what did I do?......valve lash adjustment gone wrong
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what did I do?......valve lash adjustment gone wrong
2004 MDX - 173000 miles. I just bought it 2 weeks ago...thought I would adjust the valve lash since its probably never been done.
I thought I adjusted the lash correctly. It was hard to get to the back cylinders. I set the intake at 9 thou and exhaust at 12 thou. It sounds great when you first start it up, but after idling for 3-5 minutes you can hear light rocker noise start in one of the back cylinders and a very light puff, puff, puff sound. Turn the car off and wait a minute, start it up and same thing, 3-5 minutes and that cylinder starts again. I checked all hoses and electrical connections. The car ran good before I did the adjustment (other than little struggle to start and rough idle for a couple of seconds) and its only been run maybe 10 minutes total since adjustment. In hindsight maybe I just needed to clean the throttle body, EGR and change the plugs, and I did do all of that but the valve adjustment may not have been to important. I figured while I was changing the broken front motor mount and the alternator I would just dig in and so the valve adjustment and spark plugs, etc.... Now I hate this thing lol....Maybe its too tight adjustment on one of the cylinders? Not sure why the rocker would make noise though if it was too tight...Maybe the piston is tapping the valve once the engine starts to get warm? Cant be that close though, can it??... If it were too loose of an adjustment, it would just make noise all the time, wouldn't it? is there anything else that would cause this weird symptom? I have worked my ass off on this car and spent alot of money like a fool. help!! lol....any ideas?
I thought I adjusted the lash correctly. It was hard to get to the back cylinders. I set the intake at 9 thou and exhaust at 12 thou. It sounds great when you first start it up, but after idling for 3-5 minutes you can hear light rocker noise start in one of the back cylinders and a very light puff, puff, puff sound. Turn the car off and wait a minute, start it up and same thing, 3-5 minutes and that cylinder starts again. I checked all hoses and electrical connections. The car ran good before I did the adjustment (other than little struggle to start and rough idle for a couple of seconds) and its only been run maybe 10 minutes total since adjustment. In hindsight maybe I just needed to clean the throttle body, EGR and change the plugs, and I did do all of that but the valve adjustment may not have been to important. I figured while I was changing the broken front motor mount and the alternator I would just dig in and so the valve adjustment and spark plugs, etc.... Now I hate this thing lol....Maybe its too tight adjustment on one of the cylinders? Not sure why the rocker would make noise though if it was too tight...Maybe the piston is tapping the valve once the engine starts to get warm? Cant be that close though, can it??... If it were too loose of an adjustment, it would just make noise all the time, wouldn't it? is there anything else that would cause this weird symptom? I have worked my ass off on this car and spent alot of money like a fool. help!! lol....any ideas?
To say the least, it may be prudent to revisit the valve adjustment?
Sounds like maybe something was inadvertently left loose?
The only way to know for sure is to get back in there & check them all again.
I remember the rear bank of cylinders was a 'back breaker' when I did my J32a2's years ago.
I can only imagine what it's like on the MDX.
Good Luck.
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