Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) adjusting valves

[19swinger70]

how do i know if i need to adjust my valves? my truck is a 96 4x4. 186000. no idea when they were done last, i bought the truck in march with 169000 on it. it seems to be running fine, but it sounds a little rougher than usual. i'll be doing some other maintainance this weekend, and was wondering if i should do the valves. if so, how hard is it? i have adjustable rockers on the hot rod, so, i know how to do them on a gasser, is a diesel different?

 

[JGheen]

They are not hard at all to do. There is actually a way to get them all done in two easy steps, but I prefer to do them one cylinder at a time. Just use a 7/8" socket on the alternator to turn it over, get the cam on the base circle of the rocker your going to adjust and set the intakes to . 010" and the exhaust to . 020".

As for mileage, it wouldn't hurt to check them, but supposedly you should check/adjust them every 25,000-40,000 miles. I heard somewhere that you can lengthen that interval as the engine life goes beyond 100,000 miles, but don't quote me on that.

 

[Joe G.]

Do the valve adjustment when the engine is cold.

 

[19swinger70]

ok, thanks guys. i may do 'em just to get it done so i know where the intervals are.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

When driving across Montana in September my truck started running pretty rough, and in the morning it rattled and vibrated a lot worse than usual. It sounded pretty sick! After refueling in Miles City and splashing in some fuel additive it was smooth as could be. So it was the crapola Exxon fuel I bought in Missoula that was to blame.



A valve adjustment is good to do regardless though. Vaughn

 

[bmoeller]

I bought my truck with 139k. Don't think the valves had ever been adjusted. They were way out of specs. Ran smoother afterwards too.



http://www.dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/valve_adj/12_valve.html