2000 V6 Valve adjustment

[RichBinAZ]

Very similar to the I4 adjustment, but takes a bit longer and the 3 cylinders in the back will give you a bit of stress.

The book says not to do this till 105K miles, which is silly. I did the first check at 45K and they were way off. The photobucket link will take you to pictures and text I did for the 4th look at 90K and they have settled down nicely now.

Start here and scroll down to see the text underneath. Click on the right hand thumbnail picture upper left to get thru all the photos and text.

Let me know if something is missing, has helped or whatever.

 

[CG6Lemon]

hm... when should i do this lol. 76k atm.

 

[finch13]

hm... when should i do this lol. 76k atm.

Did you not read the entire post? The service interval is 105k, but you really shouldn't touch the valvetrain unless its making noise, out of spec or not.

 

[Sketch o5]

i couldnt imagine you doing this lemon. wayyy to easy to **** up if you dont know what youre doing...and...well......



and you really not need to. for i4's, its usually done when you do the timing belt. but like brandon said, unless its making some weird noise, dont worry about it.

 

[CDsDontBurn]

good read!

i just need to get me some shims. i haven't done this to my car. had i known about it AND had the shims, i would have done it when i cleaned out the EGR port.

 

[RichBinAZ]

Here are the valve gaps in inches, that I had at the 46K first check (wrote them in the manual). I remember there being some slight ticking, which is what prompted me to take a look in the first place.
Format
1 2 3
4 5 6
Inlet nominaly .008" or .009" Exhaust nom .011"-.013"
EX .015 .016 | .016 .016 | .015 .013
IN .013 .013 | .013 .010 | .013 .012
----------------------------------------
IN .013 .013 | .012 .013 | .011 .011
EX .014 .016 | .015 .015 | .014 .013

At 61K some had settled down but others had got worse, so I set them all at .008" Inlet and .011" Exhaust
Here is what I just measured at 90K

EX .012 .012 | .012 .012 | .013 .011
IN .008 .008 | .008 .008 | .008 .008
-----------------------------------------
IN .007 .006 | .008 .008 | .007 .008
EX .012 .010 | .012 .012 | .012 .011

Reset the ones that were off to .008" and .012" and I don't plan to check that again till 120K, when it will be time for a 2nd belt change (Arizona severe conditions)

The check and adjust is easy... remembering where the stuff you took off goes is the hard bit... Oh and not dropping anything into the intake holes - also very important.

 

[finch13]

good read!

i just need to get me some shims. i haven't done this to my car. had i known about it AND had the shims, i would have done it when i cleaned out the EGR port.

Shims? You really need to stay out of the engine...

Here are the valve gaps in inches, that I had at the 46K first check (wrote them in the manual). I remember there being some slight ticking, which is what prompted me to take a look in the first place.
Format
1 2 3
4 5 6
Inlet nominaly .008" or .009" Exhaust nom .011"-.013"
EX .015 .016 | .016 .016 | .015 .013
IN .013 .013 | .013 .010 | .013 .012
----------------------------------------
IN .013 .013 | .012 .013 | .011 .011
EX .014 .016 | .015 .015 | .014 .013

At 61K some had settled down but others had got worse, so I set them all at .008" Inlet and .011" Exhaust
Here is what I just measured at 90K

EX .012 .012 | .012 .012 | .013 .011
IN .008 .008 | .008 .008 | .008 .008
-----------------------------------------
IN .007 .006 | .008 .008 | .007 .008
EX .012 .010 | .012 .012 | .012 .011

Reset the ones that were off to .008" and .012" and I don't plan to check that again till 120K, when it will be time for a 2nd belt change (Arizona severe conditions)

The check and adjust is easy... remembering where the stuff you took off goes is the hard bit... Oh and not dropping anything into the intake holes - also very important.

Off a couple THOUSANDTHS of an inch? You would need a micrometer to get that kind of accuracy in a valve adjustment, nothing a feeler gauge is accurate enough to measure.

 

[RichBinAZ]

The error looks bigger when you think of it as a percentage
(13 - 8.5)/8.5 = 50% error.

As you say, it probably doesn't hurt things that much and in the old days it was recommended to run the clearances a bit more open for max power or racing (BSA 650). That could have been on the old cast iron heads though, as they didn't expand as much as aluminum does.

Picture from manual I kept

Nice thing about the screw and locknut design is the adjustment is free, once you are there

 

[RedRyder]

Dealer didn't adjust my valves at timing belt interval, it would have been extra. But I haven't noticed anything that would indicate needing an adjustment and I'm at 115k miles.

 

[RichBinAZ]

Photobucket tracks statistics and I see that there were 71 views of this file in January. Did it help anyone? Don't be shy!

I'm quite interested if you at least did a check and could post results of the clearances you found, to see if there is a trend.

Cheers