What do valve adjustments cost?
 

You guys recommend adjusting the valves when changing timing belt, any idea on the cost? Is this something that is pretty easy to do or do I need some special tools?

I was quoted around $200 to have it done at the dealership, no idea what it costs to DIY though.

If you have the right tools (sockets, ratchets, feeler gauges), the only thing it costs is your time. Getting the right feel for the clearance is the hardest part. Not too loose that it slides or too tight that it grabs. Should feel like... hell, I don't know, maybe pulling a hair out of a tube of toothpaste?

lol, how many times have you had to pull hair out of a tube of toothpaste??? i have no idea what that feels like

yeah I think my valves need re-adjustment, that will be done hopefully when I do my timing belt sometime soon. A local dealer here in town quoted me around $500 just to re-adjust them

Damn, Ralph. You still havent done your Timing belt? you said screw it and decided to go to the meet?

I am actually getting 3-4 quotes today. One guy said it's gonna take 5 hours x 125$/hr. Another said 2.3 hours x 110$/hr. Still waiting on another shop to call me. So far, the 2nd guy is wining haha And a shop just called me and said they don't wanna do it, just the timing belt haha

so I got quoted 500 for timing belt, water pump... paid 200$ for all the parts, and 253$ for valve adjustment. Not bad for Canada.

$500 :rippedoff

Just so you don't feel bad, I have 110k and haven't done my timing belt and really am not that concerned. As far as water pump goes, you know when thats about to go out b/c it screams for hundreds of miles before it does.

I paid my trusted mechanic 40 bucks to come to my house and do my clearance on my S2000. He also replaced to sparkplug gasket and head gasket for another 10 bucks in labor.

Not sure what the dealer costs.. but DIY :thumbsup: Maybe I'll feel good and take a ton of pics and write a DIY when I do mine :whistle:

That would be a great addition to the Garage, if its not already there. Even if it is, its good to have more than 1. I am hesistant to open up a fairly new engine unless my vavles are noticeable out of whack and tapping like Sammy Davis Jr :tongue:

Yeah thats right :tomato: naah my uncle has been kinda busy he's my mechanic along with my brother, so its whenever they have time hopefully soon tho :wish: and he should be adjusting my valves also

Idk who Sammy Davis Jr is but I assume a tap-dancer :rofl:

All you need is a basic set of handtools and a feeler guage set.

For any experienced mechanic it's under an hour to adjust the valves once the valvecovers are off.

It's easy but if it's your first time, put a whole day aside for it. It takes a little while to get the "feel" of the feeler guages while adjusting the valvetrain. I haven't done a Honda in a long time but I've done the much harder solid cam GN in under an hour start to finish.

Forgot to add, it's very worth it. Intake valves tend to get loose and noisy when things start wearing. But exhaust valve clearances tighten up as they wear. While you will hear intakes, you won't hear the exhaust valves when they need adjustments and those are the ones that will cause big issues if they're run too tight for too long. Once you do the first adjustment, you can usually go longer for the second. IMO, the best schedule would be to do a valve adjustment after 10,000 or so miles and then every 100-150,000 miles.

^^ or every 15 hours on a bike if you ride MX :tongue:

You'd be amazed on what a few thousandths out of spec does to a small engine and even a car engine. The bike will feel as if it has no compression when you kick it over. Can you imagine on a car?

You should be able to adjust the exhaust valves at the same time as the intake, correct? Are the specs the same?

No.

Intake 0.20 - 0.24mm (0.008 - 0.009 in)
Exhaust 0.28 - 0.32mm (0.011 - 0.013 in)

Yep. Exhaust runs a lot hotter so it has more cold clearance.

You guys can check out my thread regarding valve adjustment. Ive done it 5x on the TL.

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-2004-2008-93/yayy-valve-adjustment-pictures-inside-725750/

Expect a few hours for a first time DIY. About half that for the second.

I just re-read over that whole thread. What was the outcome with the new shortblock?

Originally Posted by AckTL05:

"...Why let this dealership do this again to another person?? Do you think rosa parks sat in the back of the bus for herself?"

The meaning is true, the message is well conveyed and the result makes for one priceless quote.. :thumbsup: I luv it lol...

Wasn't it the front of the bus???

:werd:

You mean the VALVE COVER gasket don't you?
10 bucks ain't gonna get you a HEAD gasket replaced, no matter who does it.
.
.
.

She was actually seated in the middle of the bus in the designated "blacks-only" section which is behind the "whites-only" seats. As the bus did its route, the whites-only seats quickly filled up and being empowered by a newly-passed city ordinance, bus conductors had the authority to segregate whites from blacks in the city, Montgomery. The conductor asked Rosa Parks to give up her seat to seat whites that had boarded at a stop...and well you know the story...she refused.

It's been a year since then and Ive put on roughly 9k on the new short block with everything else replaced. No noises since the work was done. :thumbsup:

That's good news. Did they do the heads along with the shortblock (longblock)?

Looks involved! Good job on doing it yourself.