AustinFranck

Car: 96 civic EX sedan AT 170000 miles.
Oil penzoil 10w30

I have finally been fed up with my noisy lifters, low mileage, and symptoms akin to "bogging" the engine. Ruling out all other causes, I took advantage of my autos class at school and brought the car in to adjust the lifters using .008mm for intake, .010 for exhaust.

As I adjusted the lifters, expecting them to be "loose" I noticed the opposite. They were tight, all of them... wth? So I went through and got 1 of the 4 done. (Because of time issues)

On the way home noticed No difference.

Next day got to adjust another 1, so cylinders 1 and 3, or the first 2 closest to the timing belt are now at .008 intake and .10 exhaust.

NOW it ticks MUCH louder. WAAAY louder, You can call it a CLACK now, all the way through rpms. What is up?

I expected them to be loose but it was the opposite, i followed the directions indicating about the "up" mark on the timing belt, What can I do?

long story short:
Lifters are louder after adjusting to spec, they seemed tighter before adjustment. There is lack of power also.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

did you adjust when engine was cold i hope? also why are you using anything thicker than 5w30 in a civic?

Newfiedan

did you adjust it properly in valve overlap on number 1 cylinder at tdc? Sounds like you adjusted it 180 degrees out.

AustinFranck

Yes
Because My car has 170000 miles, with all that wear gap increases between parts, thinker oil is needed to compensate to keep parts from slamming together against the thin oil.

Pretty sure, All-data said something similar to" Crank engine until up mark points straight up, then adjust for cylinder closest to crank pulley. Assuming that was the far right cylinder closest to the timing belt, I did that one.

But the problem only started after the second adjustment on the cylinder 2nd from the right, when the up mark was pointing to the front of the car, 90 degrees.

I do somewhat suspect that i may have not had TDC, in that case I may just stick a screwdriver in the spark plug hole, and find TDC that way.

Newfiedan

http://www.gassavers.org/showthread.php?t=9361 this thread will give you the proper valve adjustment procedure that way you can be sure you are getting it correct. If you did then you should not have had the issue you mentioned unless there was tension on the valve springs. I would go back and recheck the procedure that way we can get that done right. The thicker oil does not stop parts from slapping as you said the thicker oil makes it harder for bypass around the pistons, it does coat and stick better than thinner oil films which is fine in warmer climates but in colder I would be careful just how thick you go since it can wear the oil pump somewhat faster, thicker oil is more of a bandaid way of fixing poor compression or valve noise.

AustinFranck

Band-aid or not, it beats rebuilding the engine, which is a very stupid thing to do on a car with 170 thousand miles. The trans will probably go next.

So my suspicion was correct, the info I got off a DIY post was wrong, it had me adjust the wrong cylinder.

Finding the problem I did all of them correctly, at center spec. Car sounds a lot better than before, and a bit better than before I even started. I can't say I have noticed anything else different though.