Valve Adjustments

[markwilliam1]

Just got an 86 Winnie 4 banger with 64000 miles. Runs like a top but was interested in knowing if the valves might need adjusting, if that is even necessary or not and what would be the benifits?? Any ideas on the costs would also be appreciated! Thanks!

[Derek up North]

22R-E valve check & adjust (if necessary):- 30k mile interval.

[linda s]

My valves always need adjustment and it makes a huge difference in performance. I don't know why I need to do this so often, every 2 years is my schedule, but it always seems to be a little bit out. I think these engines just run so good lots of people ignore it and never notice the difference. I have no idea the cost but it takes very little time. Getting all the hoses off of the cover and reinstalling it with new gaskets takes far more time than the actual adjustment. Only two positions of the valves takes care of intake and exhaust for everything. The hardest part is that it needs to be hot. Ouch

Linda S

[Derek up North]

I haven't watch this to see if he does any 'no-no's'.

[Derek up North]

I can see NO reason for Toyota to include a 36 month interval for the valves.

http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-buchanan/93fsm/maintenance/1maintena.pdf

[Bob C]

My RV 22Re engine had about 30,000 miles on it when I bought it. When I started the engine, I had to put my foot on the gas pedal and run it at a fast idle for about a minute before it would smooth out and run good.

When I was ready to do a valve adjustment, I ran it for 10 miles to get the engine up to temp and worked as fast as possible to do the job with hot parts. To start with, all of the valves had zero clearance when I started. Every valve as tight. I completed the adjustment as described in my shop manual (I can't remember off hand what the clearance should be) and put everything together with new valve cover gasket and end plugs.

I started the engine, it ran smooth and sounded great. After letting it cool off, I turned the key without touching a gas pedal and the engine fired up and ran great. My gas mileage didn't change but the engine sure sounded smoother.

I think that it cost me about $25 for the gasket kit and the job took about 1 hour including cleaning up and putting the tools back in the cabinet.

Before removing the valve cover, I labelled everything that I disconnected. It makes reassembly easier.

[Maineah]

Frankly it's part of a normal tune up.

[linda s]

Thank you guys. I know it makes a difference and that's why I do it.

Linda S

[5Toyota]

if the valves are tight it will eventuly burn the valves and or the valve seats because they do not close all the way.

[Maineah]

Here is why valve adjustment makes a difference in how an engine with adjustable valves performs. Valve and crank timing are basically set with a belt, chain or gear and the fine timing is set by valve clearance by design. So here is what happens if the adjustment is too close (tight) it advances the valve timing because it opens sooner and if it is too loose it opens later retarding the valve timing. It the case of an R series engine there are a lot of moving parts and they have a tendency to be loose thus retarding the valve timing and having an effect on performance. In the case of the 3 liter 6 cylinder its design has a lot less moving parts so the ware is minimal and in theory they should never need adjustment because everything wares at the same rate. However I guess a consideration that was missed was valve stretch so with years and miles the valve steam gets a little longer reducing the clearance to a point the valve can no longer close. It's a hard call on when the V6 valves should be done because of the expense a good plan would be to check compression once the miles started to add up lower compression on one cylinder should be a tell tail sign of a valve being too tight. A rougher idle can also be an indication.