Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Need Advice On The Results Of My First Valve Job

[CEdwards]

Well I finally did my valves myself and I have some questions about it.



Heres what I did. I couldn't get the dowel pin in to find tdc #1 so I used the companion method. I turned the engine by the alternator nut until one valve on the number six was going up and then the other started to go down at the same time. I then checked the appropriate valves with a feeler gauge. what i found was that most, but not all of the intake valves were to tight and most of the exhaust valves were to loose. Does this sound right or did I not rotate the engine far enough? At first this is what i figured but like i said one of them was too loose so i went ahead and adjusted them. Then i rotated the engine till the #1 was at crossover and did the same thing with the same results. does this sound right or am i way off here. It has been 90000 miles since my last adjustment. when I say loose i'm only talking . 002 to . 003 over spec. How close does it need to be. Even the ones that i adjusted are only with in . 001 or so. It was very hard to get them exactly on the money without them moving just a hair when tightening the backup nut.

Did I screw up? Do I need to go back and do a better job or what? Thanks for all your help and experience, its hard to get a good feel for it without someones experienced to tell me if its right or not.

 

[JFaughn]

I haven't done one these CTDs yet but I've adjusted valves for about 25yrs and I seem to remember that most specs. say within . 003 [less is better] , what I found is adjust by feel , tighten till just a [ little] drag and the same amount of drag on all , next is a biggie adjust every 24,000 , if your valves get out of adjustment for long enough you can burn exhaust valves longer and you can have more problums. I don'nt know what the firing order is so I can'nt verify the companoin method but what I remember is put the cyl, numbers [ in there firing order ] in two even colums the top two are your companion cyl. s . with diesels you need to be very carefull becouse there is less clearance between the valves and pistons.

 

[Bhale]

It's funny... . I Just now got finished doing my valves!



The companion method works fine.



If you want to use the dowel pin, heres how i did it the first time... ... .

It's best with 2 people, one with strong fingers to push the dowel pin in and one to rotate the engine.

Remove all the valve covers

Rotate the engine till both rockers on the #1 cylinder stop moving

Push on the dowel pin and rotate the engine... not to fast

If the pin won't go in before the rockers start moving again, relax

put a mark somewhere on the damper and rotate the engine about 325 degrees

Push on the dowel pin and rotate the engine

Repeat if needed ( statments like Stupid Dowel Pin are used often)

Make Sure You Pull The Pin Out Before You Rotate The Engine Again





I'm surprised the intakes were to tight but the exhaust always are a tad loose (. 003-. 005). I make it so the feeler gage is a snug fit. Remember you can make it too tight and still pull the feeler gage out but if you can't get it back in, your too tight. This is my 3rd adjustment in 175,000 miles and it only take a small adjustment each time.



If you find the adjustment changing when you torque down the lock nut, add . 002 or . 003 to the feeler gage, make your adjustment and torque the nut down. I've had good luck doing it that way. Sometimes.



Brian

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

You can get the pin in only on one of the two TDC's anyway, so you use a paint mark or the one opening and other closing way on the other. Plenty close enough to true TDC for valve adjustment. Yes, the intakes usually pound into the seats and get tight; the exhausts are often a bit loose, up to several thousandths in each case.

 

[mechanic]

I have found the same thing. The exhausts are generally loose by a few thousands, and the intakes are tight by about the same amount. If I remember correctly the adjustment interval is 40,000 miles for the 12 valve engines, and 100,000 for the 24 valves engines.

I could be in error on the 12 valve, but I think that is it. I used the Shop manuals recomendation for finding TDC. It says to tighten the #1 exhaust valve adjusting screw 3 turns past 0 lash. Then turn the engine by hand very gently untill the piston contacts the valve and stops. Then mark the balancer by using a referance point like the CPS. Then turn the engine the other direction untill the piston contacts the valve and stops again. Then measure the distance between the two marks, half of that distance is TDC. Mark that position with a permanant mark for next time. (I used a center punch and made a row of dimples from back to front, then marked them with paint) Then be sure to back off the #1 exhaust valve to zero lash before turning crankshaft any more, to avoid damage to the valve. This procedure is in the Dodge service manual.

 

[CEdwards]

Thanks for all the good info. I really appreciate it. I feel like its probably adjusted pretty good now. It really doesn't take but about 30 minutes and its pretty simple if any one else out there is thinking about doing it themselves. It gives me alot more confidence knowing I have the TDR to back me up if I run into problems.