ever so slightly tightening the jam nut, so that you can still turn the screw and feel a slight resistance. This will help keep the lash amount that you set when you retighten the jam nut. (Some lifters will be pesky and throw your adjustments out the window when you retighten the jam nut.) Also, after many miles of use between adjustments, you may find it difficult to loosen the jam nut with a box end wrench; in that case, it’s ok to use a socket and ratchet wrench to loosen the adjusters. Just make sure you retighten them with the box end wrench or torque to 10 ft-lbs with a torque wrench. After adjustments are made and things are tightened back down, double-check the clearances to make sure they weren’t thrown off when the jam nuts were tightened.
By this time, you’ve probably noticed that you couldn’t adjust the lifters on all of the valves, because the camshaft was holding them open. So we turn back to the screwdriver; drop it into cylinder 3’s sparkplug hole, and turn the crankshaft 180 degrees (cam sprocket moves 90 degrees). Then you can adjust the valves for cylinder 3. Once that is done, drop the screwdriver into cylinder 4’s sparkplug hole and turn the crank another 180 degrees. Repeat for the remaining cylinder, #2.
Congratulations! You’ve accomplished one of the least understood venues of automotive maintenance! In our next installment - keeping the electrical system in tip-top shape!
Got it from Overboost.com
Tools needed:
Feeler Guage $5 any auto store
1 LONG screwdriver
Socket set or wrench
Screw-type mechanical valve lifters – those noisy, high-revving beasts of burden that you’ll find working their magic under the valve covers of all Hondas, and 4A-C powered Toyotas (such as the AE86 Corolla), among others. Easily described as a jam-nut on a screw, these simple devices allow hot-tempered camshafts to be dropped in to your docile daily driver to turn it into a fire-breathing beast. Of course, such a performance marvel won’t just run without balking every now and then about maintenance! So if you’re hearing a bit too much clacking when you start ‘er up in the morning, it’s probably time to break out the feeler gauges, wrenches, and flat-head screwdrivers!
The first step in a typical valve adjustment is to find the lash setting. “Lash” is the distance between the tip of the valve and the lifter, or the distance between the cam and the lifter. This lash needs to be adjusted into the system because valve train parts expand as they reach operating temperature, gradually reducing any adjusted-in clearances to nearly zero. The lash setting can be found on the emission control sticker under the hood of your vehicle. Since you’ll need to rotate the engine by hand to perform this maintenance procedure, you might want to remove the spark plugs so facilitate turning of the engine.
Remove the valve cover. Most SOHC motors will only have one large valve cover, but some DOHC motors will have an individual valve cover for each camshaft. Since you’re taking the valve cover off, it’ll be a good time to inspect and replace the valve cover gasket(s). When you’re at the parts store or dealership getting these parts, you might want to verify that the seals for the screw holes come with the valve cover gasket, otherwise you’ll need to order them separately. Also, dab a little gasket sealer onto the head where the new gasket makes sharp bends – this will keep the new gasket from leaking until it settles.
After the valve cover and spark plugs are removed, you’ll need to crank the engine so that the #1 piston is at top dead center. You can determine this by cranking the motor until the ignition marks are sitting at 0, or by dropping a long screwdriver in a spark plug hole and turning the engine until the screwdriver stops moving. Turn slowly, because it’s easy to go too far and miss the timing mark. In this case, if you’ve overzealously turned the motor and missed the timing mark, you shouldn’t turn the engine backward; you’ll have to turn the engine around again, twice>. The reason why you have to go around twice is because the camshafts rotate half as fast as the crank. Also, the lash settings between the intake valves and exhaust valves will likely be different, so make sure you don’t get confused with the feeler gauges, and make sure the film of motor oil that will invariably get all over your hands and tools doesn’t cause the feelers to stick together. We’ve adjusted in an extra 0.09 mm of clearance into our valves more than once because of this, when stacking the 0.10 mm and 0.08 mm feelers together and not noticing that the 0.09 mm feeler managed to sneak itself in there!
On some motors, you check the valve lash between the valve and lifter, such as this Honda Civic. Some other, performance-oriented autos (such as this Honda Prelude) will have a different valve/lifter/camshaft configuration, and the valve lash will need to be checked between the camshaft and lifter. In either case, you might want to invest the extra $5 and get a spare set of feeler gauges that have a slight bend in them. We find that this bend greatly facilitates adjusting those hard-to-reach valves. Note that we used the “screwdriver method” of finding #1 Top Dead Center on the Prelude, because the ignition timing marks are located on the flywheel, on the opposite side of the motor & out of easy visual range of the crank pulley.
Once you’re set to get into the actual meat ‘n potatoes of the valve adjustment, simply loosen the jam nut on the lifter and turn the screw backward or forward as necessary to get the correct clearance between the lifter/cam or lifter/valve. Correct clearance is cited by most service manuals as “a slight amount of drag” will be felt when sliding the feeler gauge through the lifter/cam or lifter/valve. We find that the job is made easiest by ever so slightly tightening the jam nut, so that you can still turn the screw and feel a slight resistance. This will help keep the lash amount that you set when you retighten the jam nut. (Some lifters will be pesky and throw your adjustments out the window when you retighten the jam nut.) Also, after many miles of use between adjustments, you may find it difficult to loosen the jam nut with a box end wrench; in that case, it’s ok to use a socket and ratchet wrench to loosen the adjusters. Just make sure you retighten them with the box end wrench or torque to 10 ft-lbs with a torque wrench. After adjustments are made and things are tightened back down, double-check the clearances to make sure they weren’t thrown off when the jam nuts were tightened.
By this time, you’ve probably noticed that you couldn’t adjust the lifters on all of the valves, because the camshaft was holding them open. So we turn back to the screwdriver; drop it into cylinder 3’s sparkplug hole, and turn the crankshaft 180 degrees (cam sprocket moves 90 degrees). Then you can adjust the valves for cylinder 3. Once that is done, drop the screwdriver into cylinder 4’s sparkplug hole and turn the crank another 180 degrees. Repeat for the remaining cylinder, #2.
Congratulations! You’ve accomplished one of the least understood venues of automotive maintenance! In our next installment - keeping the electrical system in tip-top shape!
Got it from Overboost.com
10-09-2004
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Originally Posted by ohiojosh78
I'm not sure if the newer civics are the same way but this is what I did on my 93' to stop that clicking sound when it first starts up. So if your car make the same noise that mine used to, especially on cold days, then it goes away after the car warms up, this is your fix.
Tools needed:
Feeler Guage $5 any auto store
1 LONG screwdriver
Socket set or wrench
Screw-type mechanical valve lifters – those noisy, high-revving beasts of burden that you’ll find working their magic under the valve covers of all Hondas, and 4A-C powered Toyotas (such as the AE86 Corolla), among others. Easily described as a jam-nut on a screw, these simple devices allow hot-tempered camshafts to be dropped in to your docile daily driver to turn it into a fire-breathing beast. Of course, such a performance marvel won’t just run without balking every now and then about maintenance! So if you’re hearing a bit too much clacking when you start ‘er up in the morning, it’s probably time to break out the feeler gauges, wrenches, and flat-head screwdrivers!
The first step in a typical valve adjustment is to find the lash setting. “Lash” is the distance between the tip of the valve and the lifter, or the distance between the cam and the lifter. This lash needs to be adjusted into the system because valve train parts expand as they reach operating temperature, gradually reducing any adjusted-in clearances to nearly zero. The lash setting can be found on the emission control sticker under the hood of your vehicle. Since you’ll need to rotate the engine by hand to perform this maintenance procedure, you might want to remove the spark plugs so facilitate turning of the engine.
Remove the valve cover. Most SOHC motors will only have one large valve cover, but some DOHC motors will have an individual valve cover for each camshaft. Since you’re taking the valve cover off, it’ll be a good time to inspect and replace the valve cover gasket(s). When you’re at the parts store or dealership getting these parts, you might want to verify that the seals for the screw holes come with the valve cover gasket, otherwise you’ll need to order them separately. Also, dab a little gasket sealer onto the head where the new gasket makes sharp bends – this will keep the new gasket from leaking until it settles.
After the valve cover and spark plugs are removed, you’ll need to crank the engine so that the #1 piston is at top dead center. You can determine this by cranking the motor until the ignition marks are sitting at 0, or by dropping a long screwdriver in a spark plug hole and turning the engine until the screwdriver stops moving. Turn slowly, because it’s easy to go too far and miss the timing mark. In this case, if you’ve overzealously turned the motor and missed the timing mark, you shouldn’t turn the engine backward; you’ll have to turn the engine around again, twice>. The reason why you have to go around twice is because the camshafts rotate half as fast as the crank. Also, the lash settings between the intake valves and exhaust valves will likely be different, so make sure you don’t get confused with the feeler gauges, and make sure the film of motor oil that will invariably get all over your hands and tools doesn’t cause the feelers to stick together. We’ve adjusted in an extra 0.09 mm of clearance into our valves more than once because of this, when stacking the 0.10 mm and 0.08 mm feelers together and not noticing that the 0.09 mm feeler managed to sneak itself in there!
On some motors, you check the valve lash between the valve and lifter, such as this Honda Civic. Some other, performance-oriented autos (such as this Honda Prelude) will have a different valve/lifter/camshaft configuration, and the valve lash will need to be checked between the camshaft and lifter. In either case, you might want to invest the extra $5 and get a spare set of feeler gauges that have a slight bend in them. We find that this bend greatly facilitates adjusting those hard-to-reach valves. Note that we used the “screwdriver method” of finding #1 Top Dead Center on the Prelude, because the ignition timing marks are located on the flywheel, on the opposite side of the motor & out of easy visual range of the crank pulley.
Once you’re set to get into the actual meat ‘n potatoes of the valve adjustment, simply loosen the jam nut on the lifter and turn the screw backward or forward as necessary to get the correct clearance between the lifter/cam or lifter/valve. Correct clearance is cited by most service manuals as “a slight amount of drag” will be felt when sliding the feeler gauge through the lifter/cam or lifter/valve. We find that the job is made easiest by ever so slightly tightening the jam nut, so that you can still turn the screw and feel a slight resistance. This will help keep the lash amount that you set when you retighten the jam nut. (Some lifters will be pesky and throw your adjustments out the window when you retighten the jam nut.) Also, after many miles of use between adjustments, you may find it difficult to loosen the jam nut with a box end wrench; in that case, it’s ok to use a socket and ratchet wrench to loosen the adjusters. Just make sure you retighten them with the box end wrench or torque to 10 ft-lbs with a torque wrench. After adjustments are made and things are tightened back down, double-check the clearances to make sure they weren’t thrown off when the jam nuts were tightened.
By this time, you’ve probably noticed that you couldn’t adjust the lifters on all of the valves, because the camshaft was holding them open. So we turn back to the screwdriver; drop it into cylinder 3’s sparkplug hole, and turn the crankshaft 180 degrees (cam sprocket moves 90 degrees). Then you can adjust the valves for cylinder 3. Once that is done, drop the screwdriver into cylinder 4’s sparkplug hole and turn the crank another 180 degrees. Repeat for the remaining cylinder, #2.
Congratulations! You’ve accomplished one of the least understood venues of automotive maintenance! In our next installment - keeping the electrical system in tip-top shape!
Got it from Overboost.com
Tools needed:
Feeler Guage $5 any auto store
1 LONG screwdriver
Socket set or wrench
Screw-type mechanical valve lifters – those noisy, high-revving beasts of burden that you’ll find working their magic under the valve covers of all Hondas, and 4A-C powered Toyotas (such as the AE86 Corolla), among others. Easily described as a jam-nut on a screw, these simple devices allow hot-tempered camshafts to be dropped in to your docile daily driver to turn it into a fire-breathing beast. Of course, such a performance marvel won’t just run without balking every now and then about maintenance! So if you’re hearing a bit too much clacking when you start ‘er up in the morning, it’s probably time to break out the feeler gauges, wrenches, and flat-head screwdrivers!
The first step in a typical valve adjustment is to find the lash setting. “Lash” is the distance between the tip of the valve and the lifter, or the distance between the cam and the lifter. This lash needs to be adjusted into the system because valve train parts expand as they reach operating temperature, gradually reducing any adjusted-in clearances to nearly zero. The lash setting can be found on the emission control sticker under the hood of your vehicle. Since you’ll need to rotate the engine by hand to perform this maintenance procedure, you might want to remove the spark plugs so facilitate turning of the engine.
Remove the valve cover. Most SOHC motors will only have one large valve cover, but some DOHC motors will have an individual valve cover for each camshaft. Since you’re taking the valve cover off, it’ll be a good time to inspect and replace the valve cover gasket(s). When you’re at the parts store or dealership getting these parts, you might want to verify that the seals for the screw holes come with the valve cover gasket, otherwise you’ll need to order them separately. Also, dab a little gasket sealer onto the head where the new gasket makes sharp bends – this will keep the new gasket from leaking until it settles.
After the valve cover and spark plugs are removed, you’ll need to crank the engine so that the #1 piston is at top dead center. You can determine this by cranking the motor until the ignition marks are sitting at 0, or by dropping a long screwdriver in a spark plug hole and turning the engine until the screwdriver stops moving. Turn slowly, because it’s easy to go too far and miss the timing mark. In this case, if you’ve overzealously turned the motor and missed the timing mark, you shouldn’t turn the engine backward; you’ll have to turn the engine around again, twice>. The reason why you have to go around twice is because the camshafts rotate half as fast as the crank. Also, the lash settings between the intake valves and exhaust valves will likely be different, so make sure you don’t get confused with the feeler gauges, and make sure the film of motor oil that will invariably get all over your hands and tools doesn’t cause the feelers to stick together. We’ve adjusted in an extra 0.09 mm of clearance into our valves more than once because of this, when stacking the 0.10 mm and 0.08 mm feelers together and not noticing that the 0.09 mm feeler managed to sneak itself in there!
On some motors, you check the valve lash between the valve and lifter, such as this Honda Civic. Some other, performance-oriented autos (such as this Honda Prelude) will have a different valve/lifter/camshaft configuration, and the valve lash will need to be checked between the camshaft and lifter. In either case, you might want to invest the extra $5 and get a spare set of feeler gauges that have a slight bend in them. We find that this bend greatly facilitates adjusting those hard-to-reach valves. Note that we used the “screwdriver method” of finding #1 Top Dead Center on the Prelude, because the ignition timing marks are located on the flywheel, on the opposite side of the motor & out of easy visual range of the crank pulley.
Once you’re set to get into the actual meat ‘n potatoes of the valve adjustment, simply loosen the jam nut on the lifter and turn the screw backward or forward as necessary to get the correct clearance between the lifter/cam or lifter/valve. Correct clearance is cited by most service manuals as “a slight amount of drag” will be felt when sliding the feeler gauge through the lifter/cam or lifter/valve. We find that the job is made easiest by ever so slightly tightening the jam nut, so that you can still turn the screw and feel a slight resistance. This will help keep the lash amount that you set when you retighten the jam nut. (Some lifters will be pesky and throw your adjustments out the window when you retighten the jam nut.) Also, after many miles of use between adjustments, you may find it difficult to loosen the jam nut with a box end wrench; in that case, it’s ok to use a socket and ratchet wrench to loosen the adjusters. Just make sure you retighten them with the box end wrench or torque to 10 ft-lbs with a torque wrench. After adjustments are made and things are tightened back down, double-check the clearances to make sure they weren’t thrown off when the jam nuts were tightened.
By this time, you’ve probably noticed that you couldn’t adjust the lifters on all of the valves, because the camshaft was holding them open. So we turn back to the screwdriver; drop it into cylinder 3’s sparkplug hole, and turn the crankshaft 180 degrees (cam sprocket moves 90 degrees). Then you can adjust the valves for cylinder 3. Once that is done, drop the screwdriver into cylinder 4’s sparkplug hole and turn the crank another 180 degrees. Repeat for the remaining cylinder, #2.
Congratulations! You’ve accomplished one of the least understood venues of automotive maintenance! In our next installment - keeping the electrical system in tip-top shape!
Got it from Overboost.com
10-09-2004
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Rep Power: 270 what clicking noise is this? can you hear it from outside of the engine bay? cuz i dont hear any clicking noise cept when i open up the hood and then this is all happenning while the engine is idiling. is that what you are alking about?
10-09-2004
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10-09-2004
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Rep Power: 0 Gearbox, I JUST did this. And on my 93 DX and it stopped the clicking and improved performance. See the gaps are there so that when your engine heats up and the parts expand, your valves arent always held partially open which in turn would let intake/exhaust gasses pass through when you dont want them to. Which in turn causes you to lose HP and gas mileage.
I now know Grey a DIY on this already but when i posted the origonal i had no idea.
If anybody wants to try this i'll post some more tips on here, just ask!
The only tools you really need are:
Flat head screw driver
10mm wrench
Feeler gauge (style with the bend help if you can find them)
I now know Grey a DIY on this already but when i posted the origonal i had no idea.
If anybody wants to try this i'll post some more tips on here, just ask!
The only tools you really need are:
Flat head screw driver
10mm wrench
Feeler gauge (style with the bend help if you can find them)
Last edited by ohiojosh78; 10-09-2004 at 06:24 PM.
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