valves can't be adjusted properly after valve job

[walsead]

Hey all. So my wife's 2000 Accord LX, 2.3 ltr, blew a head gasket. Being a handy guy, I decided to tear it down in the garage and take the head to the local machine shop to get it checked out and machined. Everything came apart as planned, took it to the shop and decided to have them do a valve job on it as well as long as I had it apart.

A couple days later the head comes back checked out with a fresh set of valves and looking brand new. I begin putting everything back together, all goes smooth.... Until I get the valve assembly back in and try adjusting the valves.

On every cylinder both valves on the exhaust side and the intake valve on the passenger side adjust fine. But on every cylinder, of the two intake valves, the one on the driver side is adjusted all the way out and I still can't get the feeler gauge in. If I press down on the end opposite the adjuster I can raise the valve enough to adjust it properly, but it feels like there is some sort of tension keeping that valve down on each cylinder. I have been doing a lot of this today trying to puzzle my way through this

While I have done the valves on other vehicles, this is the first time I have done it on an accord. Any advice??? I am at a complete loss and can't go any father putting it together until this gets fixed. My wife and I are sharing one vehicle. This sucks!! I would like to get this car running ASAP so we can stop sharing one vehicle.

thanks in advance. If I am leaving out something critical, let me know and i will get the info.

 

[xci.ed6]

It sounds like something may be installed incorrectly.

All I can think of, compare it closely with a good head. Or take some picture of the installed assembly that doesn't work correctly, all the mounting surfaces etc...

 

[walsead]

I've gone through everything twice and can't find anything not installed correctly. I also can't think what could be causing only one of the four valves not to adjust on every cylinder but would allow every other valve to adjust without issue. The valve asembley is flush with the head at all the mating surfaces. I'll post pictures as soon as I get home in a couple hours.

 

[walsead]

**accidental repost**

 

[xci.ed6]

k

since the cam can't move, since it's in a bore, your left with either the valve is too tall, or the rocker-arm pivot is too low.

 

[xci.ed6]

oh, replace the 'push-rod' with the cam, sorry, wrong type pic, but the best I could find.

 

[walsead]

Well, i tried to come home and post pictures, but the admins to this forum (in a truly bizarre move) decided you have to be a member for 7 days in order to post links. I also can't post images because my "quota" isn't high enough. Awesome. I appreciate the help, but I am not willing to wait 7 days to answer this question. I may have to go find another community without a rule set straight out of 1995...

 

[xci.ed6]

message me the pics, I can post them.

 

[xci.ed6]

Hey, man. Thanks for volunteering to upload the photos. Here they are with a description. I really appreciate the help. i am headed back out to work on it, if I figure it out before someone else I will let you know.

This is a picture from the front of the car, showing that the rocker arm assembly is seated correctly.

This is a top down shot of the rocker arms for cylinders 1&2

An angled shot of the cylinder 1 rocker arms, shows that the closest rocker arm (where I am having the issue) is dropping below the other side.

A side view of cylinder 1, shows that the closest rocker arm is adjusted all the way out, yet still making contact with the valve (you can see the other cylinders are having the same issue.)

A slightly different angle of cylinder 1, really shows how that one rocker arm is falling lower than the other.

Thanks again.
--Adam

you are right on that it all looks normal on top, so I would look at valve height.. Use one of these (probly with the top part pulled for space):

http://www.harborfreight.com/hand-t...sae-and-metric-fractional-readings-68304.html

Sometimes when a valve seal area is machined, they machine the seat a bit too much. This makes the installed valve too high, and makes the valve more recessed if you look at the bottom of the head. This would only be visible with the head off, that;s why I didn't ask for pics there, but you may have noticed it after you picked up the head from the machine shop.

You can replace the valve seats, usually they are steel pressed into the aluminum head, so I would check that. Sometimes it is more cost effective to get another (used) stock head. I doubt the valve stem got longer, though.

 

[xci.ed6]

oh, and you can use that 'backwards'

if you set the 'butt' on top of the valve an extend the tiny thing to reach the head, an use the 'zero' button on a 'good' valve, before checking a 'bad' one, it gives you height differences but not the actual height. IDK what the actual height is actually, but differences in this case is more important than an actual height. This way it is an easier check, it looks like your 'bad' are ~2mm higher than 'good'.