EdGasket

What is the torque for the valve adjuster nuts please? Its a year 2000 D14Z4 engine.

mikey1

snug with a wrench

didnt we already discuss this here >>>> https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...ng-theory.html





.

Mad Dog Tannen

PFT, it is steel on steel action, so it's not that critical.

If it where steel bolt on aluminum block ( like the water pump bolts) then proper torque is key.

How would you get a torque wrench on those bolts without changing the lash anyways?

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

With a crow's foot and a screw driver

Mad Dog Tannen

Crows foot would give a false torque value, unless you calculate the difference with the crows foot on there, which is possible if you got nothing but free time.

EdGasket

Yes we did but that 13ft-lb was an example, I don't specifically know what torque is recommended for my car; I think it might be 14ft-lb but have seen figures of 10 or 20 ft-lb for some Hondas.

I think the idea is that you snug up the nut with a spanner while holding the screwdriver and just apply the last bit of torque with the torque wrench to make sure the nut doesn't fall off into the cam gear. That way the adjuster doesn't turn even though the screwdriver is no longer on it; so I've read anyway.

mikey1

dude you are really overthinking this,

on a small nut like this 13-20 ft-lb will not make a difference,

if you have any kind of automotive repair experience, you will do fine with a wrench, basically finger tight, and then a small snug with the wrench, there is no need to over tighten a small nut like this

ezone

We (in North America) don't normally have specs on a D14 engine.

If the locknut takes a 10mm wrench, it's probably torqued to 13-14 ft-lb.

20 is too much for a tiny fastener like that IMO.

EdGasket

Ok thanks; 13-14 ft-lb sounds right. Yeah I have experience but just kinda worried the nut might rattle loose or that I might strip the thread and have a much bigger job. Also the feel of tightening up by hand is affected a lot by the length of the wrench; what seems tight with a short wrench seems loose with a longer one; have to be careful with alloy stuff.

mikey1

if you strip a small nut like that then IMO you must not have a lot of experience, either that or the nut was damaged previously, which is very unlikely,

a 10mm wrench is pretty much a standard length, unless you specifically buy long ones,

Mad Dog Tannen

More likely Inch pounds for that little nut.

EdGasket

OK so I got a 1/4" drive torque wrench, set it to 14ft-lb and tried it out on some gash 10mm nuts and bolts; stripped the thread every time. Are the locknuts on the Honda hardened to handle more torque or is 14 ft-lb too much? Wasn't expecting 14 to strip the threads. I wound the torque up to 18 and compared it with my 1/2" torque wrench and they agree so nothing wrong with the torque wrench; just seems too much torque for a little 10mm nut. Is 14ft-lb the right figure?

ezone

What does your service manual say the torque spec is for your particular D14 engine?


Remember, we don't have that particular engine in North America.

EdGasket

I don't have a service manual; if I did I wouldn't need to ask what the torque should be.

ezone

I figured that's why you were asking LOL.

Try a local public library? Many here have access to online repair info such as Alldata and Mitchell......IDK what's available in your country but it may be worth a shot if you need a real spec.

My 13-14 ft-lb figure came from looking up 5th and 6th gen Civic engines, 1.5 and 1.6 liter which used a wrench hex size 10mm.

Most of us go by feel and experience.....though some people really have no business doing it that way, no common sense when it comes to mechanical stuff....no finesse....
It's gotta be tight enough to not loosen up on its own, and not so tight it strips or breaks.


You could consult a basic torque chart, but we have no clue what the hardness (grade) of the fasteners are.
I'm guessing the size is 6mm....
You have a super hard adjuster bolt, a somewhat softer nut, and a soft aluminum rocker arm to consider:



All things considered..... I do it by feel, like everyone else is saying.

I'd GUESS approx 120-140 inch-pounds ??

Mad Dog Tannen

Read my last post. Most small fasteners use inch lb values, make sure you are not using your ft lb wrench if that is true.

ezone

10 foot-pounds = 120 inch-pounds

EdGasket

I have a Haynes manual for the Civic which says to tighten the locknut to the specified torque and then nowhere does it specify what that torque is.

However I have a Rover 216 manual that had the Honda 1.6 SOHC engine circa early 90's which I just looked up and that does specify a rocker adjuster locknut torque which is 10 ft-lbs or 14 Nm.

Maybe on some other posts on other forums and YouTube people have confused Nm with ft-lbs because I wouldn't want to go higher than 10ft-lb after my experiments with old nuts and bolts. I also found out that the Honda Jazz spec. for these nuts is 10 ft-lb so I'll go with that; anything higher will start breaking things imho.

mikey1

10 ft-lb is basically how tight you would tighten a screw with the average sized screwdriver,

in my experience torque wrenches are not very accurate at low torque values, i think you are more likely to strip one of these nuts using a torque wrench, as opposed to not using one,

i would never use a torque wrench on anything lower then 20-25 ft-lbs,

EdGasket

You might be right mikey1. I did get a calibrated low-range torque wrench though 5-25 Nm (about 4-18 ft-lbs). Just seems these nuts might be a bit critical because one falling off would be catastrophic but also they are so small, they could easily strip the thread if one is too ham-fisted. Guess I just don't do enough of them to feel confident about guessing, especially as it's a family member's car and not actually my own.

I tried torquing the same nuts and bolts to 10ft-lb that were stripping at 14ft-lb and at 10ft-lb, they are fine and can be tightened and loosened many times. Doing it by feel, I found I still had them a little loose most of the time. So I'd say 10ft-lb is definitely the max for these nuts and agrees with my Haynes manual for the 1.6 SOHC. maybe some engines have bigger nuts but if you got 10mm nuts, I wouldn't exceed 10ft-lb (or 14Nm)

See this thread; stripped at 14ft-lbs:
http://www.k20a.org/forum/showthread.php?t=35197

This thread is saying 13 or 14ft-lb for D-Series:

http://www.georgebelton.com/6g.civic...lve.clearance/

Quote: "
Also, the rocker arms are aluminum, so do not overtighten the locknuts. (D16Y7 13 lbf-ft, D16Y5 & D16Y8 14 lbf-ft)
"

I think that is too much.

Mad Dog Tannen

Big torque wrenches are not good at small values. Plus you guys are probably not taking very good care of your torque wrenches. I have only seen aircraft mechanics actually take care of their torque wrenches the proper way. Torque wrenches easily loose calibration and can happen with one drop (especially cheaper ones), they are supposed to be calibrated at regular time intervals and whenever they are dropped. Also they should be stored at their lowest setting (why some cases won't fit unless its to lowest setting).

So get a really small torque wrench or PFT that bitch!